Question re: Soreness and altering workout to cope with it

[pixel79]

I've recently started getting back to the gym after a long hiatus, and i've found that my arms (triceps in particular) are taking a long time to recover.

Basically i'm looking for some advice on how to maximize my workout potential

My current split is pretty much:

Day 1: Shoulders ; Back ; Abs
Day 2: Chest ; Bi/Tri
Day 3: Legs ;
repeat

i'm finding myself quite sore after my Day 2 exercises, and consequently when i repeat the split, i'm finding my muscles are still sore when i get back to the Day 2 workout again. Should I adjust my schedule to avoid this? Should i try a longer split-cycle?

Also, is it harmful to workout with stiff/sore muscles? If so, what could i do to help assist with the soreness?

Lots of questions, i know... But, any advice would be much appreciated!


TIA

 

[Complete Muscle]

With any training split you have some overlapping muscles exercised. I do my split a little differently and allow plenty of recovery time to help me cope with this:

M - Shoulders/Chest/Tris
T - Rest
W - Legs
Th - Rest
F - Back/Bis
S - Rest
S - Rest

(with a little ab work thrown in there)

I would advise against heavy work with stiff/sore muscles. That probably means you need more recovery time. Heavy weight training 3 days in a row with no rest days is asking for over training. Also a little trick I learned from Needsize: 1000mg vitamin C just prior or just after work out does wonders to decrease muscle soreness!

 

[pixel79]

That's a really good point about the overlapping muscles...

also, i think i read a post from Needsize that mentioned the Vitamin C, and i'm going to try that for sure.


Another question i have tho:

if your muscles are sore, and you want to work them anyway, i would probably want to consider doing a workout that's lower weight / higher reps, right?

 

[Lumberg]

I've recently started getting back to the gym after a long hiatus, and i've found that my arms (triceps in particular) are taking a long time to recover.

Basically i'm looking for some advice on how to maximize my workout potential

My current split is pretty much:

Day 1: Shoulders ; Back ; Abs
Day 2: Chest ; Bi/Tri
Day 3: Legs ;
repeat

i'm finding myself quite sore after my Day 2 exercises, and consequently when i repeat the split, i'm finding my muscles are still sore when i get back to the Day 2 workout again. Should I adjust my schedule to avoid this? Should i try a longer split-cycle?

Also, is it harmful to workout with stiff/sore muscles? If so, what could i do to help assist with the soreness?

Lots of questions, i know... But, any advice would be much appreciated!


TIA

I hope that you are not doing this all in a row!! You need to be taking days off in between, like

Day 1: Shoulders ; Back ; Abs
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Chest ; Bi/Tri
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Legs ;
Day 6: Rest
Repeat

Also, try combining Back with Bis, Chest with shoulders and tris
That will mean you are only working each muscle once every 6 days rather than, for example, working your tris some while doing shoulder exercises and then hitting them again two days later, when they might still be sore.

If you are not taking days off you are DEFINITELY overtraining.

JC

 

[pixel79]

Re: Re: Question re: Soreness and altering workout to cope with it

Also, try combining Back with Bis, Chest with shoulders and tris
That will mean you are only working each muscle once every 6 days rather than, for example, working your tris some while doing shoulder exercises and then hitting them again two days later, when they might still be sore.

If you are not taking days off you are DEFINITELY overtraining.

JC

well, i don't want to do that!! any tips on how to maximize my workout with that split?

ie high-weight / low-reps or low-weight/high-reps, etc??

 

[Lumberg]

Most people do periodization, meaning they will do (relatively) lower weight with higher reps for a while (6-10 weeks, sometimes more, sometimes less) and then switch up to higher weights with lower reps. I personally prefer higher reps (in the 10-20 range) but I try to switch it up every now and then.

To start out, pick weights you can only do 3 sets of 10 of, then each workout try to do more (always work to failure on the last set). Once you get to the point that you can make 3 sets of 20, or feel you are stagnating, up the weight and drop the reps and start over. This is what I do and it works great. You can also tweak your workout, for example my basic workouts remain pretty much the same but when I start a new card I might try a different exercise for a muscle I don't feel like I'm hitting right (like cable curls instead of preacher bench for bis). You have to keep experimenting and hitting the gym. there is no substitute for experience.

Good luck and feel free to PM me with any questions,

JC

 

[pixel79]

thanks for the advice!!

i'm going to try out your suggestions tonight!



anyone else have any other ideas to ponder?

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

ease back into your training more. your overzealousness and fire to return will probably keep you sore for a while unless you scale it back some.

 

[pixel79]

ease back into your training more. your overzealousness and fire to return will probably keep you sore for a while unless you scale it back some.

you're right. in retrospect, i am being quite overzealous.

you mention 'scaling it back'... do you have any recommendations that i could follow that you think would have the most beneficial effect in the long run?


TIA

 

[brianmincher]

Without completely overhauling what you are doing (not a bad idea) you might try and throw in some feeder workouts. For example the day after you work triceps do some very light high rep tricep movements, just enough to get a bit of a pump, and no more. You would be amazed at how these help you recover and get over soreness faster.

B.