The Cure For Sore Muscles…

Is Flashdance! Puzzled?

Women’s Health this month has a weight-training tip I’d never heard before (and frankly, I thought I’d heard them all): Do 35-40 seconds of intense cardio in between each weight set and according to the (2-line blurb) study, this will reduce soreness significantly. After four weeks of doing this, supposedly participants had no muscle soreness at all after lifting.

Of course it doesn’t mention whether the participants changed up their routine during that time. After four weeks on the same schedule, I wouldn’t be sore anymore regardless of what crazy antics I pulled during my rests.

The Experiment
Muscle soreness after lifting is a constant problem for me. I’m almost always sore. Part of that can be chalked up to over training. But part of that is just me. I was that way as a gymnast and dancer as well. So I find this study very intriguing!

Me being me though, I wouldn’t want to just jog in place or jump imaginary rope. It’s got to be fun. (Or annyoing, depending on if you are the grouchy guy on the weight floor at my gym who frowns so hard every time he sees me coming that I’m going to have to give him a gift cert. for Botox next Christmas.)

I’m pretty sure I could pull off Flashdance given enough room – if you haven’t seen it lately it involves actual breakdancing! – and mirrors. I could definitely do Maniac on a weight bench (side note: you haven’t seen “maniac” done right until you’ve seen Turbo Jennie do it!). Although I do draw the line at wearing an ’80s thong. How did a fitness-minded gal ever pee in the ’80s? Between the tights under the bike shorts under the leotards topped off with leg warmers, I’m thinking they just held it for the whole decade. Thank heavens for the ’90s – we got to wear our bike shorts over our leotards thank you very much.

Better yet, I’ll practice our new Hip Hop routine! It has a move called The Windmill that will definitely get my heart rate up. Unless I accidentally kill someone with my flailing arms. I’ll let you know how it goes. (The cardio intervals, not the killing people. I’m saving that for a separate blog.)

14 Comments

  1. I heart Turbo so much. Only fellow Turbo junkies can understand my compulsive urge of dressing up to working.
    As for the study, maybe getting the blood circulating helps healing the micro tears sooner??

  2. Yikes, I think I’d rather have the muscle soreness. Somehow the thought of having to do intense cardio intervals and weight training, my two most hated activities, TOGETHER makes me want to lie down and curl up in a little ball.

  3. every gym's nightmare

    Ha, im with crabby. i dont get where everyone decided its ok to lift to the point of soreness. instead of trying to deminish it, how bout you dont get to that point in the first place?

    no pain + no gain = no true

    im too tired to make that grammatically correct.

  4. chiming in kind of.
    Im with crab and every gym’s but only because for me weight training is almost meditative and the cardio would ruin that for me.

    Miz.

  5. The Lethological Reader

    Hey, that’s actually kind of like my boot camp class I just started teaching! 2 minute weight stations, then in between every weight station, 1 minute of cardio. I seem to have hit on something! For cardio, I usually do jacks, side leaps, running in place, lunging side to side off the bench, kicking up feet in place with vertically flailing arms, that kind of thing. It’s really fun (I say that now, before I get totally burned out on the whole format…)

  6. HA! I say skip the weights altogether and just do the cardio! I love jumping around outside or even in my living room. Don’t listen to me.

    But I am getting better! I’ve been keeping up with my HIIT since you all started the Jillian Michaels thing. It’s going pretty well, but I still don’t *love* my weights. Running outside? Love, love, love.

    I envy those of you who enjoy your weights! 🙂

  7. Strangely, I almost never get sore. Even if I lift really heavy until muscle failure. Maybe I’m just weird. Or maybe it’s genetic – my freakishly muscular brother is the same way.

    Anyway, sometimes I throw in a little jump rope after a really tough set on arms. It’s more to keep my heart going while letting my arms rest for a little bit longer. No idea if there’s any tie to preventing soreness, since I only do this occasionally.

  8. I remember when they had those parcourse things where you broke up your running with various exercises. Didn’t make sense to me. I figured I would go back after the run and do them, but I always forgot to 🙂 Now those courses have other things on them, like buildings. Perhaps they think the activity will mobilize the lactic acid. I think some soreness is a normal part of the inflammatory response, that within reason, I was taught, was a good thing.

    Dr, J

  9. I need to try that! I work out at home, so the only eyes that would see me making an ass of myself between sets would be the dogs’.

    I have done cardio between supersets, but ten minutes instead of two, as part of my “I’m so angry I could punch someone” workout. I was aiming to burn up every bit of negative energy on something constructive.

  10. I’d never heard of that either, but it does make sense because jumping around and all that would stretch out the muscles so that they wouldn’t cramp. My muscles tend to get sore if I’m trying out a new exercise that I hadn’t done before or sometimes I’ll do too much strength training- I can do loads of leg moves and not notice it at the time but the next day they’ll be really sore! But my arms I always really feel it at the time of the lifting.

  11. I just wonder, if I learned that Hip Hop Hustle and did it in a club would it look like I was doing a Jazzercise dance?

    While my muscles feel worked out the rest of the day after I train I never get sore. But I drink a protein drink right after each workout, too. And that seems to help. (at least in my mind).

  12. Thank goodness for the 90’s? What about the 2000’s? Now we don’t even have to wear spandex shorts; we can wear looser fitting clothes and still be fashionable. Musn’t forget us youngin’s out here 🙂

  13. i’m just wondering, how does one get 45 seconds of intense cardio in the same place as the weights they’re lifting? Move a treadmill into the weight room? Or just run in place super fast like a crazy person?

  14. Hmmm…I do notice that I feel less sore after an interval workout. One that combines cardio and strength training. But I take a class or use a DVD for those workouts. Like Leslie says, it’s hard to do 45 seconds of intense cardio in the weight room without pi**ing everyone else of or hurting someone, lol!