I’m Still Sore – Should I Lift Today?

This is a constant debate.  Should you still lift if you are sore from your previous workout?

I’ve tried to find some science behind an answer, and one thing might surprise you:

Soreness is not directly related to recovery. It is an indicator, but not a direct correlation.

More important than soreness is consistency.

You need to find a lifting program that is designed to accomplish the goals you want.

Then you need to stick to that program.

If that program says you need to work out today, then you need to work out today.

Period.

But if you are finding that after a couple weeks you are still sore from a previous workout ahead of “today’s” workout, then you probably need a different program.

Let’s dive deeper…

If you are doing full-body routines, usually they are 3x/week.  That means you usually have a day off between every workout and once a week you have two days off.

If you are always sore, for several weeks, then you might need to move to 2x/wk or explore semi-split routines.

If you are doing a semi-split routine and every time you do lower body, you are still sore from the previous workout, then you might need to change your frequency.

You also might find that muscle group A is sore today but you aren’t working with that muscle group anyway.  Hopefully it’s obvious that you don’t need to skip today’s workout for that!

But don’t skip a workout just because one day you are still sore. Work through that soreness.  Because consistency trumps soreness.  It’s possible that “today’s” workout might be sub-par because you are still sore.  But you’ll get more out of the consistency – the habit of workout out according to your plan.

If you start skipping a workout, then you’ll skip two workouts.  Then three. You’ll find other excuses to skip more and more.  And next thing you know, you’ve gone two weeks without a workout and then you give up.

So, work through muscle soreness if it is occasional.  If you are always sore, then explore a different routine.

How much time do you need for your muscles to recover?  Read this.

Non-Muscle Soreness

Now, the preceding discussion applies to muscle soreness.  But if your ligaments or tendons are sore, that’s a different story.  That’s pain.  That’s not soreness.  99% of the time, that soreness you feel is muscular so you don’t have to worry.  The more experienced you are with lifting, the more you can tell the difference.  But I understand it’s hard for newbies to know which is which.

One relatively easy way to test is to do some stretches.  Particularly dynamic stretching.  If the pain subsides, then it is almost certainly muscular.  But if after some stretching it actually feels worse, then you might (and I stress might) have some connective tissue that is aggravated.  In that case, taking a day off won’t help.  You’ll need much longer.

So another way to test, even though the point of this article is to say NOT to skip a day, is that when you have muscle soreness it rarely lasts for more than a day or two.  So if it goes away on its own, then it was just muscular.  Newbies note:  when you first start lifting, it’s not uncommon to be sore for several days but after a few weeks your soreness periods will be much shorter.

A Quick Word About DOMS

You might notice that your chest isn’t sore right after an intense bench press session.  In fact, it might be the next day or in some cases two days later that you are sore.  This is called “delayed onset muscle soreness” or “DOMS”.  It’s totally normal.  But this is also a good sign that the soreness is muscular – other soft tissue soreness like sprains or more serious issues are painful almost immediately.  If your soreness isn’t felt right away, then it’s probably muscular.

The Mental Side

One thing you don’t want to do is get under a heavy bar if you’re mentally worried.  So much of lifting heavy is about the mental side of things that if you “think” you are too sore to lift, then you’ll mentally collapse and then injure yourself.

So don’t cop out.  Get mentally ready.  Sometimes doing an extra warm-up set is all you need to convince yourself that the muscle soreness isn’t going to affect today’s workout.

What do you think?  Do you have any questions?  Or maybe if you are experienced you can share your views on muscle soreness – jump in with comments!

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Related posts:

1. What Do You Think About When You Lift? Part 2 of 2
2. What Do You Think About When You Lift? Part 1 of 2
3. Why You Need to Lift Weights

Tags: recovery, soreness