cardio when legs are still sore?

[jpt]

should you do cardio if your legs are still sore from training? no matter what i'm always sore the next day or two after training any bodypart...it's always been that way. i usually just let my legs rest and not run....but i'm trying to get my bf down as much as possible right now but i also don't want to overwork my legs...any suggestions?

 

[SgtSlaughter]

If you're WEKKID sore the next day... i reccomend active recovery... aka a light exercise to get some blood in the area for faster healing.

The more you do something the quicker your body adapts. Your decreasing bf%... I wouldn't worry about it.... do cardio. Unless it's painful.

Keep sleep, water, and food where it needs to be for optimal recovery

 

[eat big]

I do the stairs for 15 minutes to get the blood flowing into my legs when they are sore.

 

[Cynical Simian]

no matter what i'm always sore the next day or two after training any bodypart...it's always been that way.

The infrequent "bodypart" training is the reason you're getting extreme soreness, not a reason that you shouldn't be. If you did a program with lower per-day volume and higher frequency, such as any of the programs in the sticky, you'd become conditioned to it and not get as sore.

sarge touched on the above, and he's right about active recovery as well.

 

[Longhorn85]

I like to do lap swimming for cardio if my legs are still sore. Seems to be less of a direct impact than say running.

 

[jpt]

thx guys for the help

c.s. - unfortunately i've had 3 knee surgies and 2 shoulder surgies and i have degenrative disks in my lower back. i wish i could do a 5x5 routine but my days of lifting extremely heavy are over....i'm glad i did lift heavy when i was a few years younger...gave me good size to work with (i was skin and bones when i first started) i usually do 12-15 rep range...30 sec rest in btwn...i see good results...it would be nice to switch things up and go hevay once in a while but in the past when i do that i end up just hurting myself.

legs today...we'll see tomorrow how i feel for cardio!

 

[Cynical Simian]

That's cool. I wasn't really trying to pimp the sticky routines (for once), just explain the relationship between your training style and level of soreness.

With that said, you could adapt a higher-frequency routine to the rep ranges that work for your joints if you ever wanted to try something a bit different.

Also, you might want to take advantage of the setup of your current routine by adding some higher-intensity energy work (i.e. sprints). It's tough to incorporate that stuff at a high level into a 5x5-type routine without affecting one or more of those squat sessions, but if you set it appropriately apart from your leg day you could do sprints at a pretty high intensity and still be fresh by the time leg day arrives again. For the day immediately after you do legs, something lighter would be better, though.

 

[blut wump]

You can do a "5x5" at the 12-rep range.

If your legs are sore then light cardio should help. Keep yourself down to moderate intensity. We didn't have fancy terms like "active recovery" when I was a lad.

 

[jpt]

i'm always up for something different....my routine is def stagnant b/c of my limited movements i can do with my shoulders....

5x5 with a 12 rep range sounds like something that might work for me...very interesting. i'm actually going to give it a try...some k your way guys!! appreciate the advice!!

would the exercises and sets still be roughly the same as some of the stickys with just different rep range?

 

[Protobuilder]

As mentioned above, you don't have to do 5x5 as a cookie-cutter. You can still get a lot out of the "take home" principles, which is the goal of running the 5x5 program anyway. One of those principles, as CS mentioned, is higher-frequency and less volume. So, adapting that to your one-bodypart/wk. routine, take the number of sets you're used to doing for a particular bodypart, and just spread it out over 2-3 sessions/wk. So, rather than 20 sets for chest, do 5 sets for chest (rep range doesn't matter) on Monday, 5 more sets on Wed., and 5 more sets on Friday. The rep range is irrelevant, IMO. diff't ranges for diff't goals. But spreading out the volume will be a nice change and works well for many people. BB'rs are the only people still doing that kind of "massed" training once a week . . .

 

[Cynical Simian]

You might want to drop it down to 3 or 4 sets of 12. Even with the reduced weight per rep compared to the 4-6 reps typically used for "5x5" programs, doing 12s for 5 sets would be a pretty big increase in training load.

3-4 sets of 12 reps should be fine for all of the exercises except deads (I'm assuming your back problem allows you to do conventional deads). Deads can be done for higher reps if you're careful about resetting before each rep and not letting your form/grip deteriorate too much, but breaking them up into more lower-rep sets would probably be a better way to go. So if you want to do, say, 12 reps as your top "set", do something like 2x6 or 3x4 with fairly short rests between sets.