Should I be training when I am sore?

The answer is that it depends on the type of soreness or pain you are feeling—is it Good Pain or Bad Pain? It also depends on how long you have been feeling sore. The following article from Swimming NSW describes you how to tell the difference between Good and Bad Pain.

Think of a word that starts with “p,” rhymes with “main” and is great for your swimming. If you guessed “pain ”you’re absolutely right. But not just any kind of pain, good pain. What’s good pain you ask? It’s the kind of pain you feel when you push your body to it’s absolute limit, like during a really challenging butterfly set, a super tough distance set or an all-out set of 50’s. Good pain is an essential part of training. Without good pain, you will never develop the kind of physical fitness and mental toughness you’ll need to consistently swim best times in meets and achieve your ultimate swimming goal.

Good pain should never be confused with bad pain, which is the pain you feel when you’ve injured yourself. Swimming with bad pain is the absolute worst thing you can do. Even though you might get away with it for awhile, it will eventually catch up to you, which means you will have to cut back on the amount of training you do, seek medical attention or worse- stop swimming for an indefinite amount of time. Swimming with bad pain is a “no-win” situation and should be avoided at all cost!
The trick however is knowing how to tell the difference between good and bad pain.

To test your knowledge on good and bad pain, I invite you to take the following quiz. All you have to do is tick the pains you think are good.

The Name that Pain Quiz

1. The pain you feel when your arms are so heavy that you can barely lift them out of the water during a butterfly set.
2. The pain you feel when your muscles are so sore that you can’t finish your stroke in freestyle.
3. The pain you feel in your neck from holding your head still in a long backstroke set.
4. The pain you feel in your side during a challenging swim set ( some call it a stitch).
5. The pain you feel in your shins from kicking a lot of breaststroke kick.
6. The sharp pain you feel in your knee every time you kick or push off the wall.
7. The pain you feel in your lungs during a major breath holding set, a set that also makes you feel dizzy.
8. The pain you get from kicking your legs so hard that they end up feeling as thick and heavy as telephone poles.
9. The sharp pain you feel in your shoulder every time you recover your arm in freestyle or butterfly.
10. The pain you feel in your stomach muscles after doing a lot of sit-ups.

The correct answers can be found at the end of this article. Knowing how to tell the difference between good and bad pain is one of the secrets to having a long and successful swimming career. Any bad pain should be reported to your coach right away. Don’t be afraid to tell them. A good coach wont think you’re slacking off, if fact they’ll admire you for being so responsible and in tune with your body.

Although you should avoid bad pain at all costs, you should also try and experience as much good pain as you can. The more good pain you experience in training, the more time you will drop in meets.

The Good Pains are: 1,2,3,4,5,8,10
The Bad Pains are: 6,7,9

So basically, Good Pain is achy, dull, and very general. It tells you that you are working hard. Bad Pain tends to be sharp and specific and tells you that you are hurt or injured. This type of pain should be referred to a Sports Physiotherapist for assessment and treatment.
However, your body also needs time to recover from a hard workout. Tired, sore muscles for an extended period can be a sign of overtraining.

Completing a warm-down (which includes a stretching routine) following a training session can help to reduce the amount of muscle soreness that you experience and also helps your body to recover more quickly.