Should You Workout When You’re Sore or Take a Day (or Two) Off?

If exercising is part of your routine, chances are you’ve felt the dreaded muscle soreness that shows up somewhere between a few hours and a few days after working out. The feeling can range from slight stiffness and tenderness to that I-can-barely-walk feeling. But should you get back in the saddle and work out even when sore and your muscles are tired and achy? Two fitness pros explain how to know when it’s better to rest and when it’s better to keep moving.

What Is Muscle Soreness?

There are two types of workout-related muscle soreness, acute muscle soreness and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

Acute Muscle Soreness

Acute muscle soreness is that burning feeling you experience during the workout or immediately after. The soreness you feel when you’ve done enough reps to the point where your body starts to literally feel the burn. You might feel this in the moment when your quads have had enough after a number of squats or your biceps start to scream after a lot of weighted reps.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is that feeling you get usually 24 to 48 hours after an intense workout. It may feel achy, stiff, or tight, and you might have trouble moving that muscle or body part like you normally do. Although it’s not 100% clear on what causes DOMS, we do know now that it’s no longer thought to be simply a buildup of lactic acid.

There are many hypothesized ideas as to what causes sore muscles after challenging exercise, including lactic acid, muscle spasm, connective tissue damage, muscle damage, inflammation, and the enzyme efflux theories.

“It’s probably a mixture of things, and probably different for each circumstance,” says Melissa Boyd NASM, CPT and head coach at Tempo. “It’s likely some sort of injury to the muscle, or the brain thinking [it’s an injury to the muscle] and sending a pain response, but nobody knows for sure."

DOMS tends to be more prevalent for those starting new workouts, an athlete re-entering their training season, or someone taking up working out for the first time—but it can really happen whenever you work a new muscle or work a muscle harder than usual (add more weight, do more reps, and so on).

There’s one type of soreness you’ll want to keep an eye out for, one that feels a bit more painful and acute. You’ll want to be careful if the soreness you experience has more of a sharpness to it, says Ryan Lefever, physical therapist and co-owner of TFI Physical Therapy. “If you feel that sort of pain while working out it’s likely not muscle soreness and could be the sign of an injury.”

This should be your indication to stop or modify your workout.

Should You Work Out When Sore?

Studies show that exercise is actually a great way to relieve the symptoms of muscle soreness. In fact, if you’re not too sore to get up and move, it’s one of the few things known to help alleviate it.

The type of exercise you do does matter, however. Exercise generally keeps blood flowing to your muscles, but if you’re already sore in certain areas, you want to give those a break from targeted exercise. So if you’re extremely sore in your quads and glutes from doing weighted squats or from your first day of volleyball league practice, try doing some gentle movement the next day that’s not exactly the same or directly taxing to these areas.

Walking, yoga, and mobility exercises, for example, are always great exercise options when you’re sore. Or, if your lower body is sore, consider focusing on an upper body workout instead.

Lefever generally encourages his clients to do a light, low-impact workout—just enough to get their heart rate up and aerobic system going.

The exception? When you are really, really sore—say, if your legs hurt so badly that you’re walking funny—it might be time to take a break. “If you’re really feeling that debilitating can’t-sit, can't-lift-a-leg [sensation], don’t do a crazy workout. You’ll open yourself up to injury,” Boyd says. “Go on a walk or stretch.”

If your body is already adjusting its form to do everyday activities like walking or sitting, chances are your form for exercise won’t be great either. Remember that rest and recovery are extremely important parts of any fitness routine, no matter your fitness level.

Strategies for Working Out When Sore

It’s a good idea to start incorporating a proper warm-up and cool-down routine into your workouts, whether you’re sore or not. A consistent routine should help lessen some of that muscle soreness.

Boyd thinks of her warm-up as a check-in with her body: “Am I sore, is my neck tense, am I going to ignore what my body is telling me before I start working out?” Everybody is different, and even a five-to-10-minute warm up can help you assess what you need that day. A cool-down is also key to bring your heart rate down, as well as to stretch while your muscles are still warm.

Building in active recovery days should actually help you reach your potential, Lefever says. “Active recovery allows the body to start to regenerate and recover from a metabolic standpoint so that the muscles, joints, and soft tissues are ready for the next intense workout you may be doing,” he explains.

“Muscle and strength are built in recovery—overtraining can cause you not to see any results,” Boyd adds.

Recovery Modalities

When it comes to muscle soreness and working out in general, taking some form of recovery time is key. When it comes to DOMS, there is no known treatment to stop it completely, but there are some recovery techniques that seem to help provide relief and speed up recovery.

Recovery has become somewhat of a buzzy term with so many different modalities available, from cryotherapy to infrared saunas, percussion massages, and various pain-relieving modalities. But the truth is, the recovery method each person needs may look totally different.

Hot and Cold Therapies

Trendy hot and cold therapies like cryotherapy, cold plunges or ice baths, and saunas are suggested to have some mental health and cognitive benefits, and have been shown to reduce pain and inflammation from muscle damage, with a positive impact specifically on DOMS.

Lefever is a fan. “The research does look significant and promising for chronic inflammation and jump-starting the metabolic system,” he says, adding that he now incorporates both a cold plunge and a hot sauna into his recovery.

Foam Rolling

Foam rolling is also commonly used for soreness relief. Although studies are sparse, like massage, it seems to have an impact on reducing soreness for some people.

Epsom Salt Bath

Epsom salt baths are another good pick for relief—though, like foam rollers, the scientific evidence for its efficacy is relatively slim, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence, and if it makes you relax and feel good, there’s no harm in a good Epsom salt soak.

Prioritize Hydration, Nutrition, and Sleep

Of course, proper hydration, nutrition, and sleep are also essential for proper recovery.

Calming Breathing Exercises

Lefever also says we shouldn’t discount the impact breathing has on our workouts and recovery, explaining that deep breathing helps the muscles relax and helps switch us out of fight-or-flight mode we naturally enter into after a heart-thumping, high-impact workout (exercise is a healthy type of temporary stress!).

“Before you leave the gym, find a spot where you can put your feet up on the wall and do nasal breathing—a three or four second inhale, then a prolonged six to 10 second exhale,” he says. “This should help transport oxygen to more tissues and cells that need recovery and repair.”

Everyone's Recovery Needs Are Different

The type and amount of recovery you’ll need is extremely individualized. It can depend on the types of workouts you do and your body’s response to pain and physical stress. Whether it’s being diligent about your warm-ups and cool-downs, adding in additional recovery days, or icing a super-sore spot for 10 minutes after working out, it’s ultimately  up to how each option makes your body feel.

“Above all it’s really important to listen to your body,” Boyd says. “The reason you got the soreness is just your body’s response to doing something new and you need to chill out.”