Hi, Anyone got any majic cures for stiff mucles? hot Baths? Linaments? in need of help here particularly with the legs!

Many thanks in anticipation!

You should stretch after every session.

I was crippled for about 3 days after doing squats last week :'(

I had a nice bath with some radox muscle soak added ;)

Never done me any good though :-/

Try movelat gel :)

jase.

No 1! stretch before..after..a must must..

Hot baths..using correct posture/form..

If you are gonna stretch at the begining of a session just make sure you warm up the muscles and mobilise the joints properly before stretching as you should never stretch cold muscles.

This is all well and good - but top and bottom line is when you train hard to break muscle tissue down in order to stimulate muscle growth your muscles will be sore/stiff etc. It goes with the teritory. Personally if Im not killing after a workout I feel dissapointed...

Wise words PJ.

I am new to bodybuilding but I have been involved in high levels of training for over 10 years and basic rules apply to training of all types. it all depend on what is being described? Muscle pain, muscle stiffness or muscle soreness. Trouble is working out what you have. Muscle soreness is good, also called DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. DOMS is normally "worst" not on the day after but the day after that. Muscle stiffness, ie lack of flexibility is not good you need to stretch as power without flexibility and vice versa is unbalanced. Muscle pain is something else and normally the sign of an injury thisis not what you want and should be checked out.

The question is what do you have?

Very well explained Bozatron.

If i train chest on the Monday for example the soreness only really hits me on wednesday and by Friday the soreness is tollerable, by sunday im fine.
Stretching for me is an absolute must before, during and after training.

Muscle soreness (of the right kind)... its called HARD training lads!  ;D

Wise words ther from bozatron and bigkeiko. Had training will leave you with muscle sorness - this is normal and to be expected. Muscle stifness on the other hand is different and can be remedied by regular stretching and deep tissue massage. An ijjured muscle will be painfull in a different way - when first starting out in the gym it is difficult to decipher between the 2 - but in time you will be able to tell a distinct difference.
PJ

Thanks for the replies everyone. Its just as I thought. Hard work equals Pain! I just wondered if there were any tricks of trade that might help. Or maybe it was me being a beginner that made it worse. I've always exercised, played sport so am used to a bit of grief (usually the second day after) but the quads do get it most I find.

Thanks again.

Just make sure you have the correct protein intake every 2-3hrs so you can repair and build damaged tissue, if you dont muscle soreness will be at a high and muscle gains will low!  :-/

Thanks for that Bigkieko. At the moment, I'm only able to train for a reasonably short time three days a week in the gym. M W F. I usually get 40 to 50 minutes and have split my workouts up to Chest / arms Mon - legs and Shoulders Wed and back and chest again Fri. I have a protien shake straight after (Whey isolate) but I was only taking the shakes after workouts. I run play football and boxercise in the evenings for cardio but don't use the protien after these sessions. Can you tell me am I doing the right thing? My goal is to get under 14 stone and get the body fat down (curently 29%) so I can see my abs for the first time since I was a teenager (Im 43 now) and build upper body and legs up for the football. Last season I lost a lot of the season through pulled muscles in the legs.

Quoted from Mick No

Thanks for that Bigkieko. At the moment, I'm only able to train for a reasonably short time three days a week in the gym. M W F. I usually get 40 to 50 minutes and have split my workouts up to Chest / arms Mon - legs and Shoulders Wed and back and chest again Fri. I have a protien shake straight after (Whey isolate) but I was only taking the shakes after workouts. I run play football and boxercise in the evenings for cardio but don't use the protien after these sessions. Can you tell me am I doing the right thing? My goal is to get under 14 stone and get the body fat down (curently 29%) so I can see my abs for the first time since I was a teenager (Im 43 now) and build upper body and legs up for the football. Last season I lost a lot of the season through pulled muscles in the legs.

Avoid all sugars, foods high in GI will increase insulin release and this needs to be limited as much as possible.

I would follow a push/pull system if you are training 3 days per week..ie,
Monday; Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Wednesday; Legs
Friday; Back, Traps

You don't have to concentrate too much on pre-post workout supplements if you aim to burn body fat.
I would opt for something simple like a chicken and rice meal and protein shake with 1/4 cup of almonds, tablespoon of natural peanut butter or almond butter.

Cardio is KING when it comes to losing body fat. 30 mins of cardio with a heart rate of 120 beats per minute will strip it off and when things get slow increase it by 10min increments (dont reduce your food at this point) until you max out at 1 hour.  This process will really speed up your metabolism and melt that lard off. With strict dieting and this cardio regime it will work like magic!  
If cardio is a struggle before breakfast then opt for it post workout but the fat burning process is around? 3 times more productive at this time.

Hope this helped buddy  8)

Thanks again mate. yes its very helpful advice. I'll give the training plan ago and let you know how it goes. How log would you say before I would expect to see reasonable results?