“No Pain, No Gain” Fact Or Fiction?

‘No pain, no gain’ Fact or Fiction?

By Megan Kruger

Megan K Fitness and FBBC Owner

 

Just 3 more reps, called out the trainer as her client grunted and groaned.

 

“But it burns,” the client replied.

 

“Well… no pain, no gain,” responded the trainer, encouraging her client to keep working.

 

Maybe you’ve heard these words before and witnessed similar scenarios, or perhaps you still subscribe to the antiquated and false exercise adage of no pain, no gain.

 

In fitness, as in life, no pain simply means no pain.  The absence of pain does not mean that you are not working out efficiently or that you will reach your goals in any less time.  Exercise enthusiasts or potential recruits, please take note: you don’t need to push, struggle, “feel the burn” or in any way slaughter yourself with fitness in order to reach your fitness or physique goals. In fact, by subscribing to the “no pain, no gain” philosophy you will slow your progress and leave yourself more prone to injury.

What? You may be thinking.  How can that possibly be?  I’ve always been told that “feeling the burn” was critical and that you had to “work to failure” to really get results.

 

It turns out that “working to failure” and “feeling the burn” are unnecessary. I completely understand if you are shocked and doubtful- like I was when I first heard this too. But contemplate this for a moment, if you are working to failure are you not teaching your body to fail? Are you not conditioning yourself that a particular movement is “hard”?

 

The most up-to-date research that surrounds physical prowess in all arenas- including body building shows that you can stop before it feels hard and still see incredible results.  You will still need to exercise.  You can’t get away with doing nothing AND your nutrition strategy will also need to be set up for your goals, but fortunately your time spent exercising can be enjoyable.

 

How nice would it be to finish a workout feeling better rather than demolished or demoralized?

 

If you still are not convinced whether this approach to exercise is for you, consider running a month long experiment.  Plan on doing all of your workouts- as usual- with the exception being that you will rest as needed and only execute the number of repetitions, laps etc. that is comfortable for you on that day. Record your progress in a training journal and see if not only your fat loss increases, your mood improves and also your actual performance improves.

 

I bet that it will.

To a life filled with mobility and joy,

Megan K

“Anyone can make you tired, I’d like to help make you better”

www.megankfitness.com

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