Post workout swell

[MadmellyGT]

Can anyone answer me this question? I did a abs and core workout last night for the 1st time and my muscles are really hard now, not a bad thing I know but I seem to have put on an extra 2 inches around my waist??? How come???

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

All I can think of Madmelly, is that your muscles are retaining water after a new exercise. This explains it better than I can

livestrong.com/article/4063...

[MadmellyGT in reply to moreless]

Thank you moreless , I shall have a read of that now.

[Hidden]

Your muscles fill with blood when you workout that's why they feel hard and swollen, if it was your first time doing the abs then you wont be used to the feeling, it might take a few days for them to go back to normal. Measure again in a day or two and see what happens, but if you are going to do this regular you might have to get used to the fact that your muslces are going to grow and you might see a few inches added to your lower core. Keep at it though and keep the healthy eating going and eventually you will remove the body fat around your tum and either have a flat stomach or a bit of toned abs. Its nowt to worry about. You might not feel as swollen after a few sessions of it. Just wait and see.

[MadmellyGT in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for the explanation. Just so long as it's not permanent. It is sore though. We do various different workouts each week so might not do abs and core for another few weeks.

[Hidden in reply to MadmellyGT]

The pain is down to DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness which you might have for a few days but it will go away. If you really want to work those abs etc the best exercises are squats and deadlifts which are also extremely good for weight loss too.

Enjoy your exercising

[MadmellyGT in reply to Hidden]

Yeah, I know about DOMS. Such a nice fella is our DOMS.

[Hidden in reply to MadmellyGT]

He is everyones friend at the gym

[MadmellyGT in reply to Hidden]

LOL.

[MrNiceGuy]

It'll not become a permanent fixture, once your core adapts to the stress placed upon it and the swelling should only be temporary.

That said, if a large layer of visceral fat still covers the abdomen, concentrate upon planks and movements that draw the abdomen towards the spine, since they'll help to strengthen and flatten the stomach far greater than crunches, as they'll also exercise the transverse abdominis (a deep lying muscle which maintains strength in the lumbar region).

Strength of the transverse abdominis helps to maintain natural curvature of the lower spine, which is particularly useful to those whose job may be largely sedentary, as it prevents formation of a flat back.

To encourage abdominal muscles to reveal themselves, body fat should be no higher than 12%, so calorie reduction and HIIT (to increase oxidisation of fat) should also remain ever present in your desire to expose results of your hard work.

While your core will undoubtedly gain in strength through stomach crunches, if a layer of fat still covers it, those abs simply won't reveal themselves.

As such, concentrate your efforts upon performing plank-based exercises to strengthen your core, reserving energy for HIIT based activity, since HIIT continues to expend calories for up to 24 hours afterwards. It's also acceptable to perform a core strengthening routine after HIIT.

[MadmellyGT in reply to MrNiceGuy]

Thanks for that. I go to an intense fitness class once a week called viper fitness. This is the 1st abs and core I have done and my stomach is still hard , sore and swollen. We do something different every week (thankfully) I also do zumba once a week as well. I do still have quite a bit of blubber on my stomach so to see it go back up a few inches (I've measured) is quite a scary shock. Looking forward to it going back down. I'm also still calorie counting to lose more weight so we'll see.

[Swimgym]

It sounds like water retention. It happens to me all the time after weight training and my clothes feel slightly tighter. It's temporary, just make sure you're drinking enough water.

[MadmellyGT in reply to Swimgym]

Thank you. I'm definitely drinking plenty of liquids. I seem to be getting more thirsty at night for some strange reason. I always sleep with a pint of water by my bed and these last few nights I've been having to keep refilling it.

[MadmellyGT]

Well, still swollen and sore and the scales are now going in the wrong direction??? Ugh, never doing abs and core workouts again if this is what I have to go through!