Beginner Bodyweight Routine - terrible muscle ache! (help?)

[Dog]

Hey everyone,

 

Two days ago, I did my first beginner bodyweight routine. I didn't exercise in quite some time, and apparently it really got to me! Would like some tips on how to go on from here.

 

What I did:

 

Warm-up:

30 sec jump rope

20 jumping jacks

10 squats

5 lunges (per leg)

5 wall push ups

 

Actual workout:

20 squats

10 push ups (on the knees)

20 walking lunges

15 sec plank

30 jumping jacks

 

I did not have a weight to do the dumbell rows at that moment and I could only complete the circuit once. I was dead after that! My legs/knees already felt weak after the 10 squats from the warm up, doingthe actual 20 squats of the workout was murder, haha! So now we're two days further (it's morning now) and I was so stiff in the legs yesterday and today. Even walking hurts a bit and going up/down the stairs is terrible, haha! Once I'm walking for a few minutes, it's fine, but I still feel the work out from two days ago My question is:

 

Should I do the workout today or wait until I no longer feel pain in my legs? I don't want to sound like a wuss and give up after my first try, haha, but I also don't want to do any damage to my body. Maybe I can replace most of the squats with more jumping jacks or something, because it's mainly my upper-leg-muscles that hurt.

 

Looking forward to your advice!

 

Dog

[fffffinn]

Hi Dog!

 

Just chiming in to note that I was wasted after my first beginner bodyweight circuit too. I took up on it thinking hey, this doesn't look too bad, it's clearly aimed at begin..hnnnnnnnghhhhhhh. (squats.) . Well. I made it through once. Panting. Sweating. Desperate.

 

I also had a similar experience of agonizing thigh-hurt-thing after my second or third time doing this circuit and was wondering EXACTLY the same thing. I'm not a doctor or even a fitness expert and you should DEFINITELY take the following with a huge grain of salt but I actually went through the exercise, even when experiencing the pains. I took it a bit easier and made sure I stretched properly. In my case the pain subsided going into the workout.

 

I'm three weeks in the bbw-circuit and currently pushing through it, all 3 rounds. Even with the squats! So it's possible if you keep at it!! I've even recently started making the last circuit a "max-rep" circuit in order to feel the similar burn as in the beginning and I guess making a bit of progress. My maxes at the last circuit are at 30 squats, 17 pushups, 15+15 lunges, 20+20 dumbell rows (using a ~5kg guitar amp for these ), 20 breath-cycles of plank (haven't figured out a way to include accurate sec tracking yet) and 40 jumping jacks.

 

Hope someone with a bit more experience in fitness would answer too, as my reply just serves best as an encouraging side note. ;-)

[Ulfgard]

Your muscles need time to regenerate after training and while they regenerate and repair the damage that the training caused, they can not grow. But muscles can also not grow while you tear them down in a training session, so you need a good amount of rest, which in general is 48h between two training sessions.

 

When you just start up with training and use your muscles in a new way, they are really bad at regenerating and you probably gave them also quite a lot to repair. So take it slowly at the beginning. When you feel reasonably well after 48h of rest you can and should go train again. If movement hurts, better skip that day and train the next day. There is no problem in having two full rest days at the beginning - or even more. So slowly work up from two times training a week to doing it 3 times.

 

Regarding the training itself: Keep it slow! There is no use in pushing yourself so far that you are done after a single circuit. When 10 squats make you feel weak, 20 are not going to be a nice experience for your muscles! Just do 2-3 circles of 10 or even less. The rule of thumb is: after the last repetition of circle 3 you should feel spent. But you should not do more repetitions than you feel you are doing with proper form. Changing form is usually a sign that some muscles in your body are done and you shift your movement patterns to compensate, which is usually not a good thing.

 

Maybe also choose a different warm-up along the lines of:

Warm-up:

30 sec jump rope

20 jumping jacks

3x bend slightly in your knees (above parallel) and hold for 10s

20s run (in place) with raised legs

 

There is no sense in doing stuff during warm-up which would also qualify as proper training for you!

for the dumbbell rows, just grab a backpack and fill it with some books. or simply grab a gallon of milk or a large bottle of water.

[The Cheeky Aardvark]

Your muscles will get used to repairing themselves, so recovery will get quicker the more you do it. Ulfgard speaks the truth ^^ Also look up other variations of exercises or completely different exercises that are at your fitness level. Its ok to tailor the program to fit your finess level. Instead of squats for your warm up - maybe do something like step ups???

Also mix it up a bit so you are not using the exact same muscle groups in every consecutive workout. eg: Workout A - planks, workout B - side planks. or perhaps: A - slightly wider push ups (hand placement), B - slightly narrower push ups

Ps - I found your question hahahaha

[BaconHunter]

If you're still sore after 2 full days of rest, do only the warm-up.

