Should I continue running if my legs are sore?

Everyone will feel muscle soreness when they first start running, especially the pain in the legs can be very severe. Many people cannot tolerate the initial muscle soreness, so they give up running after feeling pain, which makes it difficult to achieve the effect of exercise. It's normal to feel some leg soreness when you first start running. So, can you continue running if your legs are sore?

1. First of all, we must understand why our legs ache. The reason is that we have not exercised for a long time and have not done warm-up exercises before exercise. When we do some new exercises or exercise too much, or land on the forefoot when running, we will experience muscle soreness. These pains often do not occur immediately, but begin to appear one to two days later.

2. If leg pain occurs on the second to third day of running, you can choose to do appropriate exercise instead of running fast. There is a term in running called "lactic acid valve", which means that when the running speed of the human body exceeds a certain threshold, a large amount of lactic acid will be produced in the blood, which will force you to stop. Although it is not the "culprit" that causes our leg soreness, we still need to try to avoid it in the early stages.

3. If your legs are so painful that you can't move, you can choose to take a day off, soak your feet in hot water, massage the sore areas of your legs, gently pat your legs from top to bottom and from inside to outside, or apply hot compresses. The symptoms will be significantly alleviated the next day.

4. Beginners usually land on the forefoot when running. This actually puts a lot of force on your calves. If you run like this for a long time, you will feel your calves are particularly sore, which is caused by the place where the sole of the foot lands when running. For those who need strength for short-distance running, it is suitable to run with the forefoot landing. If you are running long distances, you must choose to run on your heels.

5. Be sure to do sufficient warm-up exercises before running, stretching your limbs, head, waist and abdomen. Before running, you can take a brisk walk to warm up your lower body. You can wear a heart rate watch to keep your heart rate and breathing balanced and not exceed the "lactic acid threshold".

6. Reduce the amount of exercise in the initial stage, follow a step-by-step process, don't exercise a lot at the beginning, and don't set too high goals for yourself. Even if you feel that you can bear this amount, for new projects for you, you must know when to stop. Otherwise, not only will there be no fitness effect, but it will harm the body.

7. Be sure to keep running. After resting for a few days and your legs are not so sore, you can continue running. Muscles have a tolerance period. After long-term and regular exercise, they will adapt to the sport of running and their muscles will no longer be sore.