Can You Exercise If You're Sore? What You Need to Know
The “No pain, no gain” principle is common in fitness because you’ll never know if you’re doing your exercises right or you’re doing enough of them if you don’t struggle. While that may be a good thing, the gist of it only applies to bodybuilders.
As aspiring or current pro cheerleaders, your goal is to have a lean body. Here, we’re going to answer the questions of is it okay to exercise with sore muscles, how to treat them, how to prevent them, and what exercises you can do while experiencing muscle soreness.
What are Sore Muscles?
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is a result of putting your muscles to stress. This is particularly experienced after strength training exercises or long durations of cardio workouts. When you perform long durations of intense workouts such as running 10km, doing 100 sit-ups, or lifting heavy equipment with a lot of reps and sets, your muscle fibers tear at microscopic levels.
Soreness also is a sign that your body is recovering from a previous exercise and it varies from slight discomforts to incapacitating levels of muscle stiffness and pain.
Is it Bad to Work Out If You’re Sore?
Not totally. It depends on how sore your muscles are. Don’t exercise if you cannot move or get off your bed due to stiffness and pain. Forcing yourself to exercise with stiff muscles is overtraining and that is very dangerous.
Here are more signs that you shouldn’t workout while you’re sore:
- Taking the stairs is hard
- Your sores last for days
- You need pain relievers to function
- Your urine is dark and your muscles are swollen. This is a very bad sign and you should see a doctor ASAP.
If you feel that the pain from your soreness is manageable, then you’re good to perform light workouts. However, keep it light. Doing the same workout routine that caused your sore would add more microtears to the already-torn muscle tissues and that would surely incapacitate you the day after.
How to Treat Sore Muscles
The simplest way to treat your muscles is to rest, recover, and take hot baths. It is important to drink a lot of water and eat a lot of protein to heal the microtears in your muscle fibers and build mass.
If you are in pain with your limbs bent from stiffness but can still move, gentle stretching will help in your recovery. Blood flow throughout your body should remain stable. Take deep breaths, straighten your ligaments, and do slow light movements like yoga. However, it won’t be easy so be prepared. Menthol patches are also effective pain relievers.
How to Prevent Soreness
Never skip warmups so that your body can properly adapt to the demands of intense exercising. During your workout routines, don’t go straight to intense routines but build up intensity instead. Like warmups, never skip cooldowns so that your body can properly release tension after your session. Using a foam roller is one way to do so.
5 Light Workouts You Can Do With A Sore
1. Cycling
An active recovery activity that combines sweating and increases blood circulation. A stroll around your area with a city bike for 15 minutes is enough.
2. Swimming
Very relaxing and the water gently massages any muscle knots.
3. Walking
Simple to do and perfect for breathing fresh outdoor air. Just take a relaxed walk around your neighborhood in the early hours.
4. Resistance Band Training
Use the ones with light strength so that you won’t overtrain. Resistance bands are perfect to stretch muscles that are hard to reach like your back, chest, and triceps.
5. Bodyweight Exercises
Also simple to do for increasing blood circulation without the need to go out.
Soreness is a sign you’re building lean muscles. However, remember to avoid overtraining and recover when you’re in pain.
Need a Great Workout Routine for Your Pro Cheer Audition Prep?
Pro cheerleaders stay fit, flexible, and strong so they can give out their best performance in the arena. However, achieving that wow-worthy, toned physique doesn’t happen overnight. You need to arm yourself with the right daily workouts.
Thinking of becoming a pro cheerleader?
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Join a POM FIT™ class below:
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