After yesterday’s herculean workout, your body feels like a football team’s tackling dummy. Should you exercise again today or rest until your tender muscles feel better?

“If you’re not experiencing severe soreness, then a light workout, which increases oxygen intake and blood flow to the muscles, will decrease swelling and actually make you feel better,” says Michele Olson, a professor of exercise science at Auburn University Montgomery, in Montgomery, Alabama. Do a simple workout, beginning with a five-minute warm-up, to ease aches. Or vary your routine so you don’t tax the same muscles two days in a row.

If, however, you feel extremely stiff or have a decreased range of motion in your joints, then rest. That pain may indicate muscle damage, and the only way to recover is to listen to your body and give it time to repair itself. “This acute pain is caused by microscopic muscle tears,” says Rick Wright, M.D., an associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Washington University Medical School, in St. Louis. After a day or two, you’ll be ready to hit the gym again. But this time you might want to take it a little easier.