Pain vs. Soreness

There’s a moment in almost every workout where your brain starts negotiating with your body.

Your muscles are shaking. Your breath gets louder. The discomfort rises just enough to make you question whether you should stop… or stay.

And in that moment, one of the most important skills you can build isn’t strength or endurance.

It’s discernment.

Because there is a real difference between pain and soreness, and learning that difference changes the way you move, train and trust your body.

In Lagree method, we stress the importance of slowing down the movement. Because we want you moving at a controlled pace, where you can tune into your body throughout the entire range of motion, and you have the opportunity to ask your body mid-movement is this pain or is this soreness?  Maybe all it takes is a small, thoughtful correction.  Maybe it's a moment to back off and recalibrate. 

Soreness is a conversation. Pain is a warning.

Soreness is the feeling of muscles being asked to do something new or demanding. It’s the dull burn during a hold. The heaviness after a hard session. The tenderness the next day that reminds you your body adapted and worked.

It’s uncomfortable, yes. But it’s also informational. It says:

We’re building something here.

Pain, on the other hand, has a sharper edge. It feels alarming, not challenging. It interrupts your focus instead of deepening it. Pain doesn’t ask you to stay — it asks you to listen.

And the hard part is that when you’re pushing physical limits, those sensations can live very close to each other. Especially if you’ve been conditioned to believe that progress only happens when you override your body.  No pain no gain, right?  Wrong. 

Sustainable strength isn’t built by ignoring signals. It’s built by understanding them.

Discomfort is part of growth. Suffering isn’t required.

We tend to glorify the idea of pushing through at all costs. There’s a cultural pride in toughness  or finishing no matter what. And while resilience matters, there’s a quieter form of strength that doesn’t get talked about enough:

Knowing when to modify.

Knowing when to pause.

Knowing when to take one step back so your body can take 10 forward later.

Soreness asks for patience. Pain demands respect.

When you learn to stay with soreness without panicking, you build capacity. That growth is not just physical, but mental. You expand your tolerance for effort. You learn that discomfort doesn’t automatically mean danger.

But when you ignore pain, you teach your nervous system that its warnings don’t matter. Over time, that disconnect doesn’t make you stronger. It makes you brittle.

The goal isn’t to avoid discomfort — it’s to build trust.

The healthiest athletes aren’t the ones who never feel discomfort. They’re the ones who understand their thresholds.

They can sit in the burn of a long hold and stay calm.
They can push into effort without collapsing their form.
And they can step out of a movement the moment it stops feeling productive.

That’s not weakness. That’s mastery.