How many times have you heard that mantra, or even subscribed to it? Seems that if you frequent many of the many fitness bogs or web sites, or even the fitspo on Instagram and Pinterest, you can’t avoid seeing that mantra. In fact, how many times a week do you hear it
when you’re in the gym? In the Crossfit and strength training communities, it’s almost a revered badge of honor to train through pain – seen any of the athletes proudly show off their bleeding hands? I know there was a time in my life that I subscribed to that mindset – many of us have, and if you dig deep, many of us still have that attitude now! It doesn’t have to be that way – in fact, in most cases, for most people it shouldn’t be that way at all! Moderation with your
fitness is important too!
Sometimes it's okay to go hard but not all the time.
I bring this up to bring to light that if you’re hurt, or in pain, you may need to back the training off. You can train and get results just fine without suffering through pain. As you may have noticed, I’ve taken up Olympic lifting, and I’ve been doing it a lot. As a side effect of that training, I’ve been dealing with some sore
knees – the squat volume is pretty high, and it does wear on you a bit. As a result, I’ve been focusing a lot more on mobility warm ups, as well as rest and recovery. I’ve found that the little bit of time spent warming up, and in active recovery or therapy really make a difference. On another note, my husband injured himself, and he’s had to back of training, and modify his workouts to allow himself to heal.
No pain, no gain is not a way to
train! You can make plenty of gains without putting yourself in pain. In fact, if you’re doing it right, there really shouldn’t be a lot of pain, or even Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). Moderation, moderation, moderation! I can’t say it enough! You don’t need to kill yourself to get into shape, or to maintain the shape you’re in. You definitely don’t need to push an injury in order to train – if you’re hurt, you’re hurt. Either take some time off,
or modify your training to accommodate the injury and minimize the possibility of further aggravating it. Who wants to take a minor injury and create a major or chronic injury? I’ve done it, and let me tell you, it’s no fun! I’ve taken a minor irritation, ignored it, and ended up making it worse, which ended my training for a bit.
If you take a look at my Five Fitness Friday Favorites video blog later today, I cover several mobility
aids that I like to use – take a moment today and watch the video, and tune in next week to see how I use them. Also, there are several other things that you can use to aid in recovery – massage, TENS or EMS units, Cupping, Acupuncture, and active recovery – low key, low impact activity to keep the blood flowing.
Have a wonderful weekend and always be mindful of your training, recovery efforts and stay injury free. Drop the mantra that it has to hurt in
order for it to be working. See you next week!
P.S.
Do me a favor, hit reply and tell me what injuries have you experienced or set backs that you are currently dealing with? I love to hear how I can help or where I can direct you for advice.
My favorite fitness reads of the week:
2.
Dear Tracy Anderson: STOP Tracey Anderson is a joke. None of her advice is true and she doesn't know a thing about fitness and nutrition.
