is it ok to squat again when sore?

[seo1]

I completed starting strength's workout A on Friday, rested today and am scheduled to complete workout B tomorrow. My legs are so sore today that I'm not very mobile. So I'm guessing that it probably is best to not try and hit my legs again tomorrow as they haven't had time to recover. At what point is it ok to lift through soreness?

[silentbob]

Yup. Lift through the soreness. It's only DOMS and will go away soon enough.

[mjh]

lift again tomorrow. The soreness should go away with a good warm up. Do a bunch of squats and lunges with no bar or weight and you should be sweet.

[eLvarouza]

Make sure the warmup is good yes. Soreness is no excuse to not train. When you train sore muscles through their full range of motion you are also pumping more blood to the muscles, which will help them recover.

[seo1]

ok thanks guys. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to tear a quad or something.

[Glutenbob]

I was actually surprised when i heard about lifting through soreness. I was skeptical too, but in the first week, the second day of the routine my legs were sore, but i decided to put faith in what the e-book said and i lifted through the soreness. I did 1 set of my desired weight and the next rep, my soreness disappeared. I was amazed.

[Dada]

I find that as long as I warm up enough I can usually do the squats with no problem. Which is kind of funny b/c sometimes I may have trouble walking but not trouble squatting. So it's got to be the warmup that makes the difference.

[rbtrout]

Exactly, warm up makes the difference. I've found with rack pulls that I can lift more after a heavy squat session than if I do them first.

[LiftingNerd]

If I never trained when I was sore then I would almost never train.

[MadLift]

I was actually surprised when i heard about lifting through soreness. I was skeptical too, but in the first week, the second day of the routine my legs were sore, but i decided to put faith in what the e-book said and i lifted through the soreness. I did 1 set of my desired weight and the next rep, my soreness disappeared. I was amazed.

Yeah, I've been through the same as well. It is amazing now that you say it.

[Wildster]

Can't believe all the comments here saying to train through the soreness!

You train hard in the gym and then the reason you are sore is because you tear the muscles which you have worked, that is the soreness you experience. Now, to build muscle you need to train, which tears the muscle, which enables it to grow. But the only way it will grow is if you feed it nutrients to enable it to grow and give it plenty of rest which gives the muscle time to grow.

If you're training again 2 days after and are still sore then it defeats the objective of your training session 2 days previous, as you are hitting your muscles again before they have time to grow. Also, if you keep hitting your body time after time when it hasn't recovered from the previous workout then it is also not giving your emmune system chance to recover, therefore aiding against the building of muscle and also meaning that you feel much tired and a lack of energy, resulting in a lower performance in the gym.

Even if you train legs one day and wait a day and train say chest again (a completely different part of the body), then you are still not giving your emune system chance to fully recover, which will be a detriment to your training due to lack of energy and recovery speed etc.

It may sound strange but it definetely works. After a great deal of research I followed Mike Mentzer's high intensity training routine for 6 months a few years ago (I advise to read his book, a great read and an eye opener), this focuses on rest. I got to the point where I was only deadlifting and squating once a month and the results I had from this was astonishing. You would think that once a month would not lead to any progression in the weight lifted, but it was quite the contrary. Now I'm not saying only squat or deadlift once a month, but give enough rest between workouts to ensure that you are not still sore from the previous workout.

No disrespect to anyone who has posted 'to train through the soreness', but anyone who says that is eather one of or all of the following: a) genetically gifted, b) on steroids, or c) doesn't know how to train properly. What I can advise to these people is try this for a couple of month; give enough rest after each workout until you are no longer sore until you train again, you will no doubt see gains in muscle, weights lifted and feel better as a result.

The one thing I can guarantee is providing you train hard, then nutrition and rest is the key to building muscle! It's better to take a day or two of extra rest than to take a day less rest.

[Dada]

Wildster, I gotta disagree with you. If you follow SL 5x5 or any of the 5x5 routines which are done 3x / week for that matter, at a minimum your legs are going to be sore - period. Do these systems work, absolutely and they will work for a long time - years (assuming you progress to intermediate and advanced versions which regulate volume / intensity).

I get the whole Mentzer thing but to be honest he himself was a genetic freak on steriods so take what he said with a grain of salt. Some of his ideas were good but the whole "this is the only way to train" thing was way off base.

Last I don't agree that if you train sore you are necesarily clueless, a freak, or on steriods. Stop reading muscle magazines and bb.com articles and learn about real strength training. Last, a lot of the soreness is nothing but DOMS which will go away after you've been on a routine for a few weeks. Now if you have pain due to a real injury, that is a differnt story. In that case, fix the problem before training again obviously.

[rbtrout]

I've read two of Mike Mentzer's books and have 2 of his "Underground" videos. The theories are good, but it only works for a very few. For the most part, I don't think he trained that way. To re-iterate Dada's points, he (Mike Mentzer) was a genetic freak and on roids, so I guess he qualifies with your last comment on being "a) genetically gifted, b) on steroids, or c) doesn't know how to train properly".

I'm not genetically gifted, not on roids, BUT, I do know how to train properly.....and it shows.

[Wildster]

Dada - i only used the Mentzer thing as an example of using rest, I'm not saying this is the best or only way to train, but the principle is still the same no matter what system you use.

It's factual science that you need to give a muscle rest after training to enable it to grow. If you train again while it is still sore then you are limiting it's potential growth from the previous training session and also not giving your immune system chance to fully recover. You'r will have tore the fibres in the muscle, starting the process off to make it to grow stronger and bigger, but you will be cutting the process short by not giving it enough time to grow. Therefore you will go into the gym training a muscle which has not fully repaired, which could lead to injury as a result of over training.

One of the most basic mistakes of people who train is overtraining, that is made up of the length of each workout and also the frequency of each workout. Only train once you have fully recovered from the previous workout i.e. no soreness. That is the key to maximum muscle growth and strength(providing your training and nutrition is good).

The Olympia winners etc. can get away with training 4-7 times per week as they are genetically blessed and on the gear, but the average person can not.

[AD69]

@Wildster - I'd read the forum before issuing "advice", there is plenty of experience on this site who will disagree with you. Especially on your 3rd post!

@Dada - I get the same - I walk like an 85 year arthritis suffer after squatting, but if you warm up enough, then can squat fine.

@seo1 - DOMS will get less and less as you keep squatting.