When Should You Stop Training With Pain? A Guide to Training, Modifying or Seeking Help
Six days into a three-week Muay Thai training camp in Thailand, my right Achilles became so painful that I was struggling to walk normally.
There was no bad landing, sudden tear or single moment I could blame.
The training itself was not dramatically harder than what I was already used to at home. However, I was training regularly, walking much more than usual, spending much of the day barefoot and recovering in hot, humid conditions.
I cannot say that any one of those things caused the problem. It was more likely that several changes had combined to alter the overall demands being placed on my body.
This is what can make sporting “niggles” difficult to manage.
You know something does not feel right, but you may be unsure whether you should:
Continue training normally
Modify the session
Stop and seek professional advice
A simple green, amber and red traffic-light system can help guide that decision.
This framework is intended as a general guide for common exercise-related aches and musculoskeletal pain. It is not a diagnostic tool and does not cover every injury or medical condition.
What is a sporting niggle?
Some sports injuries have an obvious cause.
You might land awkwardly, collide with another player or experience pain immediately after a bad movement. In those situations, you can usually identify when and how the problem started.
Niggles are often less clear.
A niggle is a small, nagging pain or discomfort that may not initially stop you from training. It might appear during a particular drill, settle for a while and then return the next time you train.
Over time, you may notice that it:
Appears earlier in each session
Takes longer to settle
Becomes more intense
Changes how you move
Begins affecting activities outside training
These problems can develop when the demands being placed on your body exceed what it is currently prepared to tolerate and recover from.
Those demands are not limited to one training session. The overall balance may be influenced by your sport, strength training, running, physical work, stress, sleep, recovery time and sudden changes to your normal routine.
Your body does not completely separate your boxing class from your gym session, physical job, poor night’s sleep or busy week. It responds to the total picture.
That is why a rest day is not always a recovery day. Sometimes it is simply a non-training day filled with work, errands and other physical demands.
The traffic-light system for training with pain
The traffic-light system is not designed to tell you exactly what injury you have. Instead, it provides a simple way to consider how your symptoms are behaving and how much they are affecting your movement.
Green: train and monitor
Green is general soreness or stiffness that improves with the warm-up and does not affect your normal movement or technique.
You may arrive at training feeling stiff, tired or flat, but everything begins to feel reasonably normal once you start moving.
In a green-light situation, you can generally train while continuing to monitor how your body responds.
Green does not mean you need to train at maximum intensity. It simply means the symptoms are settling, your movement remains normal and there are no obvious signs within this framework that you need to stop.
Green: train and monitor.
Amber: communicate and modify
Amber is pain that keeps returning, does not settle properly with the warm-up or begins changing how you move or train.
You may still be capable of participating, but completing the planned session exactly as written may not be the most sensible decision.
Depending on the activity and the individual, modification might involve:
Reducing the intensity
Completing fewer rounds or repetitions
Temporarily avoiding an aggravating movement
Changing the type of conditioning
Focusing on a tolerable skill or technique
If you are training in a coached environment, tell your coach what you are having difficulty with. They do not need to diagnose the problem, but they need enough information to help adjust the session where appropriate.
Amber: communicate and modify.
When appropriate, a modified session is still a training session.
Red: stop the aggravating activity and seek help
Red may include rapidly worsening pain, significant swelling, or pain or weakness that makes normal movement and daily activities difficult.
This is not an exhaustive list.
Pain that causes you to limp, prevents you from using an arm normally or makes basic daily movements difficult has moved beyond ordinary post-training soreness.
A red-light problem does not always follow a dramatic collision, loud pop or sudden injury. A gradually developing problem can also become red if it significantly affects your function.
Red: stop the aggravating activity and seek appropriate advice or assessment.
How my Achilles moved from red to amber to green
My Achilles problem in Thailand provides an example of how the traffic-light colours can change.
When the pain first became severe, I was struggling to walk normally.
That made it red.
Continuing with the aggravating training was not appropriate, even though there had been no traumatic incident. I stopped my normal training and gave the symptoms several days to settle.
Once walking became more comfortable, the problem moved into amber.
I could begin participating again, but I modified what I was doing and reduced the overall training load. I did not immediately return to every activity at the same intensity and volume as before.
As normal movement and training capacity returned, it gradually moved back towards green.
This experience demonstrates two important points:
First, pain can develop through several cumulative factors rather than one obvious incident.
Second, your traffic-light colour is not a permanent label. It can change according to how the problem behaves, how well you can move and what you can currently tolerate.
Use your warm-up to gather information
Your warm-up can provide useful information about how your body is responding that day.
This does not mean that a few stretches or mobility exercises can diagnose an injury. Feeling temporarily looser also does not prove that a problem is safe to ignore.
Instead, compare how you feel before, during and after warming up.
Ask yourself:
Is the soreness or stiffness beginning to settle?
Can I perform my normal sporting movements?
Is pain changing my technique?
Does the problem return as soon as intensity increases?
Are the symptoms improving, staying the same or worsening?
For a boxer, this might involve beginning with light punches, hooks, pivots, slips and rolls. After completing some general movement and mobility work, repeat those boxing movements and reassess.
If the discomfort settles and your movement remains normal, the situation may sit closer to green.
If it persists, keeps returning or changes your technique, it may sit closer to amber.
If normal movement is already difficult, do not repeatedly use the warm-up to test how much pain you can tolerate.
Warm-ups can support readiness and sporting performance, but they should not be treated as pass-or-fail injury tests or guaranteed methods of preventing injury. (PubMed)
Recovery is more than what happens after training
When people hear the word “recovery”, they often think of stretching, massage, saunas, compression garments or cold plunges.
Those methods may help some people feel better, but they are the optional extras.
