This is a very common question that we get a lot when starting people first begin working out.
First and foremost you should know that the level of soreness when you do your first few workouts will most likely be your sorest days. As you become more consistent with your workouts you should still be feeling sore, but not to the level of soreness from the first few workouts.
If you’re beyond your first few workouts and you’re still incredibly sore then we suggest taking a closer look at your nutrition because this plays an important role in how sore you will feel moving forward. Are you fueling your body before and after your workout?
What about recovering after a workout? Are you taking time for a proper cool down? When you are feeling sore the worst thing you can do is stay sedentary. This just allows lactic acid to build up and cause you to feel all kinds of stiff. This is when you really need to stretch, drink lots of water and move. Do some active recovery, like getting on a bike for 30 mins. This is fantastic for sore muscles. Go for a walk, light jog or a swim.
We recommend Dynamic Stretches as a warm up before your workouts and Static Stretches after your workout. Spending a few minutes doing this will absolutely help your soreness.
Even with these tips you are likely to continue to be fairly sore. It’s completely normal because you are doing something new! Your body is making some crazy changes.
Make sure you are using appropriate modifications to get you through the workout and keep you moving. For more on the importance of scaling workouts check out our article on How To Modify Workouts.
Keep moving forward. No time to look back now. Big changes are right in front of you just keep taking small steps.
Finally- You are not alone, so many people have been in that same position. If you’d like to get into the nitty gritty of it all, we suggest you take some time to listen to episode 14 of The Thick Thighs Save Lives Podcast. It goes into some next level stuff for DOMS and recovery.
If you need more help we would love to have you in our free FB group. It’s made up of 36,000 extremely supportive women and friendly coaches.
For programmer that will always make you sore check out The Thick Thighs Save Lives Workout Program