Practicing While Still Sore?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hello,

I would like to practice more frequently and was wondering others’ thoughts on practicing while still sore from a previous practice?

For example, I have been practicing salamba sirsasana daily for the past month and my balance has much improved.

But I noticed in class last night, my quads were too sore to go up with the ease I usually have. Some of this may have been from other activities during the day (I had walked about 5 miles during the day with class that evening) as well as attempting the pose about an hour into the class practice.

Is this a good trade off? Am I getting the benefits from the pose if I am too sore to perform it with ease? Should I rest more to help my muscles build up?

Thanks in advance for your input. :slight_smile:

#2

hi wildflower, the first is listen to your body if is time to rest rest ! 3 days is the time to recuperation for the body, it is very inteligent. For other part there is no problem if you practice when you are sore, is helpful to stretch the muscles loosen. What type of yoga do you practice?

In Sirsasana once you master the balance you going to realize you can relax the legs and really blance on head and elbows, the muscles which are working are the muscles attach to the spine and then you can move your legs free.

If you have the energy to keep practicing even when you are sore do it!

#3

Thanks anamarcelayoga!

I do have the energy to practice still, I just don’t feel like I am at 100% because of being sore/tired. I was hoping after some time, I would build up strength and would no longer feel this way.

I practice iyengar yoga, how about you?

:slight_smile:

#4

The tireness will pass remember you are not sore because yoga is because yo walk the 5 miles and your quads are like sore or probably because you stay very long in virabadhrasana I or II
The body and life and all is in a divine up and down is the natural way in the universe, one day you going to be super energetic and do hours of yoga and other days you find out that you are crowling to get on to the mat.

#5

muscle soreness can have a variety of causes. As you outline it I would assert the muscle soreness is a result of working a muscle that is not used to being worked, and perhaps working it quite rigorously. Whether it is your walk or your practice I simply could not know as you’ve not said anything about the nature, type, frequency, or duration of your practice.

Sore muscles (by the definition we’re giving them here) are in a repair state. The time for that repair varies, it is not fixed, and can take anywhere from 48 to 72 hours. This repair depends on how throughly exhausted the muscle is during the work and, of course, how one eats, sleeps, and lives.

I would not place additional demand on repairing muscles. That is to say if your legs are sore I would not do a full standing pose sequence. When the muscles are in repair you have less chance to find and maintain proper alignment.

However doing poses that do not place great demand on the sore muscles is okay, presuming you are not fatigued. When you come down from inversions as a result of fatigue please do not go back up.

Relative to sirsasana you mention another important point; comfort in the pose. Unfortunately “comfort” is often undefined and subjective. If you are UNcomfortable in the pose then of course its benefits would be reduced. By how much I cannot say, nor would I if I knew. Many students work uncomfortably in asana so you’d be fitting right in with most western practitioners:-) If you cannot find joy in sirsasana due to the quadriceps then find another pose.

#6

Thanks innerathlete.

As far as my yoga practice, I practice in the iyengar style twice weekly in a studio setting (90 min classes) and have been doing so for 1 and 1/2 years. I also practice some poses at home daily that I feel I need to practice more (I do sirsasana daily). I walk 3-5 miles each weekday (it’s how I get to work and around town) I am never sore from walking, but thought it had to be relevent as it is a fair amount of walking.

I didn’t mean to imply any level of comfort or discomfort in relation to sirasana. I was simply using it as an example of a pose that I could do with less ease due to sore quads. I just meant that I had to work a little harder to raise my legs into the pose. Once in it, I was fine and it felt like usual.

I would like to attend formal classes more than twice weekly (possibly daily) but wasn’t sure as to the benefits of this as I am generally sore the following day from class.

#7

Interesting that you are sore after every practice.

#8

Yeah, I always am. I thought it just meant I was working hard? My teachers say you aren’t really working unless your arms/legs are shaking.

Are most people not sore after class?

#9

Well your teachers have a “different” perspective :slight_smile: You can read Aadil’s article on muscle tremors here.

I have occasional soreness after a full standing pose class but only when I’m not practicing regularly.

#10

what about just for try other type of yoga? like Flow Vinyasa, where the postures aren’t held for so long.

#11

So, I have a followup question about muscle tremors. I have never experienced muscle tremors after practice – only when I’ve been other-than-smart about what I eat and when – so I understood Wildflower’s teachers’ assertion to refer to shakiness in the middle of practice. One TV yoga teacher (note, I am not claiming authority for the person, just attributing a clever turn of phrase) mentioned that arms shaking in the middle of plank pose was the muscles ‘waking up’.

(hoping for a reaction to the distinction. . . )

#12

[QUOTE=anamarcelayoga;17052]what about just for try other type of yoga? like Flow Vinyasa, where the postures aren’t held for so long.[/QUOTE]

I have tried vinyasa classes, and I felt like I couldn’t get into the poses fully before moving on to the next. I really like holding the poses for a long time. It helps me to really perfect how the form should be, and also gives me a chance to relax into the pose, and relax my mind and breathe.

Iyengar is definately right for me. :slight_smile:

#13

[QUOTE=Techne;17076]So, I have a followup question about muscle tremors. I have never experienced muscle tremors after practice – only when I’ve been other-than-smart about what I eat and when – so I understood Wildflower’s teachers’ assertion to refer to shakiness in the middle of practice. One TV yoga teacher (note, I am not claiming authority for the person, just attributing a clever turn of phrase) mentioned that arms shaking in the middle of plank pose was the muscles ‘waking up’.

(hoping for a reaction to the distinction. . . )[/QUOTE]

Just wanted to say I’ve never had tremors after class, and the tremors during practice are not every time or with every pose. It’s occasional.

:slight_smile:

#14

I don’t know how this would work with classes where you are told what to do but I have a home-only practice where I can make my own choices. If I am sore in any particular muscle area I will rest those muscles by adjusting my practice by varying the focus. If my upperbody is sore, I might do a yoga that focuses on the lower body. If my legs are sore I might choose a practice that focuses on my core etc. Those muscles still get used (and warmed) but not as much as if I had intentionally worked them.

#15

Yea! me too for the moment I have my shoulder a bit in pain, I think is birsitis, which is an inflammation of one or more bursae (small sacs) of synovial fluid in the body. In my case Shoulder joint, very common. So My practice is foccused in standing positions, and core strenght and I feel I did a full and compleate practice, I’ve been doing this for almost a month due to te slow recupereation of a major joint and with so much movility.

And is great I discover a new wey to create a practice and do asanas that I don’t usually do.

#16

What is the goal of your practice? Is it for compensatory movement (or rehab)? Is the said pose(s) supposed to relax the sore muscle(s)?

#17

In my case I know because is not the first time the bursitis in my shoulder happens, I need rest, so that means not to do any arm balance and any chaturanga dandasana. That is in the fisical level, in the emotional level I understood that I foccus my strenght (ego) in my shoulders, (a strong and big deltoides give you a strong image) So I have to rest don’t use my shoulders wait till I feel the inflamation is gone. For hte moment in my practice is a compesatory movemnt strenghtening other areas with different asanas. My body do twists to change the direction of my mind, and doing so to Rehab my shoulder and dissolve the ego.

Is great because I discover diferent ways to aproach my practice. “Ebb and flow with the trails and tribulations of life”.