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Varsity

Hi All

Im new to this forum I hope to use it mainly for fitness and for receiving and giving advice were I can. First off I went to the gym last night for the first time in over a year! My problem is that my legs are very stiff this morning I had arranged to go to the gym tonight aswell but now that my legs are so stiff Im wondering what should I do. Would I be best off relaxing tonight or should I be ok to run the stiffness off? Thanks in advance for any advice given!

r3nu4l

Hiya Varsity, There are people here who are far more qualified than me to speak about this but my advice is that if you've been away from the gym for a year you should definitely take it very slow.

To get the best gains you should also allow a rest day between workouts.

You may be sore because you didn't warm up efficiently, did too much during the workout, didn't cool down and stretch sufficiently or a combination of those factors.

Did you seek any advice at the gym? Have they given you a program? What are your goals? Read the stickies at the top of the forum to get some idea of where you want to go with this.

Dragan

Hmmmm.

Describe the feeling in your legs? Are the stiff as in a good stretch and a job will sort them out of is it a decent level of soreness there?

Varsity

Groins feel a bit sore the rest seems like just general stiff and tight. Im just wonder would I be ok for doing gym again tonight or do you think I should leave it? Isnt there a old say called "no pain no gain"?

brianthebard

I feel like that after doing some heavish front squats on monday. If you can get into a squat position without it being painful (as opposed to just the stiff feeling) then I don't think there's anything wrong. Welcome to DOMS!

Varsity

Cheers for the help everyone!

p-nut

I would say if your legs are stiff from working them hard last night, just focus on upper body stuff tonight and have a good, full body stretch out before and after.

What were you doing in the gym last night if you dont mind me asking? Like were you running etc. or doing weights? If you done a full body workout with weights for example, i would defo giv the gym a miss tonite seein as it is a year since your previous visit, but thats just my own opinion

g'em

JFL FTW

Varsity, welcome back to the wonderful world of iron (you said nothing about actual lifting in your OP but I'm making that assumption is there really anything else worthwhile to do in a gym other than play with heavy stuff?? yes, I am being facetious btw). You said you did legs last night? Are you doing a split routine? Is it stiffness/ DOMS/ injury pain?

If it's stiffness and you're doing a split, get back into the gym, stretch it out, maybe do a little bit of light mobility work, get the blood pumping around the area to help relieve it. Do upper body work instead. If it's DOMS, stop being such a wimp and learn to love the pain If it's an injury get it seen to.

Running on it isn't the worst idea in the world, but it will slow down muscle regeneration. Try and avoid heavy cardio either side of a leg day. A brisk incline walk would do the same job with less stress.

JayRoc

I personally believe working an area while it's still suffering from strong DOMS is pretty pointless and even counter-productive. (But then this is my major objection to some TBT programmes! )

But that's assuming we are talking about real DOMS here and not just a little general stiffness, etc.

g'em

JayRoc wrote:

I personally believe working an area while it's still suffering from strong DOMS is pretty pointless and even counter-productive. (But then this is my major objection to some TBT programmes! )

Oh I agree, totally. No harm in doing light recovery work though.

Varsity

Thanks for all your advice. Now that ive managed to join the gym I want to get a set of weights for my house aswell so I can work abit at night aswell. Im just wondering does anyone know were I could get a decent set of weights at a reasonable price. Just to give you a a bit of back round it’s my first time to start doing weights and im not the biggest fella in the world altought im no wimp either so if yous have ANY advice to a beginner at all it would be great!!

Cheers in advance