A 1-minute, Monday-Friday email, to help busy professionals move more, eat better, and think clearer.
Mano Minute (3/12): Why you get sore after a workout (and what it actually means) 💪
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Mano Minute (3/12): Why you get sore after a workout (and what it actually means) 💪 Soreness gets a bad reputation. People either chase it like a trophy or fear it like an injury. Most of the time, neither response is quite right. Here is what is happening. When you lift weights, you create tiny tears in your muscle fibers. These are called microtears. That feeling of soreness you get 24 to 48 hours after a workout? That is your body reacting to those tears. But here is the important part. When those microtears heal, your muscle rebuilds itself slightly bigger and stronger than before. The soreness does not mean you damaged yourself. It means your body is adapting. Soreness is a signal that something changed. That is a good thing. The line to watch is intensity. Some soreness after a hard session is normal and expected. Soreness so severe you cannot walk, lift your arms, or perform basic movement is a sign you pushed too far too fast. Recovery also matters just as much as the workout. Microtears heal during rest, not during more training. Sleep, nutrition, and adequate time between sessions are what actually turn that soreness into progress. The goal is not to be destroyed after every workout. The goal is consistent, manageable challenge followed by real recovery. TIP: If you are consistently very sore for more than three days after a workout, your recovery is probably the issue. Prioritize sleep and protein before adding more intensity. |
Mano Minute
A 1-minute, Monday-Friday email, to help busy professionals move more, eat better, and think clearer.
Mano Minute (3/11): Free weights vs. machines. Here is my honest take 🏋️ There is a gym snobbery I want to address. A lot of people treat machines like they are for beginners. Like real lifters only use free weights. Planet Fitness gets mocked constantly because it is mostly machines. I disagree with this entirely. Machines are excellent. Not just for beginners, but for everyone. Here is why. Machines protect your form. They guide your movement through a fixed range of motion, which means you...
Mano Minute (3/10): Eating carbs without the guilt 🍞 Carbs have had a rough decade. Low carb diets. No carb diets. Keto. Everyone treating bread like it is poison. Here is my take. Carbs are not the problem. The type of carbs is the problem. There are carbs that leave you feeling guilty, foggy, and hungry an hour later. Ultra processed snacks, white bread, sugary drinks, fast food. These spike your blood sugar fast and crash it just as fast. Your body does not get much from them. And you are...
Mano Minute (3/9): I started embarrassing myself on purpose 😳 "Do one thing every day that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt Being embarrassed is one of the worst feelings we can experience. It is uncomfortable. It feels like the end of the world. Until you get to the other side. I will never forget one of my most embarrassing moments. Graduate school. A presentation in a lecture hall of about 100 students. I choked. Forgot everything I had prepared. Face red. Sweat building. I could not...