I overdid it on Sunday. I did lower body workout, plus the elliptical. I had never used one (by the way, I joined a gym, yayyyyyyy!!) and WHOA it kicked my butt. Well, quads... Anyway, it is Tuesday and I am still sore. I had planned on doing legs again today but I'm not sure if I should. I'm also not sure what kind of cardio I should do when I work legs since I've stepped up the intensity of my weights. Does it matter? I had a massage today, and I feel more limber than I was this morning, but it's still pretty tight. What do I do, oh Goddesses of Iron???

IMO, if you really lifted to your max capacity on Sunday, it's too soon to do legs again. I'd give major muscle groups 4 days to recover if you are lifting to muscle failure or form failure. If you are doing lighter workouts, 2-3 days is fine.

Mel

Agree with Mel... You should feel well enough to enjoy doing legs... In my case after "overdo legs" day I need about 4 days before I can do legs again.
Sandy.

I overdid legs too on Sunday and there is NO WAY that I could work them again today! Heck, I can barely do stairs at this point!! I've never done legs more often than twice in one week - once heavy and once light. I'm debating doing Legs Lite tomorrow - low weights, high reps.

As for cardio, I do it just about every day but always make sure to do it early on Leg Day - I don't think I'd be able to do cardio afterwards. On the Day After Leg Day, I often do the bike because it stretches out my sore muscles and seems to help. Today (two days later) I did 20 minutes on the crosstrainer (which just about killed me) and 20 on the bike.

Aren't massages the best?

I've been struggling with my leg days, too. I don't mind the soreness so much in itself, but I hate how immobile I feel for a while. I still try to do cardio, but it is JUST. SO. HARD.

Thanks for the tip on the bike, Meg. I'll have to try that. The stairmaster is definitely out!

Speaking of stairmasters, they have a recumbent stairmaster at my gym. It appears to be in mint condition! The girl that showed me around says she's only seen one person on it, ever. Anybody here used one?

Yup, we have one. I've used it For anyone with back or knee problems, it's great. Otherwise, I don't see the point.

Mel

How the heck would a recumbant stair climber work....? Surely the point is to CLIMB the stairs...

Yes, I am curious as to how a recumbent stairclimber would work. I am in love with the stairclimbers that are made like a escalator though...that actually look and feel like stairs...but I don't have the 5 grand to drop on one. Has anyone used one? I hate traditional stairclimbers...but this I liked.

You lie on it at about a 45 angle with your back supported and step just like on a regular stairmaster. The speed and resistance can be varied. It's good for people with back problems, but not as much of a woukout because it is not as weight bearing, and doesn't required any balance or support muscles to be used.

Mel

My gym has 2 branches and the one I usually DON'T go to has one of these. When I first joined the person who showed me around talked about it as if it were medieval torture (apparently they call it "The Gauntlet") so I've never even had the nerve to try it. Next time I have to go to that one I'll try it and post back.

I don't like regular style stairclimbers, because to me, it doesn't feel like climbing stairs. The ones I have seen are like a neverending staircase...try it and see what you think!

OK, I went to the other gym and tried out the Gauntlet. Apparently that's the actual name of the model (Stairmaster makes it). I only tried it for 10 minutes because I had heard about how hard it was but it really wasn't too awfully bad (I kept it on a fairly slow pace). At the end it tells you how many 'floors' you climbed - 33 in 10 minutes for me in case you were wondering. It wasn't quite as hard as climbing actual stairs but it was a reasonable facsimile. On the other hand, the treadmill with a 50% incline kicked me up one side & down the other...