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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder when PT will stop hurting??

36 replies

Draineddraineddrained · 14/08/2021 18:34

I am having weekly personal training sessions with a brilliant lady. Just the one hour a week has made a huge difference to my shape and strength, people comment, I feel great. But.

For 2-3 days after eVh session I'm in agony! Everything hurts, I can barely move without pain. I have two young kids (main reason I want to get strong) so doing nothing not an option. Makes me v moany for half the week basically!

Is this normal? What can I do to prevent it? We do warm down after each session do it's not that!

OP posts:
HorticulturalGraveyard · 14/08/2021 19:10

It's called DOMS and very common when you start exercising. It will eventually stop after your body gets used to using those muscles. I feel for you though, it is agony for a while!

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 14/08/2021 19:11

Never! If it stops hurting you aren't working hard enough. Fitness doesn't have an end point! However it will definitely get easier and the recovery will be less painful as you get fitter.

Sillybillymillyvanilly · 14/08/2021 19:13

Are you warming up and cooling down properly?

ShinyMe · 14/08/2021 19:15

Are you doing anything in between sessions?

Original poster
Draineddraineddrained · 14/08/2021 19:18

@HorticulturalGraveyard just looked that up - that makes sense! Bloody horrible though. Wouldn't mind if it was one day, but it's half the ruddy week! Will just persist and hope it starts easing off some day! Worth it for how it's changing me

OP posts:
icedcoffees · 14/08/2021 19:20

If you're only doing it once a week then it will be painful.

The more you use the muscles, the easier it will become.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 14/08/2021 19:22

Foam rollering helps. Doesn't feel like it at the time, but it really does. So does exercising more than once a week (at a lower intensity because she's clearly trying to give you your money's worth and noticeable progress), as the increased bloodflow to the muscles speed up healing compared to slumping on the sofa for the rest of the week.

If you don't have any DOMS, odds are that you haven't done enough. But if it's not reducing after many weeks, that can also mean you aren't doing enough for the rest of the week.

Why not talk to your trainer next time and ask for advice? She might reduce the intensity a little or give you suggestions for what you could do for the other 2-5 days per week (swimming was brilliant for two days after I'd been kickboxing training, for example).

hemhem · 14/08/2021 19:22

Proper warm down and stretch needed. I do a 10min cool down then a 10min stretch after my hour PT. If I just did the 2 mins of stretching she does at the end I'd be aching for 2 days as well.

Pucarbuile · 14/08/2021 19:22

Try going for a gentle jog or a swim the day after. Even if it hurts at first, it works wonders.

Original poster
Draineddraineddrained · 14/08/2021 19:24

@shinyme

Nope 😳 I have s program from the trainer to do two other sessions myself a week, one a run and one strength/resistance training, but I have no time/motivation - this is why I'm shelling out for training, makes me do it! 😆 Maybe I could try and do something else once a week or so... But with a 6mo permanently attached to me and a 4yo wanting attention it's a bit of a ballache

OP posts:
Liverbird77 · 14/08/2021 19:27

There's hurting and hurting. For example, when I returned to the gym after an 18 month absence, I couldn't walk properly the day after my first session. Now, a few months in, I am usually sore the day after but not so much that it stops me moving around normally. The first is DOMS, the second is just what hapoe s with strength training if you constantly push yourself.

ShinyMe · 14/08/2021 19:33

I did some PT sessions spread over a couple of months, with bits in between over the last few months. If you'd told me 4 months ago that I'd be enjoying going to the gym, I'd have laughed in your face - I was ridiculously inactive and hated getting sweaty and had zero time. The PT sessions were excellent and she set me homework of practicing xyz before our next session, which motivated me to do it. What worked early on was having some dumbells at home and doing bits in my bedroom at night in between other things, when I had a spare few minutes. Didn't need to be a full workout, just a few minutes to do just the squats, or just the curls, or whatever. That was easier too, because I wasn't getting all sweaty and hot. Then she started saying she could see I'd improved in strength or whatever since last time, and that motivated me to do more. Recently I've been going to the gym to do a session maybe 4 times a week - I appreciate we can't all do that, depending on time (I'm lucky to have some time at the moment) but I'm finding that the more often I do it, the easier it gets and the more motivated I feel, because I can physically see the difference in my fitness and my body.

