Muscle Soreness vs Injury: When to Rest and When to Exercise, A Physical Therapist's Guide
One of the most common questions I hear is, "Should I work out today even though I'm sore?" The answer depends on what kind of soreness you're experiencing. Normal muscle soreness is part of getting stronger, but pain that continues to worsen or changes the way you move is your body's way of telling you it needs more recovery. These Soreness Rules can help you decide whether to push forward, modify your workout, or take a rest day.
Soreness is one of the ways your body communicates how well it tolerated your previous workout. Learning to adjust your exercise based on that feedback helps you progressively build strength while reducing your risk of overloading muscles, tendons, and joints. Soreness and pain are part of your body's feedback system. They provide valuable information about how well your tissues tolerated your last workout and whether you're ready to progress, maintain, or back off today.
The Soreness Rules were originally published in the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy in 2012. These rules are designed to answer all your questions about:
when you can do more
when you should do less
when should you keep it the same
when you should have a rest day (from that particular activity) and how many rest days
The rules I have published on this page are a simplified and streamlined version of what was published by JOBSPT. Match up how you’re feeling today help you to decide how you should work out today or if you should have a rest day.
The Soreness Rules
The soreness rules tell you when to progress—but they don't teach you how to move in a way that prevents unnecessary soreness in the first place.
If you're frequently becoming excessively sore after exercise, the issue often isn't that you're doing too much—it's that your body isn't moving as efficiently as it could. Improving posture, breathing, and muscle coordination helps distribute forces more evenly through your body so you can tolerate more activity with less soreness over time. My Healthy Movement Reboot teaches the movement foundations that help reduce unnecessary strain, improve recovery, and build a body that's better prepared for exercise.
Start the Healthy Movement Reboot
Are you hypermobile? Build the stability you need for safer strength training.
Stop Guessing Whether You're Doing Too Much
The Soreness Rules tell you how to respond to your body's feedback.
The next step is having a workout program that's designed to progress at the right pace in the first place.
That's exactly why I created the Home Fitness Circuit.
Every workout is designed to help you:
✔ Build strength without unnecessary flare-ups
✔ Progress gradually using evidence-based loading principles
✔ Improve endurance and stability together
✔ Know when to progress and when to hold steady
Instead of wondering if you're overdoing it, you'll have a clear plan for moving forward.
→ Explore the Home Fitness Circuit
Tools to Get Started!
Take the guess Work out of adding to your home exercise and self care tools with my tried and true list here!
Short on time, space or equipment? Here is a free minimalist whole body short circuits you can do in 2-5 minute chunks or 15-20 min if you do all three rounds of the circuit back to back. All you need is one kettlebell or dumbbell!
