Training Around Soreness vs Injury
Tough athletes listen to their bodies and adjust to protect long-term performance.
Being an athlete means your body will feel sore sometimes. The challenge is knowing when it is normal soreness and when it is a warning sign of injury. Toughness is not ignoring pain; it is responding to it wisely.
Normal soreness feels like stiffness or fatigue in both sides of the body and improves during warm-up. Injury pain is sharp, one-sided, or gets worse as you move.
Simple rules:
- Train through mild, improving soreness
- Modify or stop for sharp, worsening, or one-sided pain
- Tell your coach or athletic trainer early
- Never hide pain that changes how you move
McCall et al., Risk Factors, Testing and Injury Prevention in Elite Youth Football (2016)
Train Smart, Not Reckless\n• Soreness is normal, sharp pain is not\n• Adjust instead of hiding pain\n• Long-term health beats one workout
If something hurts sharply today, tell a coach or trainer and adjust instead of hiding it.