 

You should plan your workouts (i.e. make a commitment to work out, say, 3 times a week). If you feel sore on a planned day, only do the warm-up. This way, you'll still show up (keeping the promise you gave yourself) and it will aid recovery. 

 

Another thing to keep you going: Simply take a walk on your rest days. It'll help with recovery (increased blood flow), lower your stress levels and it simply feels dang awesome.

[Dog]

Thanks for the bunch of replies everyone! I unfortunately saw this a bit too late, haha. I asked some people in the chat to answer my question and they said to just go ahead with my training, but adjust a bit and perhaps do less squats or make them easier or omit them at all if they're still too painful. So I actually did just that, I did the warm-up and actually repeated the circuit three times, but without the dumbell rows again (a backpack is actually a good idea!) and I assisted myself with the squats and lunges by holding on to things so my arms did some work as well. So I cheated! ~tgm~

 

'll see how sore I am tomorrow and I will follow up your guys' great advice on waiting two days before doing the workout again when sore. Doing just the warm-up on sore days and making the warm-up easier sounds like a great idea, as I do think the current warm-up is a bit too 'much' for me for just a warm-up. Being a newb sucks I already walk at least 45 mins every day, as I have a dog My bf walks him once a day and I walk him twice a day, usually one longer round of at least 30 mins and one shorter round of 10 - 15 minutes.

[Dog]

I have to say, I hardly have any muscle aches today! So it's looking good Thanks for all of your advice, I'll take it to heart! 

[Lycansbane]

I'm a little late weighing in here, but after my 1st BBWW i was wiped out.  I hurt for two days solid. Did my first one on a monday, and when Wednesday rolled around i was still sore.  I did discover that when i did my warm-up just to give it a go that most of my soreness either went away or at least went down significantly.  I was actually surprised i finished day 2 but it did take me some time.  

 

Short version is i agree if you're sore you should still at least do your warm-up.  Who knows you might still venture into your regular workout once it's done.

[dancezwithkittehz]

It sounds like you are already kind of figuring this out on your own, but sometimes exercising actually will help cut through the delayed onset muscle soreness you are feeling! Starting with the warm up to see where you go is a great way to test things and see especially since you are new and don't know your body limits just yet!

 

I do have to inform you though that the crazy soreness does not stop as you get stronger. You just do more and harder variations of things to get there! I'm pretty much sore all the time and if I'm not then I know I haven't been working hard enough. (And you will develop a really good awareness of the difference between soreness pain and bad injury type pain!!)

[PaulG]

I do have to inform you though that the crazy soreness does not stop as you get stronger. You just do more and harder variations of things to get there! I'm pretty much sore all the time and if I'm not then I know I haven't been working hard enough. (And you will develop a really good awareness of the difference between soreness pain and bad injury type pain!!)

 

This is not necessarily true as you get beyond rank beginner stages, especially with strength training.

 

When you first start out, your capacity both for recovery and for overload is very poor. Just about any training will give you DOMS for the first couple weeks, and take a several days to fully recover from -- longer than you can wait and still make your training effective unless you enjoy progressing at a snail's pace.

 

As your body starts to adapt to those stresses, both capacities improve. You can recover from properly performed strength training within 24-48 hours (mostly), but your capacity for overload also increases -- you have to push yourself further and further past the pace of good programming to create DOMS.

 

Within a couple months, the line between DOMS and pushing yourself to the point of injury becomes a very fine one. As you continue to train, that balance only gets more delicate. And along with that, you have to contend with recovering from the extreme efforts it will now take to produce DOMS consistently (guaranteed you won't be recovering within a couple days).

 

That's why, once you get into intermediate-stage training, folks who are more experienced will caution you not to chase significant DOMS. It's not a positive training effect, and you don't want to have it all the time.

 

Throughout most of my beginner-stage training, I rarely had DOMS unless I was trying a new exercise or coming back after a layoff. I only occasionally get it now when I change my training significantly.

[dancezwithkittehz]

Well that was delightfully condescending of you. I'll let all the professional aerialists I know know that they are doing it wrong then and they shouldn't be experiencing DOMS anymore because...magic? Or something?

 

Anyway, original poster, I just wanted to let you know that DOMS are not just a beginner thing and to learn to at least tolerate them because if you keep progressing you will keep experiencing them!

[BaconHunter]

Let's just stop the name calling right there. No one was trying to be condescending and everyone is here to help.

 

Most trainees will experience DOMS regardless of their training "level". People are different, though. Some just don't get very sore, no matter what they do, and then there's people like me, who get sore from a hard workout even if I've done the exercises for hundreds and thousands of reps.

 

But, from my own experience and from what I hear from everybody else, the degree of soreness does decrease with training experience. Being intensely sore all the time (that's what I think PaulG was referring to), even after months of training, is a sign that you're overdoing it. However, a little DOMS here and there is just fine.