Mindyourbusiness22 · 14/08/2021 19:56

@CloseYourEyesAndSee

Never! If it stops hurting you aren't working hard enough. Fitness doesn't have an end point! However it will definitely get easier and the recovery will be less painful as you get fitter.
Where did you learn that nonsense? 🤣
ShinyMe · 14/08/2021 19:59

I'll add that I'm rarely in severe PAIN from my sessions. I often have a good aching feeling in my muscles after a PT session, which go away after a bath. And I often get an interesting tingly feeling in my muscles immediately after a session. I've lost a stone and a half in the last couple of months and have toned up a lot, and have massively improved my stamina and strength, and have decreased my blood pressure. So it doesn't need to hurt.

Lilymossflower · 14/08/2021 20:01

I think it's to do with the fact that when you work out, the muscles get tiny tears, and then they heal up and become stronger each time. But of course the tiny tears will hurt at first

JosephineDeBeauharnais · 14/08/2021 20:03

I do a heavy weights session with my PT once a week, a fitness class 4 days a week and active rest (walk of 3 - 8 miles on moorland) on the other days. I’ve been exercising at this level or more for 10 years. My life is pain Grin.

chipsandgin · 14/08/2021 20:10

Never! If it stops hurting you aren't working hard enough. Fitness doesn't have an end point! However it will definitely get easier and the recovery will be less painful as you get fitter is really absolutely terrible advice & not true (ex PT here)!!

Does sound like DOMS & it will/should get easier to the point you won’t experience it at all unless you are doing very heavy weights on a regular basis (which I wouldn’t recommend unless you’re planning on bulking up like he-man!?).

Do mention it to your PT though, personally I would tweak a programme if I had a client who was suffering like that, it sounds like too much too soon & she maybe needs to ease off on whatever is causing the extreme muscle soreness & build your strength and endurance more gradually.

ShinyMe · 14/08/2021 20:13

I agree with talking to the PT. She's made a programme based on you doing her two extra sessions in between - she'll tweak it if that isn't manageable.

roundtable · 14/08/2021 20:14

I rarely get DOMS now just a bit of aching and muscle twitching and I lift heavy weights and exercise pretty much every day.

However, I had a week off recently - agony for 3 days. I think when you have time that you don't do it - it gets you bad. I found the same after each lockdown as I couldn't replicate the heaviness of the weights at home. Keep going it will get easier if you are exercising regularly. It will happen if you're not though.

Sounds like you're doing great op. Especially with little ones. I didn't get into it until my youngest was in reception as I just couldn't find the time. (Husband travelled a lot with work so I was often on my own). Well done!

QueenBee52 · 14/08/2021 20:15

[quote Draineddraineddrained]@shinyme

Nope 😳 I have s program from the trainer to do two other sessions myself a week, one a run and one strength/resistance training, but I have no time/motivation - this is why I'm shelling out for training, makes me do it! 😆 Maybe I could try and do something else once a week or so... But with a 6mo permanently attached to me and a 4yo wanting attention it's a bit of a ballache[/quote]

good on you for recognising you need the trainer to motivate you.. good luck 🌸

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 14/08/2021 20:16

@chipsandgin

Never! If it stops hurting you aren't working hard enough. Fitness doesn't have an end point! However it will definitely get easier and the recovery will be less painful as you get fitter is really absolutely terrible advice & not true (ex PT here)!!

Does sound like DOMS & it will/should get easier to the point you won’t experience it at all unless you are doing very heavy weights on a regular basis (which I wouldn’t recommend unless you’re planning on bulking up like he-man!?).

Do mention it to your PT though, personally I would tweak a programme if I had a client who was suffering like that, it sounds like too much too soon & she maybe needs to ease off on whatever is causing the extreme muscle soreness & build your strength and endurance more gradually.

It was tongue in cheek really, not advice. But the idea that you get to a point where you've achieved 'fitness' and no longer get muscle soreness is silly.
Bluehasnoclue · 14/08/2021 20:16

I used to have this when I started with my PT.

Make sure that you stretch before & do some serious stretching after. This really helped for me & I don’t really get DOMS anymore!

CovoidOfAllHumanity · 14/08/2021 20:22

It think you need to do one more exercise session per week. What always helps me with DOMS is the next session. They disappear when I workout again only to be replaced by different ones

I usually get it badly at the start of a new programme and then less as I get better at those exercises but then I switch it up to challenge different muscles.

I quite like DOMS in some ways because it kind of proves to me that it's working.

Insertfunnyname · 14/08/2021 20:24

It’s because you’re only doing it once a week. Do it twice a week and within a fortnight you won’t hurt anymore

Scotsmaw · 14/08/2021 20:36

Day after your session do some yoga and stretching it will help.