Hey guys, so I have been in MT for about a month now and everything has been going fine. Then last week we had a really intense class and now my legs are horrifically sore. I can't walk up or down (especially down) stairs without experiencing agonizing pain. I am hobbling around like an old person lol. I have been taking a few days off, is this wise? I have been walking a little it seems to help after a while. What else should I be doing?

are you in pain, or are you just uncomfortable. real pain means there might be an injury. In which case a Dr. might be in order.

If you are just uncomfortable then a short break followed by light work might help.

I don't know if i injured anything or not. Mostly I just feel more sore than I ever have been in my entire life. I feel really stiff too but don't really have any isolated pain.

epson salt You may want to ice pack the sore areas for 15-20 minutes then heat pack afterwards for 15 or some minutes.

Yeah I still feel really sore once in a while, specially when I train Muay Thai at a different camp. The Muay Thai routine can be very exhaustive. Sometimes I even feel like throwing up haha!

My advice is to take breaks during your workout, specially everytime you start feeling extremely sore. That way you will be able to give your body time to adjust and prevent an injury that can set you back for months (or for good!).

The advice of epson salts is good, as well as stretching your legs every morning for 20 minutes. That way your leg muscles will recover faster!

Ok, I am going to get some epson salts after work today and try that. I'll start stretching more too, see if that helps and what not.

Epsom salts are great!

By the way, which part of your legs is it? Did you get kicked? Or just from the conditioning?

lads, I clashed shins yesterday with this dude. My shin is a bit swollen and is really sore. What do I do?

Sorry I had not read this thread before....First off Gurre yours is easy, if it is swollen in one spot ICE ICE and ICE, Hell pack a tenser around the ice to keep it on. and no sparring for a few weeks. If in a day that swelling has not gone down a bit go to the doctor, could be a bit of a break or some major damage you want to deal with.

"panda" your issue is much more interesting, first off have you changed diet in the last while? Are you drinking alot of water? You should be drinking more water when you work out and some people dont, add dehydration to a hard work out and you get a pretty nasty week end or two. Now, it sounds like you have "D.O.M.S." And a good case at that. Stretching might help, going for a sports massage or DT massage will help alot and just conditioning your body to the work out will help. Back off a bit for the next while and go get the muscles mushed up by a good therapist.

Going forward start off a bit slower, drink tones of water and stretch out. DOMS is created when a person works out past their lactic acid threshhold and creates fibral damage were the lactic acid seeps in and sits. If you are even a bit dehydrated then it gets worse. The worst case of Lactic acidosis or DOMS that I have ever seen was in a 16 year old sprinter and he could not work for weeks, after he felt better he went to sprint with out warming up and blew out his hamstring. I came in after the injury and worked on him with his other trainer to get him back running, but he will NEVER be the same. Take it easy and work to your bodies ability.

James