The day before yesterday I did strength training for my arms, chest and back. Yesterday I felt fine. When I woke up today, my right arm (ironically my dominant arm) was very sore. Now it's just slightly sore. The question that I arrived at was this: is it okay to go ahead and do your ST routine when your muscles are sore? I don't really want to skip much more than one day due to my commitment issues.

I do it despite being sore. It gets better. Right now, my core is very sore from my ab workout I did Tuesday evening. Today, I'll be doing day 2 of that ab workout. Believe me, when I say I am SORE . And the darn pain always is the worst 2 days later.

As long as you're not in actual pain I think it is ok. And you did give 24 hr rest to your muscles. The pain goes away after you get used to it few times. Make sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day and take some form of lean protein (preferably whey) post workout.

Sometimes I find that too, it's more sore the 2nd morning instead of the morning after. I always do it. I figure there was a day of rest in there so it should be good. And it seems that once it's moving again it loosens up and feels fine. If I continue regularly it doesn't get oddly sore like that, but when I take two or more days off and then go back it happens again.

As long as you give yourself that 24 hour rest period you should be fine

Especially in the beginning it's perfectly normal to work out while a little sore (as long as you put a day of rest or so and the soreness isn't so severe that you can't move wihtout significant pain). The body is just not used to the load you are putting on but will adapt soon enough.

What I've learned in my old weight training courses is that the soreness from actually injured muscle subsides in a few hours, but beginners should wait at least 24 hours after every workout to give time for the muscles to heal.

Soreness that lasts for 2 days or more is just accumulated lactic acid, and there is no danger in working right through the pain. After a while you will be able to tell which pain is which, but you should always be careful if you are a "slow healer" because you might injure your muscles more if you don't wait long enough to heal.

Don't forget to drink lots of water and eat protein as well to get those muscles repaired!

I remembered in my aerobics class I had to push myself to do as many sit ups as I can do. Man was my abs really sore the next day I think it was because I was not use to doing so many sit ups because as I kept doing sit ups after that experience it never did hurt again. SO I think you should just continue what your doing.

I don't do strength training if I'm sore, regardless if it's safe or not. These days it's pretty unusual for me to be sore after working out because I've been so darn consistant about it but if I do get sore I won't work out that particular muscle until it is not sore. I know I know, no pain no gain but I'm not interested in being a martyr. I want to enjoy my workouts and working through pain is not my idea of fitness or fun. I'll take a walk instead, or work out some other part of my body.