working out while slightly sore

[svrn]

I know that working out while sore is bad but what if im just a little a little bit sore? Should I just work out anyway since its only a bit sore or should I let my muscles recovery completely before working them out again in order to gain full benefit?

[jessica]

if you are only a little sore its probably fine. experiment.  for me i have found that light exercise, like if i did some intense hills/hiking/cycling/lifting and my legs are sore as fuck so the next day i walk around a lot, stretch and go for at least one good long walk they are less sore then if i am stuck at work just walking little short bits and then pile out at home not stretching.  if its only a group of muscles just exercise what doesnt hurt. 

[LePatron7]

Working out when you're a little bit sore probably won't do any damage. But it will prevent you from getting the most out of your gains.

Being that your muscles grow while you rest. If you workout before your muscles are fully recover, you'll have stopped your muscles from growing the maximum amount they would have from their last workout.

[Projectile Vomit]

You can certainly experiment if you'd like, but it's been my experience that it's best to wait for soreness to completely recede before working a muscle group again. Even if it takes a few weeks, which it might if you haven't worked that group before, or as hard as you recently did.

[l0rdcha0s]

Each workout creates an inroad into the muscles strength. Working out before your muscle is fully recovered, while not detrimental, will only further deepen the inroad and your strength gains will most likely stall. It's like starting at 100 units of strength and after a workout you're at 70 units. You could workout at 80 or 90 units since you've recovered a bit but you'd rather be at 100 again, and if you wait long enough you might reach 110 units of strength (an increase in the weight or TUL that you use). Dr. Doug McGuff explains this inroad process really well in his book "Body by Science".

When trying to increase strength, it's always best to err on the side of waiting longer. Rest and sleep are what help muscles recover and grow, you won't lose strength for taking an extra day to rest.

[svrn]

I do full body workouts every time now so its different from a person who does certain body parts at a gym and can workout a different section of his body every other day. I however will have to wait a week to workout again everytime since im doing bodyweight excercises for my whole body each time.

Is this bad? Im thinking that its good to completely master body weight excercises before doing any weights. Perhaps I should break my bodyweight excercises into sections like people who lift weights do?

[l0rdcha0s]

Is this bad? Im thinking that its good to completely master body weight excercises before doing any weights. Perhaps I should break my bodyweight excercises into sections like people who lift weights do?

It doesn't matter whether you do body weight or weights or machines. Your body responds to the stress you place on it. All it knows is there is a significant resistance against it that must be overcome. If you can fatigue your muscles with bodyweight exercises it would be a similar stimulus as doing it with the others. The trouble comes when you are unable to properly fatigue your muscles with bodyweight exercises due to increased strength. If the body weight exercises are working for you then keep doing them.

There is no need to split up the exercises by target muscles. If you are someone that recovers fast then I'd say to try it and see how your time/reps are. Everyone has a slightly different recovery period. Some are really long and some need very little. A friend of mine told me of a client he had that saw him once a month because that was how long it took her to recover from the previous workout. Recently I've seen this in myself. I had been training 3x a week for a good period but 2 weeks ago I realized my TUL wasn't increasing as much as I was hoping (my progress was slowing). I decided to consolidate day 1 and three, cut out some unnecessary exercises to keep it short and switch to a 2 day/week routine. My time is much better these past two weeks. The stronger you get the more recovery time your muscles are going to need.

[aLptHW4k4y]

I know that working out while sore is bad but what if im just a little a little bit sore? Should I just work out anyway since its only a bit sore or should I let my muscles recovery completely before working them out again in order to gain full benefit?

Yes if it's only slightly sore it's perfectly fine to exercise again, and you'll get even more benefit than if you wait to completely recover. I do the same exercises every other day, so my muscles are always a bit sore when exercising. The key is a little sore; you should always avoid doing too much damage.

Research says you won't increase the muscle damage if you exercise the same muscles again in the next 6 days: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11581559
Which has proven correct in my case, soreness does not increase but stays same or decreases when I take a break of more than two days.