Tired Of Being Sore

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
21

Good post, Tirib, but here’s another question. I have been puzzled by my constant soreness because I did not experience it this way in my heyday, my eight year “career” as a shot/disc thrower during which time I got progressively stronger and bigger.

But was that more a function of age (early 20’s), or training style (narrowly focused training on heavy benches, inclines, squats, and power cleans). Now I am blessed with all sorts of creative ways to “shock” the muscles, HIIT, EDT, crossfit, etc., and they do indeed shock them. Soreness and growth, soreness and growth.

Is it simply that younger, highly conditioned elite athletes training for a specific performance goal are less likely to experience substantial DOMS soreness? Or is it possibly that high amounts of "gear" decrease or eliminate this degree of soreness? Or are there anatomical/genetic variables here as well, or other reasons I can't think of?
                                Doc
22

I think its from person to person, some tend to always get somewhat sore while others don’t. I eat plenty and in summer was getting 8 hours of sleep and It didn’t change the fact that I still got sore-stretched daily also- Fish oil has helped me a bit though, and I hear that Surge helps with recovery also so you could give those a try.

23

[quote]migrantworker wrote:
15-20 minutes??? yeah, you got to hold each stretch for a minute if you really want it to do anything. And its not boring either, because just like in lifting, you should be pushing yourself, the stretches should be fucking painful. Real stretching is a mind game. But afterwards you will feel amazing and I guarantee less soreness.[/quote]

I thought Thibs was against stretching?

24

Take an icebath. 15 minutes and you’ll feel like a new person.

25

[quote]Dr.PowerClean wrote:
Good post, Tirib, but here’s another question. I have been puzzled by my constant soreness because I did not experience it this way in my heyday, my eight year “career” as a shot/disc thrower during which time I got progressively stronger and bigger.

But was that more a function of age (early 20’s), or training style (narrowly focused training on heavy benches, inclines, squats, and power cleans). Now I am blessed with all sorts of creative ways to “shock” the muscles, HIIT, EDT, crossfit, etc., and they do indeed shock them. Soreness and growth, soreness and growth.

Is it simply that younger, highly conditioned elite athletes training for a specific performance goal are less likely to experience substantial DOMS soreness? Or is it possibly that high amounts of "gear" decrease or eliminate this degree of soreness? Or are there anatomical/genetic variables here as well, or other reasons I can't think of?
                                Doc[/quote]

I really hate not knowing the answer to stuff like this, but the truth is I don’t. I trained in my 20’s and was sore all the time. I’m 43 now and I’m still sore all the time, actually I’m probably not quite as sore most of the time now than I was then. I don’t get debilitatingly (is that a word?), can’t move type sore, but it’s readily apparent.

No doubt changing rep ranges, frequency, volume etc. around will cause more soreness than if you do the same thing all the time. I would also think that sports specific performance based training would be less apt to bring on soreness, especially in younger well conditioned athletes than physique based training. Actually training for size is probably the most DOMS inducing type of all because there are no rules beyond whatever works for that person so all parameters are up for grabs all the time. Even strength training most of the time probably doesn’t cause it as much for most people.

I will also say that while poor nutrition and rest will make it worse than it has to be, good nutrition and rest won’t prevent it in those for whom it happens regularly.

As to why some soundly progressing folks get sorer than others and some hardly or not at all in the wake of similar work? I have no idea. I just know that for me it matters. Even when dealing with imbalances, the sorer side is bigger 100% of the time. I’ve never used gear, but from what I’ve read it’s the same. Some do some don’t.

This is a prime example of why I always bristle at universally, superlatively phrased advice. It just ain’t ever as simple as “this is what it is”. People argue day in and day out around here about what the “best” whatever is as if there were such a damn thing.

28

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

I thought Thibs was against stretching?

[/quote]

Really, I would like to hear why. But regardless of what he says, it works for me so I will continue. And if it helps my soreness it could help yours. I would give it a shot at least.

29

I know Christian talked about stretching for size gains in his e-book very similar to the DC method.

Very brutal to forcefully stretched an extremely pumped muscle for 60-90 seconds(especially quads and chest) but it will help with recovery among other things.

30

[quote]migrantworker wrote:
OctoberGirl wrote:

I thought Thibs was against stretching?

Really, I would like to hear why. But regardless of what he says, it works for me so I will continue. And if it helps my soreness it could help yours. I would give it a shot at least.[/quote]

Here is where Christian is talking about stretching.

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I’ve recommended that myself in the past (see my “Bench press battlefield” article).

