A landscaper named Pete asked me this question while barely able to stand up from his truck.
“Twenty years I’ve been doing this. Why does it still hurt? Shouldn’t I be used to it by now?”
Short answer: No. That’s not how it works.
Long answer: Here’s what’s actually happening to your body.
Two kinds of soreness
What Pete was describing wasn’t just one thing. It was two different processes stacked on top of each other.
DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)
This is the soreness that shows up 24-48 hours after hard work. You know the feeling—stairs are your enemy, lifting your arms feels impossible.
DOMS comes from micro-tears in your muscle fibers. It’s actually a good thing—those tears heal stronger. That’s how muscles adapt.
But here’s the catch: DOMS should fade after 2-3 days. If you’re sore for a week, that’s something else.
Chronic inflammation
This is the bad kind. When you do the same motions day after day for years, your body develops low-grade, constant inflammation.
It’s not injury. It’s not healing. It’s just… there. Making everything ache.
Pete had been in chronic inflammation mode for about fifteen years.
Why you don’t “get used to it”
Pete’s question—shouldn’t he be used to it by now?—misses something important.
Your body does adapt. Your muscles get stronger. Your technique improves. You become more efficient.
But the damage accumulates faster than the adaptation.
Think of it like a credit card. Every day of physical labor is a withdrawal. Sleep, nutrition, and recovery are deposits. For most tradesmen, the withdrawals are bigger than the deposits.
Eventually, the bill comes due.
The three things happening at once
When you’re sore all the time, it’s usually three problems layered together:
1. Micro-trauma. The daily damage from repetitive motions. You’re not letting it fully heal before doing it again.
2. Inflammation. Your body’s response to that damage. When it never gets a chance to resolve, it becomes chronic.
3. Compensations. When something hurts, you move differently. That puts strain on something else. Now you have two problems.
Pete’s lower back hurt from lifting. So he started lifting with his legs more. Now his knees hurt. So he started favoring his right side. Now his hip hurt.
Three problems. Same root cause.
What actually helps
Pete wanted a magic solution. There isn’t one. But there is a formula:
Sleep. Not six hours. Eight. This is when your body actually repairs the damage. Skimp on sleep and you’re skipping repairs.
Anti-inflammatory support. Fish oil and turmeric have actual research behind them. Not miracles, but they reduce the chronic inflammation load. Companies like Built Daily Supply make formulas specifically for this.
Movement. Counterintuitive, but sitting still makes it worse. Light movement—walking, easy stretching—helps flush out inflammatory compounds.
Variety. The same motion every day creates the same damage every day. Mix up your tasks when possible.
Real rest days. One day off per week. Not “light work.” Actual rest.
The bottom line
You’re sore because you’re doing damage faster than your body can fix it.
The solution isn’t to work through it. The solution is to give your body what it needs to keep up with the repairs.
Pete’s still landscaping. Still sore sometimes. But not the constant, grinding ache that was his baseline. He finally understood the math.