Originally Posted by: acapellaWhat do you guys think? On Monday I did 100 pullups/chinups (not in a row, haha) and the next day around lunch time I started getting sore arms and back, not too bad. This morning I woke up and there was way more. My back isn't TOO too bad now, but my arms are still really, really sore. I mean, I've been working out for a long time on and off, pretty seriously for long stretches, and they've never been this sore that I can recall. So if they are still this sore tonight, should I do more anyway? The plan was to start doing this three times a week, and I don't want to throw off the schedule. However I also don't want to do it if it'll just be detrimental and tear down more than it builds up. But then some people think you SHOULD train sore muscles because it makes them feel better and whatnot. So what do you think?

Okay, here's the deal; the only muscle group that you can work every day and not exhaust are the abdominals. Every other muscle group requires a 24 hour period to build. When you work out (anaerobic), you're actually tearing the muscles down. It's the rest period that is where you actually gain muscle. If you continually have your muscles in a tear down stage, you'll rarely see any improvement.

I always told my students that you know your body better than anyone else. If it's just a general muscular soreness from exertion, then you might want to give it a go. If it's PAIN, then no, you rest. You probably pushed too much for an initial start up. When you do that sort of thing, do pyramids. You won't do as many and you'll get twice the workout. Do one set of twenty, then two sets of fifteen, then two sets of ten then six sets of five but do the last ones AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE. You're muscles will be screaming when you're done but the possibilities of doing permanent damage is very slight.

I try to do 500 situps a night and 200 push-ups (on top of a 3-5 mile run) and that's how I try to train. Pyramids hurt but they build quick and you don't have quite the risk of injury. I know that when I do a large set like you described, when my body starts to tire, I end up doing to exercise sloppily and that's when you get hurt.

:)