Muscular pain: should I train or rest?

If you have sore muscles it´s normally a sign of having done some good training. But you may ask whether it´s healthy to do exercise when your muscles are hurting. The answer depends mainly on the pain tolerance of each person.

What is muscular pain?

Muscle pain or soreness is caused by microscopic tears along the muscle. This is why you may feel muscle pain as a result of an intense workout. It’s good to remember that once you get back to the normal training routine your muscles get used to it, even if they occasionally remind you of the previous hard workout. But bear in mind that it’s very important to include enough protein in your diet and to give your muscles enough rest every week. Lack of proteins and sufficient recovery may cause more of these small tears in the muscles and result in unnecessary muscular pain.

When should you avoid training?

You should abstain from training if the muscular pain is so severe that it makes it impossible to take correct positions when you play squash. Incorrect positions enhance the risk of injuries and that’s why it’s a good idea to give your body a rest. For all active players it’s crucial to learn to listen to the body and its needs. If you suffer from a severe muscle or joint pain frequently or the pain lasts for many days you should seek professional advice.

When is it okay to train?

Except in above situations, usually it’s not a problem to train even if you have muscular pain. According to a number of studies muscle soreness doesn’t influence the muscular damage, further pain, recovery time or range of movement.

As you start your training session, in my experience it’s a good idea to work out a different muscle group first and to give the sore muscles some rest and time to prepare. This makes training with sore muscles a bit easier both mentally and physically.

You may also be interested in the following articles:
The importance of a proper warmup for squash
Why you should eat bananas during a squash match