Exercise question

Hi Guys

After a 3 month cross addiction to alcohol and leading to depression, I'm back up and running. I went to the Gym Monday and did cardio along with heavy upper body lifting. My upper body is still sore. My question is: I want to do heavy upper body lifting today, but I'm still sore, should I want another day?

Thanks

Ken

Thanks for this question....I'm wondering myself too because I'm a cardio addict and I'm still sore from lifting weights on Monday and Tuesday. We'll see what the rest of the guys say.

I am hardly an expert but I'm saying shoot for 3 sessions a week for a couple of reasons. First, it will let your body get up to speed so to speak. And secondly, you don't want to burn yourself out. This is something we must do for the rest of our lives. Frequency rather than intensity is the secret to lifelong benefits to our physical and mental health.  Remember what the old bull said to the young bull as they stood atop a hill and looked down upon a herd of cows? The young bull said, "Lets run down there and **** us a cow". But the old bull said, "Lets walk down there and **** all those cows".

Thanks for your openness and honesty about your cross addictions - it takes a lot of courage to open up like that.  I have posted here about my own issues with alcohol following surgery. As far as the lifting - I'm sure the muscle guys will give you some great advice (and, i'm looking forward to reading their responses as well). Keep up the hard work, and stay focused bud.

good to see you again. been down your road too but with pain pills. twice! first suggestion, keep coming here. if you want to talk on the board or pm any of the guys with your problem then by all means, do it. support is the name of the game here first and foremost.

ok, secondly do what you're doing. it's hard to feel all that bad after a couple good workouts. i lift and run too, everyday. sometimes i think more for mental health! if you're splitting your workouts with upper then lower body, wait at least a day in between. so every other day you're hitting those parts. but that's a lot on that kind of split. you could try push pull for a while too. now you're always going to be sore if you lift. it's part of the gig. try to learn the difference between soreness and pain. pain you don't want to work through. i'll ice up my shoulder before a work out. try that and most important, warm up. do some light sets of that particular exercise. say bench. warm up with under 100 pounds, do some dips or push ups. stimulate that area of work, then do your three or four sets of benches.

soreness means you're hitting the muscles and lifting heavy. you have to work with that kind of pain to make gains. i get sore when i introduce a new exercise. like i just started doing lunges with legs. very sore. once i warm up and get through the pain it hurts less.

so keep working out. now if it's pain, stop and let it heal of course. if you're lifting heavy i would suggest a different split as it's a huge work out splitting top and bottom. way hard! so try something different. it takes a lot of concentration and effort to lift heavy. for me, i do one body part a day. not great for everyone but i can really focus and lift heavy knowing i have just that one body part to do. i used to do push pull which is my favorite but again, i'm too spent to go heavy all the way. i like to superstet everything and doing shoulders, chest and tri's are just too much as is bi's, back and legs on the other day. i need much more recovery time when i lift heavy. just my two cents. hoped it helped.......carbonblob

Congratulations Ken! Always a big smile at hearing of someone overcoming such a problem. Some of the guys will certainly have specifics. Here’s my Source for “What to Do” when it comes to exercise… http://www.exrx.net/Beginning.html Awesome site for beginners and beyond. Leaving “re-build” time in your exercise schedule Is imperative. Tear Down and “Challenging the Muscle” Is one half of the equation. Rest is just as important for the building of muscle mass. I’m just a “toner” when it comes to such. Others will “have the Goods.” Keep it Up! Best Wishes- Dx

 

So how are you doing these days, Ken?

Best Wishes,

Dave