The foundations are less exciting:
Sleep
Regular food
Hydration
Sensible training demands
Enough time to adapt between harder sessions
The Australian Institute of Sport includes sleep, recovery nutrition and hydration among its key preparation and recovery resources. (Australian Sports Commission)
Sleep helps your brain and body recover
Sleep is not only about resting sore muscles.
It also supports memory, concentration and the brain’s ability to process and reinforce information.
Imagine a tradie finishing work and throwing every tool loosely into the back of the work vehicle.
When they arrive the next morning, everything is scattered. They may still get the job done, but they waste time finding the right tool and work less efficiently.
Sleep is a little like taking the time to organise those tools and put them back where they belong.
For someone learning boxing, those tools include combinations, timing, defensive movements, footwork and coaching instructions.
When sleep is repeatedly poor, you may feel less focused, less sharp and less able to maintain your normal technique. Sleep is also an important part of physical and psychological recovery from training. (Australian Sports Commission)
One poor night does not automatically mean you cannot train.
However, several short nights combined with low energy, worsening soreness and poor movement should influence how hard you choose to train that day.
You cannot repay five poor nights of sleep with one cold plunge and a protein shake.
Consistent food choices support training
You do not need a professional athlete’s diet to train well.
There is also nothing wrong with the occasional takeaway or less nutritious meal. However, when the occasional meal becomes the normal daily pattern, it may begin affecting your overall preparation and recovery.
Repeatedly arriving at an evening session having barely eaten since lunch is unlikely to support the quality of your training.
The aim is not dietary perfection. It is to develop a reasonably consistent eating pattern that supports your health, activity and recovery. Australia’s dietary guidelines emphasise balanced dietary patterns rather than judging health based on one individual meal. (Eat For Health)
Anyone with specific nutrition needs, medical conditions or concerns about their relationship with food should seek advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
Hydration starts before you arrive at the gym
Think of a dry sponge sitting under a slowly dripping tap.
Given enough time, the sponge gradually absorbs the water.
If you suddenly turn the tap on at full blast, water splashes everywhere before the sponge can deal with it.
Your body is not literally a sponge, and drinking water quickly does not mean that none of it will be absorbed.
The practical lesson is that sculling a large bottle immediately before training does not instantly correct a day of inadequate fluid intake. It may instead leave you feeling heavy, uncomfortable or needing the toilet during the session.
A more practical approach is to drink regularly throughout the day and arrive at training already reasonably hydrated.
Hydration is preparation—not an emergency job five minutes before training.
Individual fluid needs vary according to factors including body size, environment, activity duration and sweat rate. The AIS includes hydration within both its recovery resources and guidance for managing training in challenging environmental conditions. (Australian Sports Commission)
When should you seek a physiotherapy assessment?
Consider seeking an individual assessment when pain:
Keeps returning across multiple sessions
Is becoming more frequent or intense
Does not settle as expected
Changes your movement or technique
Causes weakness or swelling
Affects your confidence during training
Begins interfering with daily activities
An assessment can help clarify what may be contributing to the problem, what activities may remain appropriate and how your training could be adjusted.
For many musculoskeletal problems, complete rest is not always required. However, the appropriate level of activity depends on the injury and the individual.
The most useful question is often not simply:
“Do I have to stop everything?”
It may be:
“What can I appropriately keep doing while I work towards normal training?”
When to seek prompt medical care
Seek prompt medical assessment if you:
Have severe or worsening pain
Cannot bear weight or use the affected area normally
Develop marked swelling or bruising
Experience significant weakness or altered sensation
Suspect a fracture or dislocation
Are otherwise concerned about the severity of the problem
Healthdirect recommends medical review for substantial pain, uncertainty about a possible fracture and injuries where normal movement is significantly affected. (Healthdirect)
Call triple zero on 000 for potentially serious or life-threatening symptoms, including difficulty breathing, confusion or loss of consciousness following a head injury, or a limb that becomes numb, pale or cold. (Healthdirect)
The goal is consistent training—not perfect training
Every ache does not mean you need to stop exercising.
At the same time, blindly pushing through every problem is not a badge of toughness.
The goal is to recognise what your body is telling you and make an appropriate decision early.
Remember:
Green: train and monitor.
Amber: communicate and modify.
Red: stop the aggravating activity and seek help.
Your colour can change as your symptoms and function change.
Making a sensible adjustment today may be what allows you to continue training next week, next month and throughout the year.
Sports physiotherapy in Fulham Gardens
At Novar Sports Physio in Fulham Gardens, we assess and manage sports and exercise-related musculoskeletal pain.
If your pain keeps returning, is worsening or is beginning to affect how you move, you can book an individual assessment to better understand the problem and your options.
From Injury Rehabilitation to Peak Performance.
Important information
This article provides general educational information only. It is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, and reading it does not establish a physiotherapist–patient relationship. It is not a substitute for assessment by an appropriately qualified health professional.
The traffic-light system is a general guide for common exercise-related aches and musculoskeletal pain. It cannot account for your individual symptoms, injury, medical history or circumstances. The examples provided are not an exhaustive list of symptoms or warning signs.
Do not rely on this article to delay medical or emergency care. Seek prompt professional assessment if your symptoms are severe, worsening or affecting your ability to move or complete normal daily activities. Call triple zero on 000 in an emergency.
Head injuries, suspected concussion, chest pain, breathing difficulties, serious trauma and other medical symptoms fall outside this traffic-light framework and require appropriate individual assessment.
Novar Sports Physio does not guarantee any particular outcome from assessment or treatment. Recommendations and results vary according to each person’s condition and circumstances.
The article has been written to provide general, balanced information without creating an expectation of a guaranteed treatment result, consistent with Ahpra’s requirements for advertising regulated health services. (AHPRA)
