There’s a question I get pretty regularly, and it’s a good one: “Am I sore or am I hurt?” or “How do I know if what I’m feeling is normal soreness or something I should actually be worried about?”
The answer, it depends and there is a difference between soreness and actual pain. It matters and most people haven’t been taught how to tell the difference. So let’s fix that!
First, the normal stuff.
Delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS if you want to sound fancy at parties, is the achiness you feel 24 to 48 hours after a workout. It shows up when you’ve asked your muscles to do something new, harder, or different than what they’re used to. It’s a sign that your body is adapting.
The soreness comes from microscopic damage to muscle fibers, and the repair process is literally how you get stronger. So if you’re a little achy after leg day, congratulations, that’s the whole point. Soreness isn’t an indicator of a good or bad workout, it’s simply an adjustment.
Muscle soreness typically feels like:
1. A dull, achy, “I used those muscles” kind of feeling
2. Tenderness when you press on the muscle belly itself
3. Stiffness that actually loosens up once you start moving
4. Spread across a muscle or group of muscles, not pinpointed to one spot
Joint pain is different. And it’s worth paying attention to.
Your joints, including your knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists, are not supposed to be the things that hurt after a workout. If the discomfort is sitting *in* a joint rather than in the surrounding muscle, that’s your body sending you a different kind of message.
Joint pain or something worth checking out tends to feel like:
1. Sharp, stabbing, or pinching sensations
2. Pain that shows up *during* a movement, not just after
3. Swelling, heat, or a feeling of instability in the joint
4. Something that gets *worse* with movement instead of loosening up
5. Pain that’s very localized to one specific spot, not a general area
Here’s the encouraging part (I promised encouraging): most of the time, joint discomfort during training is a signal to modify, not to stop entirely. Load, range of motion, exercise selection, all of these can be adjusted to keep you moving while letting things calm down. The research on this is actually pretty clear that staying active and continuing to load tissues appropriately is usually *better* for recovery than total rest.
The goal isn’t to train through pain. But it’s also not to be scared of your body every time something feels unfamiliar. Soreness is normal. Soreness means you showed up and did something. Learning to distinguish that from actual pain is one of the most useful things you can develop as someone who trains consistently.
When in doubt, ask! That’s what we’re here for and we’ve got you 🙂
