How to Keep Working Out When Something Hurts

Your knee aches on the stairs. Or your shoulder catches when you reach overhead. You don't want to lose the routine you've built, and you don't want to hurt yourself. Here's how I handle a workout with knee pain, a sore shoulder or a stiff back: get it checked, then train around what you're cleared to do.

Get it checked first

I'm a coach. I don't diagnose pain and I don't treat it. A doctor or a physical therapist can examine you, tell you what's going on, and tell you what's safe for now. That answer is the starting point for everything we do next.

If an exercise causes pain, stop that exercise. Then take these questions to your appointment:

• What can I keep doing while this heals?
• What should I avoid, and for how long?
• Are there exercises you want me to do at home?
• What signs mean I should stop and come back to you?

Write the answers down, or take a photo of what they give you, and send it to me.

Train around what you're cleared to do

Once you know what's off the table, the rest of your program can keep going, within what you've been cleared for. That matters for the habit. You keep your training days, your time slot, the rhythm of your week. When you're cleared to come back to the movement that hurt, you come back to a routine that's still running.

Plans exist to be changed. Here's how I change a plan when life changes, and pain is one of those changes.

A workout with knee pain, once you're cleared

The same idea works for a shoulder or a back. Whatever your doctor or physical therapist rules out stays out, and the program fills in around it with what they've cleared.

Tell me what you feel

You log each session in the app and message me. Tell me what felt fine, what didn't, and what your doctor or physical therapist said at your last visit. I adjust from there: a different movement, a shortened range, a load you can control, two sets in place of three.

If something in the program starts to hurt, stop that exercise, tell me, and check back with your doctor or physical therapist before you try it again.

Common questions

Is soreness after a workout the same as pain?

Feeling sore a day or two after a new workout is common. Pain that is sharp, worsening, or won't go away is a reason to see a doctor or physical therapist. If you can't tell which one you have, get it checked.

Should I skip my workout if something hurts?

Stop the movement that hurts and tell me. Whether you train the rest of your body is a question for your doctor or physical therapist. Once they clear you, I adjust the session to match.

What if my doctor tells me to stop training for now?

Then rest. Message me and we pause the program. When you are cleared to train again, we start from where you are.

Can you give me exercises for back pain or knee pain?

Exercises to treat pain come from your doctor or physical therapist. I can put the ones they give you into your program, and build the rest of your training around them.

What to do this week

1. Book a visit with a doctor or physical therapist about what hurts.
2. Ask what you can keep doing, and what to avoid.
3. Keep training the parts you're cleared for, on the days you already train.

Then send me what they said, and we build the next few weeks from it.