How tired/sore do you get after exercise?

jsmoke

jsmoke

jsmoke

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Let's say a 5k run or 10k walk with a few hundred metres of elevation gain.

How sore would you legs be. My knees and the back of them and a bit of hamstring get pretty sore. Hard to say if this is age, lack of consistent exercise, medical, bad diet etc or maybe bad footwear.

I didn't do much exercise apart from general walking for years, yet I did a lot in younger years, and I'm thinking I left too big a gap and now my bones and muscles have just got too set in their ways.

Maybe it's just my age and I'm still thinking I'm 20 or maybe I forget that exercise is always like this.

But I hear of 80 year olds climbing mountains or going on 20k walks and they don't seem to be dying after it their not complaining about sore knees or sore ankles or hamstrings etc.

It really boils down to how you've looked after your body including your diet over the years right?

If you neglect your body your going to damage it...
 
When I first started from zero about 4 years ago after my first parkrun I was zonked for the day. It just takes time. You won't even notice it happening but stick at it and take your time. It's unlikely you will win a gold medal so just enjoy whatever activity you feel like doing. Baby steps is the key I am afraid.
 
SPG said:
When I first started from zero about 4 years ago after my first parkrun I was zonked for the day. It just takes time. You won't even notice it happening but stick at it and take your time. It's unlikely you will win a gold medal so just enjoy whatever activity you feel like doing. Baby steps is the key I am afraid.
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I won plenty of gold medals at school but I got sick of training after years of it.
 
div0 said:
You don't say much about your current fitness, but sounds like its almost certainly a lack of regularly doing that sort of exercise.
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Well I think your right here, it's just general walking to the shops or whatever, in 2019 I did maybe 5 parkruns but I'm probably just completely underestimating my level of fitness or lack of it.
 
Cycling is a killer on the legs until you start going out 2 or 3 times a week, then it becomes really easy for some reason. Bet if i ran half a mile it would hurt though.
 
A certain volume of exercise will give you delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). If you leave it too long between bouts of exercise, the amount of volume required to cause this stays perpetually low - so it won't take much to feel soreness - where as regular exercise of the same sort (e.g. running 5km, leg day, bouldering, etc) builds your tolerance to DOMS. This is called the repeated bout effect.

As an aside this training volume exists as something of a spectrum;
- minimum effective volume (the amount of work required to keep any exercise adaptations)
- minimum adaptive volume (the amount of work required to cause positive exercise adaptations)
- maximum adaptive volume (the most amount of work you can do before fatigue exceeds recovery time before the next bout of exercise)

In general the most productive strategy is to start with a low volume of training and build it up over time as/when necessary. Once you're consistent with exercise - even brisk walking - being super-sore is typically a sign you've done more than is necessary. I'm rarely sore unless I switch to a new movement in the gym that's really novel, or I've been training hard for 5-6 weeks and have built up enough fatigue I need a light week ('deload') to allow cumulative fatigue to dissipate.
 
as above it really all depends on the frequency that you do the exercise and the time which has passed since you last trained in a similar way.

if i didnt run for one month and then smashed out a 10k i would be sore for sure, but if over a monthly you slowly ran 2-3x per week @ 5k then did a 10k you probably wouldn't get too bad muscle soreness.

DOMS as above is pretty much just telling your body is not used to that duration & and or type of exercise.
 
How much stretching do you do either after exercise or in general?

I have found that as I have got older I need to do more post exercise. I usually do Yoga as well as that helps with knees and esp Hamstrings (I have found).
 
I'd depends drastically on the individual. I do a lot of running and I'm not sore at all after a 5k/10k or even half marathon. But after a game of 5-a-side football I'll be sore for days, as I only play once or twice a year. It depends what your body is used to doing. Bones and muscles do waste if you don't use them. Perhaps you won't be able instantly do what you once found easy but it doesn't mean you can't ever do it again. You just need to put a bit of time and effort into building up to it.
jsmoke said:
It really boils down to how you've looked after your body including your diet over the years right?
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Yes and No. You can't change what has already happened, so you can't help getting sore after exercise if you're not used to it. What it does really boil down to is what you are going to do about it now?

Getting healthy/fit does not happen overnight, but everyone has to start somewhere. It's never too big of a gap to start looking after yourself but the hardest part is committing to it. Find a form of exercise you actually enjoy doing and you will never be healthier.
 
dwarf said:
I'd depends drastically on the individual. I do a lot of running and I'm not sore at all after a 5k/10k or even half marathon. But after a game of 5-a-side football I'll be sore for days, as I only play once or twice a year. It depends what your body is used to doing. Bones and muscles do waste if you don't use them. Perhaps you won't be able instantly do what you once found easy but it doesn't mean you can't ever do it again. You just need to put a bit of time and effort into building up to it.
Yes and No. You can't change what has already happened, so you can't help getting sore after exercise if you're not used to it. What it does really boil down to is what you are going to do about it now?

