Should you workout if you're sore?

I’ve had this question since I first started lifting.

If I’m still a bit sore but want to work out, what should I do?

In physical therapy school, I learned about something called the soreness rules, which help guide this decision.

The soreness rules were originally developed to guide exercise progression during late-stage ACL reconstruction rehabilitation.¹ Your level of soreness helps determine whether you should progress, maintain, or back off your training.

If you are still sore after your warm up sets, you rest.

If your soreness goes away during warm up, you continue.

If you’re not sore at all, you progress.

Out of curiosity, I went looking for the origin of the soreness rules and found this referenced article from 1998.²

These guidelines are designed for rehabilitation after surgery, so they are intentionally conservative. This principle of using soreness as feedback can be also be applied to strength training.

Personally, I use a less conservative version of these rules. I put them into a chart below.

No soreness	Progress workout
Soreness that goes away with warm up sets	Progress workout
Soreness that persists with warm up sets	Perform dynamic warm up
Soreness that goes away with dynamic warm up	Progress or maintain (dont be silly)
Soreness that persists with dynamic warm up	Switch workouts, cardio, mobility, sport, etc.

Ive also put them into a flow chart:

If I’m not sore, I continue with progressing my workout.

If I’m sore but it goes away with warm up sets, I’ll progress my workout.

If my soreness doesn’t go away with my warm up sets, I will do a dynamic warm up. I normally don’t do a full dynamic warm up for hypertrophy training, as a couple light warm up sets does the trick. But if sorenss persists, I will.

This consists of some light mobility and dynamic stretches, spine rotations, body weight exercises like squats and pushups, jumps and lighter plyometrics. It should take about 5 to 10 minutes to heart rate and body temperature up and nervous system primed for activity.

If I’m feeling good at this time, I will continue on. I will still push myself to progress my exercises, but won’t try anything silly. At the least I will try to maintain what I did from my last workout.

If I’m still sore after the extended warm up, I will either switch to another workout that targets different muscles, or shift the focus of the day to something else like cardio or doing jujitsu.

Going through an extended warm-up adds extra time and effort, so it’s not something I do every session. But it can be helpful when soreness makes it unclear whether training is a good idea.

Over time, you also become better at listening to your body.

For example, my job has me moving around all day. If I wake up sore in the morning, I’m usually loosened up by the end of the day and can train without a problem. Other days I’ll still feel pretty sore before heading to the gym, and that’s usually a sign that I should shift the focus of the workout instead of forcing it.

Using soreness as feedback isn’t perfect, but it’s a simple way to help guide training decisions while still staying consistent.

References:

1. Irfan A, Kerr S, Hopper G, Wilson W, Wilson L, Mackay G. A Criterion Based Rehabilitation Protocol for ACL Repair with Internal Brace Augmentation. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2021;16(3). doi:10.26603/001c.22217

2. Fees M, Decker T, Snyder-Mackler L, Axe MJ. Upper Extremity Weight-Training Modifications for the Injured Athlete. Am J Sports Med. 1998;26(5):732-742. doi:10.1177/03635465980260052301

Disclaimer:

This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition. If you are experiencing pain, injury, or any medical condition, please consult a qualified healthcare professional before attempting these exercises.