However I would NOT recommend stretching it if there is another quads movement comming up because stretching, at least static stretching, has been shown to reduce strength and power production.[/quote]

http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=795700&pageNo=2

He says it reduces strength and power production

31

Dont know about others but 10-15 mins moderate intensity running generally helps me when I am sore.

32

I can say confidently that just 1 scoop of Surge makes a WORLD of difference for me. I am never sore like I used to be (like painful can’t move sore.) I do feel it in my muscles after a hard workout, but it is not unpleasant painful soreness.

33

OctoberGirl I think you need to use context in how Christian is answering. If you are doing say back squats then stretching and still have leg press and extensions left afterwards yes that might be a bad idea for strength. But stretching after you are done all quad work would likely get a different response from him.

34

I absolutely love the soreness.

I guess one sure fire way to stop getting sore is to quit lifting.

If your soreness is stopping you from falling asleep… ZMA.

Otherwise, suck it up.

35

Hey Fatmom, have you considered your BED might be contributing to it? I’ve had a lot of different beds and some, man I am just sore all the time can’t recover as well etc… and others, wake up feeling great.

post workout - a good shake for me can cut 1 day off my soreness/recovery.

different routine - not everyone can workout 3-4 times a week. some need more time to recover. have a good long look at Westside and the philosophy behind it, designed to minimise the amount of stress on recovery e.g you only do one max effort on a movement per week, but you train it intensely twice using dynamic movements. Anyway WS isn’t for everyone but you should understand not everyone recovers the same and there are ways to train just as intensely and yet, maximise recovery.

take a look at the new westside for skinny bastards 3 over at elitefts and see what they say about skinny bastards and recovery

fish oil is a must

“the stick” is a good device I have heard, do a search for it. if you are building up knots of muscles they can stick around and get worse and worse. as a student you prob. cannot afford a massage, maybe you can meet someone who wants to learn and apply it for you. spas are good. all those things really help. but if you have these stupid knots in muscles that stick around for ages, you gotta find a way to get them out again. rest and nutrition will NOT do it unless you are resting for weeks and weeks on a sunny beach.

36

If you are doing the anabolic diet, I would not add carbs to your post workout nutrition. Try loading up one the BCAA’s and glutamine in your post workout shake. These will spike your insulin (and in turn jump start protein synthesis) and you wont have to break your 30 g/day carb ceiling. Also, go to EliteFTS and order a foam roller. Definitely a good investment. If you are AD’ing, you should already be taking a good amount of fish oil, if you arent, then start immediately.

37

Since were throwing stuff out here, a slab of beef liver in the next solid meal after working out seems to decrease mine some and my wife swears by this. I don’t love or hate soreness myself. It’s just the way it is for me. As long as it’s not too bad. When I first started training again 2 sets of 15 bodyweight squats damn near did me in. I couldn’t walk for 2 days.

38

I feel sore often whenever I start a new regime or find a new exercise.
I’ve always aimed to train for ability more than appearance but then I think I can never really use it to its fullest if I’m always so sore! However big I get I’m useless if I’m too stiff to move!

Thing is though, like everyone’s saying, when the soreness goes away I then get dissapointed and have to find a new way to get it :S

39

[quote]scottiscool wrote:
OctoberGirl I think you need to use context in how Christian is answering. If you are doing say back squats then stretching and still have leg press and extensions left afterwards yes that might be a bad idea for strength. But stretching after you are done all quad work would likely get a different response from him.

[/quote]

I found another post where he doesn’t suggest stretching a muscle you just trained. I am not trying to be argumentative. Ths is something I wondered about.

Here is the post. And again, not throwing out an argument it is just that I have read his posts about stretching worked muscles and I wondered.

The question

40

Maybe he’s changed his mind one way or another, don’t know when that was posted but he has recommended the opposite. Not an argument, just talking ha. I’ll try to find you the things he wrote in his e-book if you are interested.

41

This is another one of them there things where different people have different experiences. I buy the deal about pre and peri workout stretching. It makes logical sense and I have experimented enough to at least believe that neither helps ME. However, the post workout part will take some proving beyond the lab for me.

Number 1, I’m the most flexible then, which ain’t sayin much, but I am. Number 2, as weird as this sounds, when I stretch after training I’m not necessarily less sore, but less stiff the next day, hard to explain, but it’s true.

Number 3, Dante makes a helluva case for it and there are hordes of his disciples who are not noobs who swear by it. His "extreme brand somewhat intimidates me, but the whole loosen up the myofascia thing does make sense.