No pain no gain???

[omydarlin]

Hi Guys

How do you know when pain is to severe to not exercise - I dont want to be a wuss ..but after doing two days in a row of the 30 day shred i still feel a bit ambivalent about getting back on it - yesterday my thighs felt like they were made of painful rubber bands and I was walking all funny! It hurt to stand up sit down and go up and down stairs ..I think I may be beiing a wuss and should get back on it tonight NO PAIN NO GAIN but on the other hand I wonder if I was totally unfit (the only exercise I do is walking everywhere as I dont drive) and was one of those people who they warn about who should "consult their Doctor" .

Help!!

When you exercise, lift weights etc your muscles break down and rebuild and this is how they become stronger. As you get stronger then I expect you will be able to do the shred everyday as it will not have the same effect on your muscles, and you are unlikely to be increasing the weight that you lift drastically, but at the moment if the pain is that extreme I would have a day off in between. Why don't you go for a 20 minute brisk walk or something else instead and do some gentle stretches afterwards.

ohmydarlin: i had exactly the same pain as you describe the day after my first shred. I couldn't keep up walking with my 66 year old mum - going up & downstairs absolutly killed!
& I had been exercising with Wii Fit, EA Sports Active & Biggest loser games for a year!

However, I went on & did 9 shred days straight after day one & the pain does go away. As lostgirl says its just your muscles breaking down & rebuilding. Once you get going on the exercises the pain eases up.

Good luck & go for it.

I agree with the comments made by Joby and Lostgirl. The early days of doing The Shred killed my thighs and calves. Stairs were a nightmare, I was walking as if I'd just given birth .

I'm well into my third week and I still have pains but it is more bearable and I know it is good pain.

Serious strength training creates micro trauma in your muscles and connective tissues and your body responds by making your muscles bigger and stronger to protect them against future damage, this so you give your muscles 48 hours to recover before working them again.

If you have not done much exercise recently or have never done this type of training before (the exercises in the Shred) then even just using your bodyweight during squats and lunges is 'serious strength training'. This doesn't mean that you can't exercise everyday at the moment, but try doing something different on the days in between the shred (walk, yoga, swim, jog) and this can help your muscles to recover. If you don't actually give your muscles time to rebuild then the results will be slower.

As your muscles adapt to the workout you will find you don't need the day off in between but that is also a sign that your body has adapted to the exercises and you need to find new ways to challenge it in order for it to keep making changes.

Only you can judge how bad the muscle pain is. Personally I know that if I have to go up and down stairs on my bottom then it's time for a rest

Lol just a minute re walking like you'd given birth! I did bodypump on Monday & I walking just the same !

Thanks guys I have been doing lots of walking and feel much better Lostgirl - i actually tried to go downstairs on my bottom last night but my stairs are to steep so it was just as bad - i even tried going downstairs sideways which kind of helped!!

So i guess the answer is yes - No pain no gain but give my muscles chance torebuild and get stronger ! I guess it doesnt help that im so heavy when doing squats and stuff