Pain in the...

Let’s talk about pain, because of course we want to start the day on a good note, right?  If we have started to work out for the first time in January, or if we got back to our good workout habits, we have probably noticed that it’s not all fun and comfy times.

While I try to keep workouts fun, or at least tolerable, discomfort is an inevitable part of growth.  What we need to learn is to distinguish between that discomfort and actual pain.

 

Pain is intended to be our friend.  Its job is to warn us that we’re doing something dangerous or harmful.  When we feel pain during our workouts, we need to stop.  Working through pain is not bravery, but stupidity.  Yes, even if we are professional athletes in a crucial game situation, which most of us are not.

 

However, if we feel our muscles complaining a little while we’re working them, that is all right.  If we feel sore and tired at the end of our workout, that is also all right.  Soreness may persist or even worsen the next day.  This is entirely normal and expected.  We can do some gentle movement, take some Ibuprofen (if that is appropriate for us), or use heat (to soothe) or ice (to reduce swelling).  If we are still sore several days later, we learn that we might want our next workout to be a little less strenuous.  (This can be frustrating if the workout is one that we used to do with ease, but we work out with today’s body, not the one we had back in the day.)

 

In that last paragraph, I’m betting that a lot of us skipped right over that gentle movement as a treatment for soreness, so I’m giving it its own paragraph.  Movement reduces the perception of pain.  Now:  I’m not saying that we should go hop up and down on a broken leg or anything.  I AM saying that taking our sore selves for a short walk or doing some stretching will help us feel better sooner.

 

Then, when our soreness has passed, we can go work out again!