Beyond Pain: How the Right Modifications Can Help You Move More Right Now

Your body isn’t broken—it’s adaptable. Pain doesn’t mean you have to stop training; it just means you need a better strategy. The right exercise, at the right time, can help you move smarter, stay active, and come back stronger.

When Pain Stops You in Your Tracks

You’re mid-run, feeling good, then suddenly—your knee locks up. Maybe it’s an old injury flaring up. Maybe it’s something new. Either way, pain just shut you down.

If you’re like most active people, you’ve been here before. You know what it’s like to feel great one minute and then suddenly question whether you’ll ever train the same way again. And here’s the real kicker: It’s not just serious athletes who deal with this. Whether you’re playing pickup soccer, lifting weights, or chasing your kids around, pain has a way of forcing you to change your routine.

Pain—especially when it lingers—makes people hesitant to move, and that hesitation can snowball into full-blown inactivity. A 2018 study in MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that nearly 20% of adults live with chronic pain that limits their daily activities (Dahlhamer et al., 2018). That’s a large number of people who feel trapped, unable to move freely.

So, what do you do? Do you rest indefinitely and hope it goes away? Push through and risk making things worse? The real answer lies in learning how to modify exercises intelligently—something I’ve helped countless athletes and clients do successfully.

This is exactly why I teamed up with iFit for the Train for Sport series—because exercise should be something you modify, not abandon, when you’re in pain. The right approach keeps you moving, keeps you progressing, and helps you come back stronger.

Fatigue, Soreness, or Pain? How to Tell the Difference

Before we get into how to modify exercise, let’s clear something up: Not every ache means you’re injured. One of the biggest mistakes people make is misinterpreting fatigue, soreness, and pain as the same thing. They’re not.

Fatigue: Your Body’s “Low Battery” Mode

Fatigue isn’t pain—it’s your body telling you it’s running low on fuel. Think of it like your phone’s battery: At 80%, you’re good to go. At 10%, everything slows down. That’s your muscles when they’ve been working hard for a long time.

Fatigue isn’t bad; it’s part of the process. In order to grow and progress, we have to endure fatigue. Look no further than the classic Supercompensation Theory below:

Your body breaks down energy reserves, and that’s part of the training process. What’s important is recognizing the right balance between stress & recovery. An imbalance of either will lead to either suboptimal improvements or detrimental setbacks.

Fatigue feels like a level of exhaustion that makes you question if you should keep going. It’s that moment when you cannot seem to think straight and your movement begins to be less efficient. If you’ve ever experienced “pain” at the end of a workout, perhaps its fatigue setting in leading to unusual, faulty movement mechanics. When we have faulty mechanics, then we may experience temporary pain but as soon as the fatigue is removed, so is the pain.

Soreness: The “Delayed Notification” of Training

Ever wake up the day after a workout feeling like you got hit by a truck? That’s delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). It happens when your muscles experience tiny amounts of stress they aren’t used to—usually from new exercises or increased intensity.

This is normal. It’s your body adapting. Soreness should fade after 24–72 hours. The key thing to know? Soreness feels more like dull aches, tightness, and even increase sensitivity across general regions of the body.

It can take some time to learn your body and understand how your body adapts to different modes of exercise. Usually the 48 hour mark is the peak of your soreness. If soreness lasts longer than 72 hours, than most likely the volume & intensity of exercise was too great. Next time try reducing that by 10-20% and observe the timeline of your soreness.

Pain: The “Check Engine” Light You Can’t Ignore

Pain is a warning. It is our body’s danger signal telling us we are not ready to do this. It’s different from fatigue and soreness because it doesn’t go away when you warm up or rest—it nags at you, changes how you move, or gets worse when you try to push through.

Pain expert David Butler, in Explain Pain, describes pain as the brain’s way of protecting the body—it’s not just about tissue damage, but about perception, past experiences, and even fear (Moseley & Butler, 2003). This means that pain isn’t always about something being “broken,” but it does need to be respected.

Fatigue is our body saying I am at my limit for the moment.

Soreness is our body saying we did something hard but we are adapting.

Pain is our body saying we should avoid this and try something different.

Why Pain Keeps People From Exercising – And How to Fix It

Pain can sideline you for a lot of reasons. Pain in and of itself is a complex, emotional experience that is unique to everyone. Some of those reasons are physical, some are mental. There is some truth to the expression “it’s all in your head.”

And yes, it is true that some people have higher, or lower, pain tolerances than others. That is not a good or a bad thing because pain is relative and unique to every individual person.

Whether you’re just getting into exercise or have been a long time active individual like myself, we all will experience physical pain at some point.

