How to manage work and muscle soreness and fatigue?

[ohyoupokedme]

Hi everyone,

I enjoy exercising so its not the workout itself that is a lot for me at the moment but its the muscle soreness, fatigue and downtime needed e.g. feeling like I'm moving at half the speed because i can barely walk or put on my clothes.

Is this because I'm still new? i just started four weeks ago.. so i thought the soreness would be less by now. Info: I do a 1 hour circuit training/amrap style workout three times a week. And it feels like I'm experiencing soreness any day I'm not working out.

Also i tend to get really sleepy afterwards so that effects my focus at work.

So any tips on how to have a handle of it during working hours?

 

[dawn16]

@ohyoupokedme Start easier, build progressively. It's not unusual to have a bit of soreness from working out, but when it's impacting your daily life then you're likely trying to do too much too fast.

As for sleepiness, as boring as it sounds, go to bed earlier. Your body needs more sleep to cope with higher activity, so an hour less netflix or doomscrolling a night will sort you out.

 

[kenjisan70]

@ohyoupokedme What is your food intake like? If you're not getting enough protein and enough calories, recovery is more difficult.

 

[michaeb2]

@kenjisan70 This was my first thought too - sounds like you probably need to eat more and aren't getting enough protein.

 

[kenjisan70]

@michaeb2 You have to eat like an athlete to be an athlete!

 

[ohyoupokedme]

@kenjisan70 I'm at a deficit at the moment at 1400, and I'm tracking using myfitnesspal to make sure that i get enough protein per day. I usually reach my target quantity for protein from eggs/meat/etc.

 

[chandrika]

@ohyoupokedme You might be underestimating your caloric needs. You haven't mentioned anything to indicate how you came to the conclusion of 1400 calories a day (e.g. height, weight, which certainly could account for it), but like, girl that is low. I'm 5'6" and 1400 calories a day is my BMR, meaning that's how many calories my body would burn if I was just lying in bed not moving for a whole day. I too work out for an hour three times a week, and eating that little would make it impossible for me to function at work and such.

Even if you're hitting protein targets, calories are your energy unit, and if you don't have enough of them, you're going to be wiped. This is especially true when you sharply increase activity and introduce a deficit at the same time. That can be too much at once.

If I were you, I would try eating at maintenance calories for two weeks while maintaining my workout efforts and see how that impacts my energy. Then introduce a more gentle deficit (assuming one of your goals is to lower your bodyweight). You can always increase it safely over time (iirc the common wisdom is not to go further than a 500 cal deficit, so maybe start at a 200 deficit). You can also eat maintenance calories on your workout days and eat at a deficit on your non-workout days (take the calories out of carbs on those days, eat your normal amount of protein and fat)

edit: as for the soreness...buy a few big-ass bags of epsom salts and take a hot bath at the end of a workout day, 2 cups salt per bath. that has always been my jam.

 

[ohyoupokedme]

@chandrika Yeah, I'm trying to lose weight and I'm new at this so I'm still figuring out. I have been eating more cals on workoutdays and less on non-workout days. I'll try to adjust and see what works best. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[kenjisan70]

@ohyoupokedme I totally understand it's hard to deprogram your internal messaging from "lose weight lose weight" but may you actually have to eat more calories than this even on your rest days. Rest days are when your body is building muscle, building or remodeling bone, etc. and you have to feed your brain adequately or it will overrule your iron will and make you super tired. Feed your body to become fit! I wish I had known this when I was young, because I spent too much time suffering and counting.

I don't know how tall you are, or your age, but for example I'm 5'4" and 58YO, I'm lightly active (I lift 3x a week and bike about an hour 2-3x a week, otherwise sedentary) and my maintenance calories are around 1625. To cut weight I went down to 1530 with a little extra on Saturday, because any less than that meant I didn't sleep well and I had no energy on the days between workouts. I cut these calories from fat as much as I could and the rest from simple carbs (sugar). But we need some carbs as workout fuel.

If you're doing three high-intensity workouts a week, you likely just need more food. Check our past Saturday "munchies and meal prep" posts to see what people are eating!

 

[l0ki]

@kenjisan70 Agree. Far be it from me to tell someone how to live their life or what their fitness goals should be, but whenever my diet seems to conflict with something else- my social life, my work schedule, my workout routine (ie, I feel like I'm hungry and need more fuel to succeed), I ask myself which one is more important. Generally, it's the other thing, although diet might be more important than say, some social event I really don't want to go to anyway, for various reasons. But especially when it comes to my workout routine, the calculus usually falls that eating whatever will make me feel best able to get a great workout in the gym will be ultimately better for my mental health and my overall physical health, and, heck, may even be actually better for a weight loss goal (although I'm currently not looking to lose any more weight). That's just my thought process.

 

[carson]

@ohyoupokedme Why are you déficient?

 

[skid_roe]

@kenjisan70 does that mean, the less protein you intake, the more soreness it will be or the opposite?

 

[kenjisan70]

@skid_roe It's not a simple ratio like that. What I (and many other commenters here) meant is you have to eat enough to supply fuel for your body to recover from exercise. Protein is particularly important for that.

 

[mclintock]

@ohyoupokedme I always hated working out because I got so sore. And then I found out I wasn't eating anywhere near enough protein. Protein powder has changed everything for me.

 

[kennethkivumbi]

@mclintock I have had the same learning . Protein + Creatine for recovery

 

[skid_roe]

@mclintock so basically more protein, less soreness after workout?

 

[mclintock]

@skid_roe Exactly.

 

[rushu]

@ohyoupokedme It's most likely because your recovery isn't good. You either don't sleep, eat protein or drink water enough

 

[dawn16]

@rushu Water is so important. Going to the gym really hydrated, drinking while there, and drinking more when I get home. I have glutamine around in case I feel any soreness after a couple of hours, but honestly, I hardly need it since I started focusing on water when lifting.

 

[kennethkivumbi]

@dawn16 I didn’t know glutamine helps with soreness too. I take it for my inflammation, happy to learn it’s other benefits