Being Sore Doesn’t Mean You Get A Day Off

           Training is apart of life no matter what. It takes guts to keep going day after day, week after week, and year after year but in the end its all how you make it be. People assume because you’re sore you overdid it and you need a break when in reality that’s where the fun begins. You've worked out hard and you wake up the next day and you’re aching what do you do? You can either rest or not do any type of training or you can adjust and focus on something else to train on till you’re fully recovered.

            The late Karl Gotch once said “you must adapt and improvise” and what does he mean by this? From my point of view and personal experiences, you learn to adjust your training by how you feel and how you can switch things around. In this case of being sore, you don’t have to go hardcore but you can change things up like for example…Say you exercised with a deck of cards and all you did was push-ups and squats, you’re very sore the next day from going through that whole deck, instead of moaning and bitching just do a little bit of stretching and work on little exercises throughout the day to keep your blood flowing and keeping the body loose while you recover.

            You can always do something. I've seen a lot of guys in the gym who go all out one day and the next they don’t show up because they’re sore, give me a break. I've also seen other guys who have pushed to their limits and the next day came back looking to do something else to help them recover. Taking a break from your regular routine is a good thing but it doesn't mean you’re out of the woods. Focus on something that keeps you active, ride your bike if you have one, take a nice walk around the neighborhood, do some deep breathing to open up the lungs and work on other muscles and tendons that didn't get worked. Have a little fun with it. Go out and move like a wild animal even if it’s a few steps, juggle kettlebells who knows, make something work for you till you’re ready to go full blast again.

            Recovery is very important, there’s no question about that. Sure you get it that muscles get torn down and need some down time but its also important to stay active, keep on your toes, keep your blood flowing, your body is like a machine and can go more than you can expect. Your body will heal itself and the better shape you’re in; the more you can keep active without being so sore. Keep that in mind and rest if you need to but don’t just lay around like a chump, do something that makes you happy, have fun and get in the habit of improvising your exercise. Be smart, train hard and keep at it.