shakiness after carrying a heavy-ish thing briefly.. your thoughts?

March 10, 2020 11:29 AM

I was at a big box store the other day and thought I'd just be buying one thing so I didn't get a shopping cart. Ended up buying more things, including a 500 sheet ream of cheap printer paper (we're not talking cardstock here! 20lb paper.. nothing fancy!)..

.. There was a line and no self checkout.. so , the thing that happened is: after about 5-10 minutes of carrying the paper under my left arm, my left arm and hand were shaky for about 20 minutes. I am not super worried about this, and you are not my doctor you're just a random smattering of mefites.. so.. I am not expecting THE answer, but I'm curious and wondering.. does this happen/has this happened to you?

posted by elgee to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

Totally normal. Remember being a kid on a swing set and having your hands feel that way after you got off and let go of the chains after 20-30 minutes?
posted by ocherdraco at 11:37 AM on March 10, 2020

i get this all the time since getting off of 7 years of muscle relaxants. my arms are just not great at arming, nerves are reawakening to their regular nerve jobs, muscles are like "lifting? in this economy?", etc. even absent medication reasons, if you're a mostly sedentary person who is not lifting and carrying stuff of that weight on a regular basis then it's not especially weird for there to be muscle trembling afterwards, especially if it's not your dominant arm.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:39 AM on March 10, 2020

This doesn't seem at all abnormal to me? If you don't regularly lift weights or anything, and especially if your left arm isn't your dominant one, carrying 20 lbs for that long is going to lead to some quivering muscles afterwards. You might be sore the next day too. I mean, compare it to doing reps with a 20 lb weight for the same period of time.
posted by yasaman at 11:41 AM on March 10, 2020

Totally normal phenomenon, IME.
posted by penguin pie at 11:56 AM on March 10, 2020

A ream of 20 lb. bond weighs 5 lb., but like others have said, yes, this is normal. I do some grocery shopping at stores where all the baskets have been stolen by tweakers, so I'm carrying multiple items in my arms for a few minutes and get the feeling you're describing, especially from items with sharp angles like the edges of a ream of paper.
posted by bgrebs at 11:58 AM on March 10, 2020

Normal, just your body going, How DARE re: such movement.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 12:56 PM on March 10, 2020

Around Christmas I had to carry a 20-lb. weighted blanket from the CVS where it magically got dropped off to my office, about a mile. I couldn't even lift my water cup when I got back to work, let alone use my phone or keyboard! I think it took a few hours for things to feel mostly normal again, but my arms were sore for a couple of days.
posted by jabes at 1:16 PM on March 10, 2020

It's somewhat normal, especially for sedentary folks, but consider starting a gym habit to combat this kind of thing before it gets worse. The World Health Organization (like every other major health-related governing body) recommends two or more strength training sessions per week. If you already have a gym habit, consider adding farmer's walks, more pulling work (e.g. dumbbell rows or pull-ups), and heavier deadlifts to your routine.
posted by daveliepmann at 2:51 PM on March 10, 2020

Totally happens to me when I've bought a bit more weighty bulky groceries than I've thought about and have to manage to haul them home somehow, but I'm out of room in my bags so I have to carry them in my arms/using grip strength. It goes away once I've had a chance to rest the muscles for a few minutes, but it's why I'm working on upping my farmer's carries like daveliepmann mentioned. Also because I'm vain and short and like impressing muscly people twice my size with unexpected bouts of strength, LOL. ;)
posted by Pandora Kouti at 3:09 PM on March 10, 2020

Lol, at my local barre class they call this “the shakes”. And in fact, the instructor tells you that if you’re not getting them, that you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. So yay for you! You got the shakes without having to pay $20 for a bougie fitness class. :)
posted by tinymegalo at 5:02 PM on March 10, 2020

Yes, this is normal if you don't usually do that kind of lifting. But if you can't carry 5 lbs in your non-dominant arm for 10 minutes you may want to prioritize some strengthening exercises. It's super important to keep your muscle strength up! I combat this by using a hand basket at the grocery store, which may not be a lifting program but I like to think having a 10-20 lb weight in my arms for my 30 minute 2x a week shops helps a bit.
posted by ananci at 6:05 PM on March 10, 2020

Same here, and need to start going to a gym and doing free-weights.
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:45 PM on March 10, 2020

wow thanks guys : ) it's good to not be alone. and I do need to exercise more and do more lifting/weight bearing stuff. both hands were engaged holding a bunch of other items and the paper was literally under my arm pinned bt arm and body... so i feel slightly less grim about it what it portends than if I'd been holding it normally.. but yes.. gym. exercise. train i must. important it is. yoda agrees. i agree.
posted by elgee at 9:59 PM on March 10, 2020

Oh, that's definitely an awkward position. You were probably using some muscles that don't usually get a lot of use like that, and maintaining a fairly strained, tense position, totally normal to have shakiness and soreness afterwards.
posted by yasaman at 11:10 PM on March 10, 2020