Getting healthy/fit does not happen overnight, but everyone has to start somewhere. It's never too big of a gap to start looking after yourself but the hardest part is committing to it. Find a form of exercise you actually enjoy doing and you will never be healthier.
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What about age though. I go, 0-20 a lot of exercise particularly from around 11-18, training etc. Then around 20-40 (I know a long time) I really did little, I did a few months of cycling and light running during these 20 years and the usual walking generally but if I'm realistic I really let it slip.

So at 44 where am I at, what has the gap from 20-40 done to me apart from make me lazy.
 
jsmoke said:
What about age though. I go, 0-20 a lot of exercise particularly from around 11-18, training etc. Then around 20-40 (I know a long time) I really did little, I did a few months of cycling and light running during these 20 years and the usual walking generally but if I'm realistic I really let it slip.

So at 44 where am I at, what has the gap from 20-40 done to me apart from make me lazy.
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I'm 61 and got very sore quads for a few days after my first couple of jogs a few weeks ago, I did too much too soon. But the following week the quads soreness didn't return after jogging so it's as though my legs got used to that quite fast. However, after the next jog, I got a different pain below the knee and right hip. So I've taken 2 weeks off and feel ready to go back to jogging. Hopefully, those things also won't return, particularly since I've bought better cushioned shoes since my last jog. But I was advised on here to go slower and for shorter duration to build myself up at a more sensible pace, like 10% of my normal jogging time and then maybe 20% a couple of days later. So yeah, for you and me as basically new to exercise, we have to take it slowly for now.
 
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jsmoke said:
What about age though. I go, 0-20 a lot of exercise particularly from around 11-18, training etc. Then around 20-40 (I know a long time) I really did little, I did a few months of cycling and light running during these 20 years and the usual walking generally but if I'm realistic I really let it slip.

So at 44 where am I at, what has the gap from 20-40 done to me apart from make me lazy.
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Age is not an excuse. Sure, you're not going to set any world records, but it doesn't stop you exercising.

What you have done between 20-40 has given yourself a starting point to improve from. You can't change what you didn't do, but you sure can change what you do going forward. Stop finding excuses and just do it™
 
It totally depends on what you do ,football uses different muscles [twisting and turning] if your lifting weights depending on your structure and general fitness ,within a few attempt's you will get past the doms

stretching is quite key at any age before and after any exercise ,but its quite boring ,so you tend to find its way down on the list ,it would really help they hamstrings tho
 
Neglecting fitness for a while will cause you to not be as fit (obviously).

But....if you get back into regular training and do proper warm ups and cool downs you will start to feel much better and workouts will become easier. I've had a few setbacks due to injuries needing surgery and its really tough going backwards then having to spend ages getting back to where you were, all whilst getting older all the time.

Don't give up - get out there. Start little and often and don't go all out 100% every single time. Hard workouts will always tire you out but should become easier and your recovery will improve.
 
Have you considered a percussion gun. I had really tight calfs and knees and it loosens mime up and if i use it on exercise days it helps with doms as it flushes out a lot of lactic acid
 
Jonnybmac said:
Have you considered a percussion gun. I had really tight calfs and knees and it loosens mime up and if i use it on exercise days it helps with doms as it flushes out a lot of lactic acid
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Looks good, I've starting doing squats and it's making a big difference.
 
I never did anything before 3 years ago and use to get sore when I started. Now I get soreness only after a new resistance routine if I go out it but that's it. The right diet, rest and proper conditioning and you can put yourself through anything.

A few months ago I started doing 12km before work and another 12km in the evening daily with resistance training 6 days a week. Yeah I get tired but no more so than I use to just wandering around the shops all day. The other day I decided to pump some real steps into my watch just to see how much I can do in a day and got to 73km before calling it.

Your main barrier is yourself. I posted my 3 year transformation pic the other day in the weight loss thread and it really shows what you can achieve if you throw away all the BS excuses and gimmicks and just hold your own efforts accountable.

If I feel a bit of soreness these days, that's just a bonus I've earned as part of the struggle to do better.
 
I still try and keep fit for work as I'm still frontline after 21 years in but at 46 it does get harder. I do nothing further than 5k runs and still cycle where I can but what used to bounce off me now twinges a bit.

It didn't help that I had Covid last April which really affected my lungs and recovery after exertion.
 
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