Should You Exercise with Sore Muscles? The Guide to Smart Recovery

Whether you view it as a badge of honor or a pesky side effect, sore muscles are a sign that you pushed yourself in yesterday’s workout. While muscle soreness doesn’t usually linger beyond a day or two, it may lead you to question: Is it okay to exercise with sore muscles, or do I need to break from my workout routine? 

The answer comes down to the severity of your soreness and if you’re experiencing other signs of overexertion. This article is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult with your physician or a qualified healthcare professional if you are wondering whether or not you should exercise with sore muscles.  

Below, we’ll help you better understand post-workout soreness and what it means for today’s exercise session.  

Understanding Soreness: What Makes Your Muscles Feel Tired After Exercise?

Exercise uses your muscles ATP (cellular energy), which can cause fatigue when they have been working hard¹ Strenuous exercise can go a step further by creating microtears in your muscle fibers. Those microtears can help encourage the muscle tissue to grow back stronger, so long as you give your body a chance to recover.²  

Muscle soreness and pain that sets in one to two days after exercise is called delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS. It’s a normal response to physical activity, especially if you partake in a particularly strenuous workout, or a type of exercise you’re not accustomed to.  

In other words, challenging your body beyond its usual capacity during a workout makes your muscles feel tired and sore after intense exercise.  

The Science Behind Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

While the exact cause of delayed onset muscle soreness isn’t known, it’s now thought to result from repeated muscle contractions during exercise, or muscle contractions that your body isn’t used to. These contractions can cause microdamage to your muscles, which may lead to DOMS.³

With that said, in previous years, DOMS was thought to be caused by a combination of factors, including muscle spasms, inflammation, and lactic acid buildup. Lactic acid is a substance your body produces when it uses carbohydrates for energy during exercise, and while some research has challenged its role in post-workout muscle soreness, it’s still widely thought to contribute to DOMS.^3,4  

Differentiating Between Different Types of Pain

Do you often wonder if it’s okay to exercise with sore muscles? It can be challenging to understand if you’re dealing with normal sore muscles after exercise or signs of an injury. While the differences can be nuanced from person to person, keep these general guidelines in mind.  

Normal exercise-related delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), is typically:³

• Dull
• Achey
• Generalized, meaning it occurs across the muscle groups used during exercise
• May hurt when stretching or contracting muscles, but improves with a warm-up and gentle, low-impact exercise

You might be dealing with an injury, if your discomfort is:⁵ 

• Sharp
• Localized, meaning it stems from a specific area
• Lasts longer than a few days
• Worsens with movement
• Accompanied by significant swelling and/or bruising 

To Rest or to Move? When It’s Okay to Exercise with Sore Muscles

After an intense workout, you might wonder: Should I exercise with sore muscles? While the answer isn’t always cut-and-dry, gentle movement often benefits sore muscles by promoting blood circulation and supporting the recovery process.  

The Benefits of Active Recovery

If you’re too sore for a full-blown workout, but aren’t fatigued enough to require a complete break, you can consider an active recovery day. Unlike passive recovery, which involves virtually no movement, active recovery calls for gentle, low-intensity exercise, like yoga, swimming, walking, or cycling.⁶ It’s thought to provide a range of benefits after more intense workout sessions, including: 

• Increased blood circulation, which helps flush out waste created by strenuous exercise and transports healing oxygen and nutrients to damaged tissue⁶

• Reduced muscle tension, helping to keep muscles flexible and primed for future workouts
• Less muscle soreness: Active recovery has been found to reduce exercise-induced muscle soreness.⁷ 

For effective active recovery, aim to raise your heart rate above resting rate, but steer clear of movements or exercises you performed the day before.⁶ 

When Rest Is the Best Medicine

Benefits and all, sometimes active recovery isn’t what your body needs. Generally speaking, having one day of passive recovery in your routine is ideal to prevent overtraining and fatigue. But you may need an unplanned rest day if you’re feeling under the weather or experiencing signs of an injury or overtraining. 

Signs of an injury include:⁸ 

• Sharp pain in a specific area of the body
• Swelling
• Tenderness
• Stiffness and difficulty moving the affected body part

• Bruising

Signs of overtraining include:⁹ 

• Persistent or unusual muscle soreness after exercise
• Reduced physical performance and endurance
• Legs feeling “heavy”, even during less intense workouts
• Delayed recovery after workouts

So, should you exercise with sore muscles? Unless you’re experiencing signs of injury, illness, or overtraining, gentle, low-impact exercise can help your sore muscles recover faster.  

How to Treat Sore Muscles After Exercise

You don’t have to push through the pain of post-workout muscle soreness alone. There are various ways to relieve sore muscles after exercise, helping your body recover faster so you can get back to your usual schedule.   

Using Topical Pain Relief for Recovery

Topical treatments are a straightforward way to achieve muscle and joint pain relief. Since they’re applied directly to the painful area, they provide targeted relief where you need it the most. This also often makes topicals a good option for sore muscles compared to oral medications, as these travel throughout your body and present a higher risk of side effects, which can vary based on the composition.¹⁰

Biofreeze pain relief gel and Biofreeze pain relief cream are two popular options for topical pain relief. They contain menthol as the active ingredient, a cooling agent that disrupts pain signals before they reach the brain.¹¹ It’s a powerful way to achieve relief when yesterday’s workout leaves you feeling tight and sore.  

The Role of Hydration, Nutrition, and Sleep

Looking to prevent muscle soreness before it sets in? Good habits, including hydration, nutrition, and sleep, can help.  

• Staying hydrated prevents dehydration, a major cause of sore muscles and cramping. It also keeps your joints and tissues lubricated while delivering essential nutrients to your hardworking muscles, preventing soreness after a tough workout.¹²
• ​​​Nutrients​​​​Nutritients​​ and proteins: By ensuring you consume enough vital nutrients like sodium, and potassium, you can help prevent muscle soreness and cramps.¹² Eating enough protein, another key nutrient for muscle recovery, can also help you bounce back after a strenuous workout.¹³ 
• Sleeping properly after exercise can help ward off sore muscles by promoting tissue repair. When you sleep, your body’s natural repair processes kick into high gear by releasing growth hormones, reducing inflammation, and replenishing your energy stores.¹⁴ 

So, in conclusion, should you exercise if your muscles are sore? You could probably benefit from a gentle yoga flow or a walk around your neighborhood, unless you’re extremely fatigued or injured. And to prevent exercise-related sore muscles in the future, prioritize hydration, good nutrition, and a solid sleep schedule.