The Ugly Truth About Lifting

As I stood in the mirror after starting my new work out program, I couldn’t help but feel swollen all over. As I looked down at my legs, I questioned how I had been on stage a few weeks prior. Everything on my body felt tight, heavy, and stiff.

I am a pro bikini competitor and recently did my first pro show. Leading up to my show my program had weightlifting, but it was designed to keep my heart rate high, which meant the weights I was lifting weren’t super heavy. I knew that going into my improvement season, I would need to include lifting heavy weights. I just wasn’t prepared to feel heavy myself.

Have you recently started a new work out program that is causing you to exercise at a higher intensity? If so, I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me you felt, heavy, puffy, bloated and were questioning if this work out routine is even worth continuing. I can assure you that the beauty about lifting far outweighs the ugly truth. The key is to stick with it, give your body time to adapt, and focus on recovery.

The ugly truth about lifting is that the positive effects will come, but you won’t see them initially. Working out in general causes stress on the body, which causes inflammation. During a workout, the heart rate goes up, along with the rate you breath. This activates the sympathetic system which is our fight or flight system. When working out, muscles contract and stretch, which causes little tears along the muscle fiber.

Don’t freak out, this is a good thing, our body constantly is tearing down and rebuilding. This is how over time we can get stronger, faster, and in better shape. Once these tears occur, the body sends good nutrients and blood to heal the area. These tears can also cause the body to have water retention, which can explain why people look and feel bloated or puffy after intense training.

A term that describes this is, DOMS, which stands for delayed muscle soreness. This can cause, inflammation, swelling, changes in fluids as well as electrolyte imbalances. Changes in fluid can affect weight and can be the reason why the scale has gone up a few pounds once starting a new program. DOMS generally happens when we push ourselves in an exercise that we are unaccustomed too. If you lifted your heaviest weights, ran faster or longer, don’t be surprised it DOMS pays a visit.

Stay tuned for part 2 of my for my favorite tips for when DOMS pays you a visit.