'hey pete, how have you been? it's been a while since i've checked in or trained personally, but I have started again and as always I have another Q. When I stop traing for 2 weeks and I hit the gym again my body is always sore after it and the pain lasts for about a week the more I train the less I feel that pain. My Q. is am I doing something wrong?? Am I supose to feel that soreness everytime i work out or is it normal for me not to feel the soreness after a while?? I don't know if I explained it right. anyway,hope you can help. thx shima'


Shima,

This is a great question, Shima.  Soreness after training is to be expected, especially after taking some time off.  Generally, the legs experience the most pronounced soreness of all the muscles.  Now, as I always tell my clients 'soreness is an indicator, but not the indicator.'  So, do not judge how successful a previous workout was solely by the soreness experienced after the fact.  There are a few ways to minimize soreness.  The first is to do some stretching after a workout to assist in flushing out some of the lactic acid from the muscle.  Additionally, if you have just trained legs, do a 5 minute cooldown on the bike, so that the fresh blood and oxygen flowing to the muscle reduce the lactic acid buildup.  Taking the supplement glutamine also can help in the recovery process, reducing soreness and pain.  I take glutamine in both my pre and post workout shakes so as to start the recovery process even before I begin my weight training session.  I hope this helps, Shima! 

Besides the crazy hair in this particular picture, you should be drawn to the size of the shoulder.  This was taken approximately halfway through a shoulder workout.  A piece of advice regarding shoulders is to train them separately on their own day.  A lot of people combine them with back or with another bodypart, which isn't the best plan of action.  Here is a shoulder workout that will have them blazing like the picture above.


DB Lateral Raise

DB Shoulder Press

DB Front Raise

DB Rear Delt

Machine Shoulder Press

EZ Bar Front Raise

Reverse Pec Deck for Rear Delt

Machine Lateral Raise

Here is a HIIT session combined with traditional cardio.  A recent personal training client of mine lost 20 lbs using this method combined with clean eating.  She started at 45 minutes and worked her way up to 60 to 75 mins 6 days a week.