If you have a muscle that you tweaked, and it’s been in pain for more than a few days, should you train that muscle, or wait until it’s ‘better’?
It depends but, it might surprise you to know that the sooner you go back to training it, the sooner it will get better.
If you’re strength training regularly, as you should be, you’re going to tweak a few things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve trained straight through those, had awesome sessions, and, help the recover process speed up.
After the initial injury, you’ll want to take a day or two to lay off of that area. You’ll want to (as always – not just because you injured something) do your stretching and mobility, perhaps applying a little extra to the area on question.
But once it’s strong enough to move around, it’s time to get back to work – even if it hurts.
It will hurt at first, but, the muscle will respond. You might even find that it completely loosens up right away.
It’s all about attacking your weaknesses, both in the gym, and in life. That’s the only way they get stronger.