You guys may be talking about two different things.
If you are training with heavy weights, fairly low reps, (less than 12) to complete failure, then you will be very, very sore. Your white muscle fiber will be tearing up muslce something fierce. Acid builds up and it really effects those muscles, tendons and joins. Everything associated with those muscles will contract. As soon as your body gets some rest and fuel, it will start building back those muscles. Your body knows that it has been stressed and builds those mucles/tendons/joints up stronger and larger than before so that it can handle future stress.
If you don't give your body fuel and rest, your body will not be able to completely rebuild those muscle fibers, significantly slowing your progress. Lactic acid will still be built up, that sore feeling means your still "torn up" in there and that your rebuild isn't finished.
So, in that case, don't train when your sore. Let your body rest and rebuild, you'll get allot stronger, allot faster.
However, if you are training bodyweight exercises, doing lots of reps and relatively low weight, you will not hit that deep muscle fiber the same way. Your body doesn't need nearly the same amount of rest to repair. You'll still be sore, but not the same kind of sore. Those of you who've done really heavy lifting and then went to bodyweight exercieses (like me) definatley know what I'm talking about.
For instance, let's say I do 100 pushups. Half an hour later, I can get back down to the floor and rap out another 50. Now, that's a b!tch, but I can do it. Compare that with when I used to lift weights. Let's say I benched 180bs (remember I'm only 160lbs) three times. Half and hour later I get back on that bench, unrack it, and I'll be shot in the face and pi$$ed on if I can do one rep. The next day I'll be sore if I've done the pushups, but it's a whole different type of sore than when I've sone the heavy lifting. The next day, I'll still be able to do the 100 pushups, but there is no way in hell I can still do the 180lbs 3 times.
You don't need the same kind of rest when you are doing bodyweight exercises than when you are heavy lifting.
JWT
If you pr!ck us, do we not bleed? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that the villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. MOV