Let’s review some common dilemmas I often discuss with athletes & clients:

1. Acute Injury – You rolled your ankle, tweaked your back, or strained something. The pain is fresh, and your body is in “protect mode.”
2. Chronic Injury – That nagging knee or shoulder pain that won’t go away. You’ve learned to live with it, but it limits you.
3. Not Sure What Modifications to Make – You know you should exercise, but you’re afraid of making things worse.
4. Unclear How to Progress – You do what feels safe, but you don’t know how to build back up.
5. Skipping the Basics – Without foundational strength and mobility, you’re putting yourself at risk every time you push hard.

What’s the solution? A combination of smart modifications, progressive overload, and structured training. And this is where iFit’s Train for Sport series and my 3P Injury Prevention Toolkit come into play.

Five Ways to Modify Exercise and Keep Moving

The right modifications can keep you training—even when you’re dealing with pain. Here are five things you can start doing today:

1. Identify Your Safe Movement Patterns

Pain usually isn’t everywhere—it’s in specific movements. If squatting hurts but lunging feels fine, focus on lunges. If running bothers your knee but biking doesn’t, cycle for now. Find the patterns that work, and use them as your foundation.

2. Adjust the Variables – Not Just the Exercise

People often think, “I can’t squat, so I’ll stop squatting.” But the real question is: how can you modify the squat to make it work? The key is adjusting the right variables instead of eliminating the movement altogether.

• Depth – Reducing the depth of a squat can take pressure off sensitive joints while still allowing you to build strength. Instead of squatting to full depth, try a box squat where you lower yourself to a controlled, comfortable height before standing back up. The box will also serve as a great cue to shift your weight back to help maintain your center of mass inside your base of support.
• Load – If weighted squats cause discomfort, drop the resistance and work with just bodyweight until movement patterns improve. Lighter loads can help maintain strength while reducing strain on irritated tissues. Kettlebell goblet squats can be a great variation here too.

• Tempo – Slowing down the movement can decrease joint stress and improve control. Try a 3- to 5-second eccentric phase (lowering portion) to reinforce technique, reduce momentum, and challenge stability without excessive loading.
• Stability – Sometimes, pain arises from a lack of control rather than the movement itself. Holding onto a TRX strap, countertop, or using a safety bar can provide extra balance, helping you maintain proper form while retraining movement patterns.
• Equipment – Small equipment tweaks can make a big difference in comfort and execution. Squat wedges elevate the heels to improve mobility, push-up handles can reduce wrist discomfort, and different grip positions (e.g., neutral vs. overhand) can shift loading patterns to avoid aggravating injuries.

By modifying these variables, you can continue progressing in your training without completely avoiding valuable movements. The key is adapting to your body’s needs, not abandoning exercise altogether.

3. Use Periodization to Avoid Overload

Pain often comes from doing too much, too soon. Your body adapts in phases, and jumping from zero to full intensity is a recipe for setbacks.

• Week 1-2: Low impact, controlled movement (band work, bodyweight)
• Week 3-4: Increase volume and light loading
• Week 5+: Introduce progressive overload

For a more advanced approach, you can follow the model below known as Block Periodization. Block periodization is a structured training approach that organizes workouts into distinct phases, each focusing on a specific adaptation—such as strength, hypertrophy, or endurance—before progressing to the next. This method allows athletes to systematically build upon previous training blocks, optimizing performance while minimizing fatigue and overtraining.

4. Work Around Pain, Not Through It

One of my rules? Pain should never exceed a 3/10. If an exercise hits a 4 or higher on the pain scale, you need a modification. Find an alternative movement that challenges the same muscles but doesn’t aggravate the pain.

5. Address Mobility and Strength Deficiencies

A lot of pain comes from weak links—lack of mobility in one area leading to overload elsewhere. Fixing this isn’t just about resting; it’s about addressing what’s missing.

• Knee pain? Check your ankle mobility and hip strength.
• Back pain? Work on core control and hip hinge mechanics.
• Shoulder pain? Look at scapular stability and thoracic mobility.

Final Thoughts: Move Now, Thrive Later

Here’s what you should take away from this:

1. Pain isn’t the same as soreness or fatigue. Understanding this helps prevent overreaction or neglect.
2. You don’t need to stop training because of pain—you need to modify it. Smart adjustments keep you moving safely.
3. Your body adapts when given the right stimulus. The right progressions lead to a stronger, pain-free return.

If you’re ready to learn how to apply these principles to your own training, check out iFit’s Train for Sport series and head over to my YouTube channel, where I break down exercise modifications in real time.

The goal isn’t just to get back to exercise. It’s to move better, perform better, and stay active for life.

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Article References

1. Dahlhamer J, Lucas J, Zelaya C, et al. Prevalence of Chronic Pain and High-Impact Chronic Pain Among Adults — United States, 2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2018;67(36):1001-1006.
2. Moseley GL, Butler DS. Explain Pain. Noigroup Publications; 2003.