I am very sore from working out yesterday. I did weight training and cardio. Should I give myself a day off to recover or keep going? I want to do more cardio today but am not sure if its okay for me to.

Yesterday was my first work out in... Years.

its ok to do cardio back to back... but give a day in between weight training, as your muscles need time to rest & rebuild.... make sure you understand your body & know the difference between soreness (muscle fatigue) and pain from injury or overuse

Soreness from weight lifting is a good thing if it doesn't partially or completely disable you. Let's you know that you really worked those muscles. Just make sure that the soreness in those particular muscles is pretty much gone before working them again. I'll do splits on my workouts, which allows me to work a few body parts while the others are recovering.

Should I just workout through the soreness? I have weight lifting tomorrow, my legs and butt are in the good kind of pain, but I can only imagine how I'll feel after the squats and lunges with a barbell tomorrow

Sometimes a light workout a day or two after the heavy workout can actually help flush out the lactic acid (one of the main causes of muscle soreness) out of those sore muscles if you subscribe to the lactic acid theory. But if you do one of these workouts while still sore, make sure you don't go at the same intensity as the prior workout and lessen the volume as well. Also stretching can help flush out some of the lactic acid. Some people think the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) comes from micro tears in the muscle and need recovery days to heal back and during that healing process there is slight muscle gain or growth each time. It's kind of hard to tell which is the real reason for muscle soreness, but since we are all different, I would just try one method and see what works best for YOU. I know with myself, age has really come into play the past couple of years. I just turned 40 so I think the rest/recovery days tend to help me due to my advanced age.

This is another reason why I lift weights on Friday because usually I'm very sore afterwards. I'm usually sore until Mon-Tuesday. I lift heavy and boy do my muscles burn but I love the way my body looks after lifting. I prefer to lift once a week and do a full body workout. I do cardio 4-5 days a week.

Sometimes a light workout a day or two after the heavy workout can actually help flush out the lactic acid (one of the main causes of muscle soreness) out of those sore muscles if you subscribe to the lactic acid theory. But if you do one of these workouts while still sore, make sure you don't go at the same intensity as the prior workout and lessen the volume as well. Also stretching can help flush out some of the lactic acid. Some people think the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) comes from micro tears in the muscle and need recovery days to heal back and during that healing process there is slight muscle gain or growth each time. It's kind of hard to tell which is the real reason for muscle soreness, but since we are all different, I would just try one method and see what works best for YOU. I know with myself, age has really come into play the past couple of years. I just turned 40 so I think the rest/recovery days tend to help me due to my advanced age.

This is 100% correct. Your muscles grow while at rest, not while lifting. As long as you know it is soreness and not injury, you should lift every other day. Most people will work different muscle groups on different days such as upper body one day, lower body the next. You will need to mix this up some for muscle confusion, it is important to change things up. It is normal to have some soreness once you start your exercise program but if you are eating properly and getting rest between workouts, the soreness should not be a normal thing. Be sure you stay hydrated as well. Good luck, you have taken the hard 1st step.