I've been reading through Casey Johnston's old Ask A Swole Woman columns, because she is smart and funny and she totally gets all the weird complicated stuff about lifting while female, and this morning I came across one called "How to Prevent Debilitating Soreness."
I have been going back through it, trying to find the quote that will spur you to click through and read it, and I just want to share the entire first half. Here's one piece of it:
Soreness is actually more like the gap between what you did to break down your muscles with exercise...and what you gave them to rebuild themselves in the couple of hours and days following in terms of proper food, water, and rest.
In light of this column I am thinking about all my past experiences of painful muscle soreness, some of which are recorded in these pages. (Does anyone remember my first Pilates Reformer class?)
In a culture that tells women "The purpose of exercise is to make yourself smaller," eating for recovery is not a big focus. I absorbed the idea that I should eat some protein after a run, but I had no idea how much protein is recommended to optimize muscle growth. (A lot. A lot a lot: about a gram per pound of bodyweight per day if building muscle is your focus.) There is not a chance I was ever eating that amount of protein in my Pilates Reformer days, and Casey Johnston's take on muscle soreness makes a lot of sense to me in hindsight.
I am so curious about your reactions to her post, you guys. I feel like men get this advice in the gym but women (by and large) hear that it is better for them to restrict post-workout calories so they can chisel away more of themselves. This is bad advice, it turns out. Take a look at the post and tell me what you think!
Well. That was interesting. I was struck by the paragraph where her partner didn’t want to waste his workout by NOT eating and it blew her mind. We HAVE been taught the opposite! I really appreciated your post and the one you linked to. I’ve been doing a water exercise class and have been neither sweaty nor sore and was wondering if it was actually doing anything. Looks like maybe it is!
Posted by: Mary D | January 27, 2022 at 07:53 AM
I feel a little silly that I've never put 2 and 2 together here. I've definitely had the debilitating soreness, and was always told it's because I've let it go for too long. I'm kind of an intuitive eater (crave protein = have protein, crave veggies = eat veggies) so I think I've relied on letting my eating habits catch up with matching my body's exercise needs. But there's that time gap, and well, here we are.
Currently rounding out to week 21 of pregnancy over here and am thinking I need to buckle down and start up Pilates before it's time for birth. I need to remember this because my metabolism is a very finely tuned violin at this point, and adding exercise is a recipe for headaches, body aches, and feeling crummy.
Posted by: Colette | January 27, 2022 at 01:09 PM
I love her advice and have been trying to follow it as I build up some muscle after a year of sloth-ness. It's really hard to eat enough protein without making it a conscious thought at every snack/meal! I have stopped relying on mac & cheese as a complete dinner, so ... baby steps.
Posted by: Oana | January 27, 2022 at 03:58 PM