If you’re waking up sore from a recent workout, you’re not broken—and you don’t need to hit pause. We want you to understand what that soreness really means and how training (smartly) through it can actually help it fade faster.

What soreness really is:

That day-after ache, DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is just your body adapting to a new or challenging stimulus. It usually peaks 24–48 hours after a workout.

Here’s the key: light or moderate exercise has been shown to reduce soreness, not worsen it. It increases blood flow, supports healing, and helps your nervous system calm down.

You might not be at peak performance when you’re sore, but training doesn’t slow recovery. Often, it speeds it up.

How to train when you’re sore:

• Adjust intensity, don’t stop. Use lighter loads, fewer sets, or switch to movements that feel smoother on your body. You’re still progressing, just not hammering the same sore tissue.
• Move to feel better. Think warm-ups, controlled strength work, mobility, and accessory lifts. All of these increase circulation and reduce stiffness.
• Recovery still matters. Foam rolling, good nutrition, hydration, and sleep all help soreness ease faster.
• Avoid only what feels unsafe. Sharp pain, swelling, or major stiffness = we modify. Regular soreness = we work around it.

Why we train this way:

Avoiding movement because something feels sore can actually make your body more sensitive over time. (You know I talk about this a lot!)

When you show up and move, you build resilience, maintain momentum, and feel better faster.

When soreness is not helpful:

Let’s say you’re so sore that you can’t walk the next day and have to wait an entire week to workout again. You’re probably going too hard, too fast, too soon, with too much volume on certain exercises. 

If you’re just starting out, choose weights that are lighter than you think, maybe choose to do full body workouts instead of body part splits, OR have Uplift coaches write you a workout program that helps you with all of these things.