Exercising sore muscles is counterproductive at minimum and is also risky. You can safely exercise your heart muscle intensely every day, but you can't safely exercise the same skeletal muscles on consecutive days, even when they're not sore. You can work out when some muscles are sore as long as your workout exercises skeletal muscles that aren't sore and haven't been exercised in the previous 48 hours.
Sore Muscles
The day after intense exercise, "bleeding and microscopic tearing can be seen in muscle fibers," according to The Merck Manual of Medical Information. The soreness you feel reflects what is happening to your muscles. It is a natural part of the muscle-building process. Your muscles can also become sore while you are exercising. This is not a natural part of the muscle-building process. Sore muscles while you are exercising reflect a lack of preparation. Your exercise might be too intense for someone in your physical condition, or you might have eaten improperly. The calories from food, particularly calories from carbohydrates, provide the energy for your muscles to function properly.
Potential Dangers
Exercising sore muscles increases the risk that any microscopic tearing will become severe, the muscles will start to break down and you will not be able to exercise those muscles for a few days or weeks. There are three kinds of muscle tears. The least serious is a pulled muscle. It causes soreness. Exercising a sore or pulled muscle can cause second- and third-degree muscle tears. A second-degree tear causes more severe pain, swelling and a loss of muscle strength. A third-degree tear is a rupture and needs to be repaired via surgery.
Rest Recommendations
Exercising sore muscles is unwise, even if it doesn't cause a more severe injury. Resting your muscles for about 48 hours after a workout allows them to heal. "When the muscles heal, they are stronger," according to The Merck Manual. The principle that resting muscles is superior to exercising muscles that haven't healed is proved by the fact that preparing for the triathlon causes less strain on your muscles than training for long-distance running, swimming or bicycling if you don't run, swim or bike on successive days. Exercising different muscles each day allows you, for example, to swim when the muscles needed for running and bicycling are sore. Marathon runners are injured more than triathletes, even though triathletes exercise more, reports Merck.
Exercise Recommendations
Sore muscles are a crucial reason why exercise experts recommend alternating aerobic and strength-training exercises. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends three to five days of aerobic exercises, which are continuous exercises such as bicycling and running, per week, but opposes doing the same strenuous aerobic exercise on consecutive days. The ACSM also recommends two to three days of strength-training exercises such as weightlifting per week. In addition, there should be 48 to 96 hours between strength-training workouts, according to the college textbook "An Invitation to Health." Waiting too long can impair your efforts to build your muscles.
References
- The Merck Manual of Medical Information; 2003
- "Swim, Bike, Run"; Glenn Town and Todd Kearney; 1994
- "An Invitation to Health"; Dianne Hales; 2010
- American College of Sports Medicine: The Recommended Quantity and Quality of Exercise; 1998
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