I woke up this morning sore, not to the point I can't move, but arms, shoulders, legs, abs . . .even my calves are sore!

Im wanting to know if I should make this a rest day for my muscles, or if I should do a longer, lower intensity walk on the elliptical and a lower intensity weight circuit . . . one or the other or neither?

Any advice would be aprieciated, thanks!

I would do the elliptical but not the weights. You are supposed to rest between weight lifting sessions for your muscles to repair, but I would still walk to just loosen up some of the stiffness. A hot shower might help too along with anti-inflammatories.

Awesome . . . thanks!

I'd do just a walk and maybe a little yoga. A hot bath always helps. When I begin a new exercise program I always take a nice hot soak in the tub after the workout. It really seems to help me be less sore the next day.

Yup I agree with Sheena- you give your muscles I believe 24-48 hours to rest between weight lifting sessions (so like one day you do upper body, one day lower, then switch back and forth- and have at least one full rest day a week for weights). Some cardio will help push out the soreness of the muscle

I once dated a body builder and he advised eating bananas on a regular basis, specifically after a hard weight training set. The potassium in the bananas helps with muscle soreness.

Light aerobic exercising like walking or swimming will feel very good to your muscles, but I would avoid anything too strenuous. Please rest at least a day or two before you weight train again.

the soreness is from pushing yourself to the point where your cells were working with anaerobic metabolism, which causes a type of acid to buildin your muscles. the best ways to get rid of this soreness are to walk or swim to increase blood flow, take an anti-inflammatory like aleve, and take a hot bath also to increase blood flow.

So happy we get aleeve in Canada now.

Thanks for all the great tips, my right calf is still sore this morning, but nothing really bad . . . . so elliptical again today and I'll do some upper body weights.

Im still amazed how much of a difference this forum has made, just knowing I have some where to go when I need help, even for silly questions is amazing, you guys are all fantastic.

Off to 'run'

Cheers