Severe Soreness

I've been weight training on and off now for maybe 2-3 months now. Primarily arms, chest and shoulder exercises. Once in a rare while I'd so some minor leg exercises. Monday I had a pretty good upper body workout. Following the advice I found online I decided to devote tuesday to lower body training. I did high weight and low rep squats, seated leg press and a whole array of machines with 6-8 reps with all the weight I could handle basically.

Now it's thursday. My upper body is still too sore to work out but it's not terrible. My lower body however... well... I can barely walk. I realize my body is unaccustomed to exerting my leg muscles but this is ridiculous. I'm in pain here. It sucks not being able to go to the gym for all this time.

I'm eating a "bulking" diet right now of around 2500 calories a day and around 150g of protein. I know it doesn't sound like a ton of calories but if I wasn't going out of my way to eat I'd probably get the usual 1500 calories. So with my metabolism and this diet, combined with sitting on my ass recovering for a week I'll probably gain fat.

Any particular reason why I'm taking soooo long to recover from a typical workout? Along with my regular, high-protein, healthy diet I take a multivitamin, ripped fuel, creatine and glutamine. I'm currently 5'10'' and about 165 lbs.
 
You mentioned you rarely do lower body work-outs - and considering you were lifting heavy, the soreness you're feeling is natural. It doesn't have to do with your diet - just that it's something your body isn't used to. Keep it up, though - never neglect any body part, especially as large as the legs.
 
I remember the first time I lifted heavy - lower body day - I couldn't walk for about 2 days, and was in so much pain for about a week. Gosh, I miss that feeling...
 
This is a sign that you are doing something that your body needs! It is a good sign.

Keep it up.

Are you stretching after your workouts? If not, make sure you stretch major muscle areas for 20-30 seconds each after your workout. Stretching can help to lessen some of the aftermath pains.
 
the same thing happened to me last week. I did heavy squats and the rest on the saturday for the first time, and could barely walk either, don't get me started on going downstairs. Anyways, took till wednesday for it to go away. I rested for several days because of it as well, but next time i will continue to do the upper body workouts even if my legs are dead.
 
lol yeah, sometimes it would hurt to sit down cause of my gluteus being so sore. :cool: i always eat the most on my leg workout days, cause i know my beasts need their food.

and dont forget to workout your back.
 
corple said:
and dont forget to workout your back.
i 2nd that!

that soreness is one more reason why you shouldn't quit! it'll probably only happen for the next couple of workouts but if you quit for a few months and come back, that intense soreness is gonna be waiting for you!!! :eek:
 
Ideally, you should always be sore. It's a good sign that you really hit muscle failure hard. Your body will reward you by rebuilding the muscles with a proportional amount of strength.
 
Could you refer me to some simple to do back exercises? I do various machines and stuff that may work on the back a bit but I don't think I do anything which concentrates on those muscle groups.

Thanks for all the replies all, makes me feel a bit better about having to limp around campus today.
 
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