No inductee to the world of fitness or exercise could have possibly escaped the famous 1980s mantra, ‘No pain, no gain’.
Granted, we don’t actually hear it all that much anymore in the here and now, but I believe it to be one of the grand-daddies of all gym catchphrases and responsible for the spawning of new generations of pain-related quotes.
“Pain is weakness leaving the body.” Or how about this one: “Pain is temporary, pride is forever.” All very rousing, and fantastic things to say when we’re pushing through that last 10 minutes of running or cycling, or churning out those last three repetitions on the bench press.
Where the physically robust congregate, there too will you find a selection of positive, all-conquering mindsets.
But here’s a question: how useful is such motivational self-talk really? And what about pain itself? Is it something we should really try to continuously overcome or ignore? In the field of sports psychology, self-talk is a powerful and proven tool, but like like all tools, it needs to be used for the right job.
A screwdriver is no use to you when the job at hand requires a spanner, so let’s delve a little deeper into the frightening subject of pain and, more importantly, how to deal with it.
Essentially, pain is a message that something is wrong. It basically says: if the present situation in which the pain was triggered persists, the body might come to some sort of lasting harm, so do something about it.
It’s something positive and it’s there to help and protect us. In the gym or indeed anywhere else you choose to work out, it is important to listen to your body and learn to understand such signals.
Let’s consider the first scenario. You jump on a treadmill, start jogging and you continue to increase the speed over the course of the next 15 minutes.
As your body approachs fatigue, at a certain point you will invariably begin to experience discomfort. Now this is where judgement must also be exercised.
The purpose of physical training is to subject the body to a form of overload, something to which it must adapt. The adaptations of the body in response to the training stimuli we apply are precisely the reasons we start to exercise in the first place: stronger muscles and bones, or a more efficient cardiovascular system, for instance.
All this hinges on pushing the body ever so slightly out of its comfort zone. If we remain in the comfort zone, then we haven’t applied an overload.
Naturally, part of exiting the comfort zone is the experience of a degree of discomfort. Those last couple of repetitions beyond the norm are going to ‘hurt’. Those last couple of minutes on the step machine over and above the norm are going to feel tough.
This is all perfectly natural, but it is the understanding and response to these feelings that is critical. Upon experiencing such ‘pain’, some will be inclined to stop, but stopping as soon as the discomfort sets in means we never push beyond the comfort zone, the body never has any real reason to adapt and change and we remain the same.
Then there are the physically fearless who enjoy the discomfort and push well beyond it. These are the people who will experience the best results. However, pushing too hard can be a problem too.
Overtraining results from a series of excessive stimuli applied so frequently that the body never has the chance to recover and successfully adapt. So the greatest challenge in planning exercise programmes is performing the right amount of work, at the right intensity, performed at intervals, allowing the body to recover and overcompensate.
By identifying and judging discomfort levels therefore, you are half way towards developing a near-perfect training plan.
Notice, I use the word discomfort because there seems to be a fine line between discomfort and pain, so let’s start to cross it and examine a couple of other common exercise-related sensations.
During resistance training, we often feel a burning sensation in the muscles. This is a combination of blood rushing to the respective muscles and a substance called lactic acid building up inside them as they reach fatigue.
Lactic acid is a by-product of the chemical reactions involved in producing energy as the muscles contract. Similarly, after working specific muscles directly, it is common to experience soreness the next day as a result of the muscle damage sustained during the workout.
Another sensation you might feel is the famous ‘stitch’ on the sides of our tummies when exerting ourselves during cardiovascular exercises such as running or cycling. It is a result of fatigue in the diaphragm muscle that is positioned just below the lungs and assists in the mechanical action of breathing.
While these could be classified as pains, they are all very normal. Any other pains however, should be registered as suspect.
When you do feel pain that shouldn’t be there, remember that if it’s bad enough to bother you or concern you, then it’s bad enough to warrant treatment or at least investigation by a competent medical professional.
So next time you feel pain, don’t just push through with the old ‘no pain, no gain’ mantra. Listen to your body, exercise your judgement and gain through your pain.
matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.org