Yes, it is very possible to use no pain exercise to achieve your goals. The concept that it needs to hurt to be worth anything is an old fashioned one, but one that has managed to stick despite the science and research to the contrary.
“No Pain, No Gain” is Holding Back Your Exercise Results
Ever since the little rhyme “no pain, no gain” became a popular one, people have held firmly to the belief that being in considerable discomfort was actually a sign that progress was being made toward fitness goals. People of all fitness levels have suffered for years through unpleasant workouts that leave them feeling strained and sore and that cut into their ability to live life comfortably as they hobble around until they can slump into a chair with an ice pack or a hot water bottle.
The problem is that just because it comes in the form of a catchy rhyme, it doesn’t mean it’s true. Otherwise, you could also fall for other lies like “no food, good mood” or “go broke unless you smoke” or “no light, better sight”. The rhyme – no matter how frequently it has been said – means nothing. It’s far better to find the truth about how you can exercise effectively with no pain suffered.
The Truth About Your Progress
The fact is, however, that pain is not necessarily a sign of progress, but it could be a sign that you are pushing yourself in the wrong direction. In fact, you may be leading yourself toward an injury. While you may need to push yourself to the point that your workouts are truly challenging, that is not the same thing as driving yourself beyond the point that you are hurting. It is possible to do no pain exercise.
Suffering from your workouts can place you at an increased risk of injury – and therefore setbacks – or could mean that you’re more likely to give up on them over time. After all, who wants to keep going back to a routine that hurts? The motivation will most likely start to fade sooner rather than later.
The Problem with Painful Workouts
A workout that includes pain is problematic in some very important ways. The first is that it could be an indication that you are actually doing an exercise improperly and that you are on the way to injuring yourself. The second is that it will leave you feeling sore in your everyday life, which makes the workouts increasingly unpleasant. The third is that when you suffer from pain in your workout and that carries over into your everyday life, the odds are that you will take more time off your exercises for recovery, and you will be less likely to keep up your routine over the long run. This makes no pain exercise very important for success in the long run.
How to Choose Exercise with No Pain
The key is to think long-term. If you want to find a workout that you will stick to over the years and that will keep you looking and feeling healthy as you alter it, now and again, to keep you interested and challenged, then you are likely going to want to choose something that isn’t going to leave you hurting and strained.
For no pain exercise, build your endurance gradually and you won’t need to hurt in order to do it. If you keep up with your tai-chi, Pilates, yoga, running, cycling, swimming, or even the treadmill then you will find that the various exercises and poses will get easier over time, so you will be able to upgrade your efforts to include more challenging ones, longer holds, and other options.
The same can be said about strength training. Find your limit where things are challenging – and maybe even uncomfortable – but not painful. Stop there but keep up your efforts over time. These make sure that you are continually improving, without having to hurt yourself in the process.
Variety is Important
The next step is to make sure that you are switching things up. When you workout one part of your body one day, then make sure that you work out another part of the body on the next day. Give your muscles at least one day of recovery after you have used them in a workout. This helps them to heal up and get ready to function at their very best, each time you use them. You’ll progress a great deal faster than you would if you kept pushing through the pain everyday by overusing them.
Many people feel that they’re losing a day when they take the time for recovery. The truth is that this is a great way to benefit from exercise with no pain. Research shows that muscles heal faster and get stronger when they are given recovery time than they do when they are worked continuously. That’s right, when done properly, fewer workouts can get you better results! No rhyme required.