Should I work out if I'm still sore?

You can work out when you're mildly sore, and it often feels better once you're moving. The simple rule: train something else, or train the sore muscle lightly. Hitting the same sore muscle hard again is where it stops making sense.

A quick way to decide

Rate the soreness from 1 to 10 and check how you move.

• 1 to 3, you barely notice it: train normally.
• 4 to 6, noticeable when you stretch or climb stairs: train other muscles, or do a lighter, easier session for the sore ones.
• 7 and up, it changes how you walk or you can't use a full range of motion: rest that muscle for another day or two.

If the first warm-up sets feel clearly worse than normal and don't improve as you go, that's your answer to stop.

Why light work is fine

Moving a sore muscle gently usually brings the achiness down for a while. It isn't doing harm, and you won't "tear" anything by walking or doing a light set. What you want to avoid is piling heavy, hard work onto a muscle that hasn't recovered, because your performance and form drop.

Example week for sore legs

Say you did legs on Monday and your quads are wrecked on Wednesday. Do upper body that day, and keep the leg work to an easy walk. By Friday, you're back to a normal leg session. If it's still bad by Friday, give it until the weekend.

On those light days, a walk synced from Apple Health still counts toward your daily match in League of Fitness, so you can keep the habit going without forcing a hard session on sore muscles.

Soreness vs pain

Sore muscles feel dull and general. Sharp pain, pain in a joint, swelling, or an ache that gets worse each day is not normal soreness. Stop training that area and see a doctor or physical therapist if it doesn't settle within a few days.

One more thing

Being sore isn't a sign of a good workout and not being sore isn't a sign of a bad one. As you train more, you'll get sore less often even while doing real work. So don't let a lack of soreness push you to add more, and don't let a bit of it keep you from training.