Does Muscle Soreness Define a Good Workout?

Not to be cliche, but I thought I would talk about this as we near New Year’s Resolution time.   Is the quality or success of your workout determined by how sore your muscles are afterwards?  A good workout should make you feel strong, energized, and at peace with yourself, instead of exhausted, sore or injured. Soreness is really the result of held tension that restricts the distribution of load and force on the body.  You should be able to run, jump, lift weights, participate in a sport and be able to sit, stand and lift your arms the next day (or 2) without debilitating soreness. Our bodies are engineered to move freely, but can’t if we’re squeezing, holding and pulling  ourselves “in”.  Instead, if we can let go of tension and allow our bones to fall wide, we create “space” and give ourselves freedom to move.

“…Exercise will feel good and be fun with or without an entertaining trainer.”

When you learn to find strength through distribution…or “Tensegrity”… you get a great workout! All of your muscles are involved.  Soreness is minimized, and  you have the resilience and energy to do other things. Movement / exercise will feel good and be fun with or without an entertaining trainer.  That’s a very important part…despite all good intentions, when the result of your workout is pain and soreness, you’re probably not going to be consistent. If you’re going to start something new as a New Year’s Resolution, find something you can stick with over time. That could very well be the biggest challenge of all.

“…I predict that “fascia” will be a bigger fitness buzzword in 2019″

At Performance Pilates & Fascia, we focus on fascial movement, tensegrity, and distribution.  I predict that “fascia” will be a bigger fitness buzzword in 2019.  Fascia is our connective tissue.  It determines our structure. Repetitive day to day movement, or not, determines our fascia.  An example would be standing after sitting for a long period of time and feeling like you’re stuck in the seated position.  Exercise like Pilates and Yoga can “un-stick” or open up the soft tissue, opening the body, to change, improve and correct your structure.

Cheers to a happy, fit & healthy New Year!