Have you ever had the experience of starting a new training program and feeling so sore the next day that you could barely walk around or sit down? Although this is common, it’s completely unnecessary and even inappropriate.
If you haven’t exercised in a few months (or years), you should start with a really small dose. We like to tell our new clients that the first 10 sessions (sometimes the first 20, depending on how long they’ve been sedentary) should “feel good”.
That means the effort level should be light to moderate. Breaking a sweat yes, but nothing close to intense or maximum efforts. If you’re doing strengthening exercises, by the end of each set you should feel that you could definitely do another 3 to 5 reps, if you wanted to. If you can barely finish your set, that’s too much.
Regarding cardiovascular exercise, it should be at an intensity that you could still talk as you exercise. If you get so out of breath that you can’t talk, that’s too much.
When stretching, if it’s painful and it feels like your muscle is about to tear, it’s too much.
If it feels kind of easy, it’s correct. That should allow you to exercise again the next day, and the next day, and so on… Exercising more often, as opposed to more intensely, is best at first.
There’s not a clear, specific number of sessions that we need to perform before starting to push harder, and it’ll vary from person to person, but it’s definitely more than 10.
A little bit sore, not too much, is great. More than that can be excessive in the beginning. Remember, even if you’d only do the warm-up, that would be a lot more than just sitting on the couch. Get moving! :)
Willian Alba
Comments