[cakses]

Ok, so I know this is my fist week with serious lifting (3 times a week with a personal trainer) and I know I am going to be sore. How many weeks does it take until it doesn't hurt to walk though? I am so darned stiff I feel like I am 90 years old hobbling around the house. For the record nothing is like hurt hurt, just sore and tired all around. So if I am doing this regularly, how long does it take the muscles to sort of toughen up? Am I making sense with this? It's late for me, but I know all you east coasters get on here early so I want imput!

[kaw]

The duration of soreness depends on a lot of things, like the muscle group, whether you cool down post-lifting, nutrition, etc. But, in general, the soreness from any given session is likely to dissipate after 2-3 days. ("Second-day sores" are notoriously the worst, esp. on legs.)

After even just a few sessions on any given body part, you'll start to notice that you don't get as sore, the soreness doesn't last as long, or both. Even here, though, there's variation. I don't typically get sore after chest/shoulder workouts anymore, unless I've recently switched around exercises, but I do still get sore after legs. (I've been lifting off and on for 10 years, 5 months "on" most recently.)

HTH
Kim

[Lifeguard]

I found the first couple of weeks were the worst. After that I still get sore but not to the extent I did at first.

Keep up the good work - you will be rewarded!

[Scenestealer]

I generally don't get sore until about 18 hours after my workout, and then the soreness usually lasts a day (though it's lingered for 2-3). I set up my body part rotation so I'm working out every day, but I have day 1 as arms/upper body day, day 2 as tummy/lower back day, and day 3 as legs/butt day. That way even if it takes two days for the soreness to go away, I'm still fine for my next workout. I've probably been on this routine for about a month, though I was in pretty good shape before and did a lot of weights this summer especially.

Hope that helps!

[cakses]

Well my trainer does my whole body in 3 days - upper body, lower body, and circuit pretty much is how it is with some sort of abs each time. So I am getting the rest from the different muscle groups. I'm just so stiff and sore (and I guess it's a good sore since I know I worked hard) but I'd like to be able to run too and this is hindering that a bit. I did legs 2 days ago and they still kill but I did arms yesterday and they hurt but not the same as the legs.