Preventing Pain while Training

The term no pain no gain is one of my least favourite phrases used in the realm of fitness. To the average person, this no pain no gain approach conjures up images of grunting men shifting monstrous weights in an attempt to impress other monstrous men.

It also, and more importantly than the image of monstrous men, encourages people to push through actual pain. This is a dangerous notion.

I am a huge advocate of putting people through levels of discomfort that they have not been used to, getting people used to being uncomfortable so to speak but physical pain has very little place in a clients workout. Tough but pain-free workouts are what I strive for for all my clients.

Slowing down to Warm up

Slow Down to Speed Up

One of the best ways you can warm up for a particular movement or lift, is to perform that lift at a very slow tempo.

For example:

Back Squat is the main lift - break this down into it’s components, we’re flexing at the knee and at the hip in order to move into the bottom of the movement, and extending the knee and hip simultaneously to get back up.

So my warm up ultimately could literally be ANYTHING that challenges those movements.

My personal preference is to warm up each leg individually, as that’ll require a stability element, mixed in with some bracing work, finally followed by mimicking or performing the back squat through the full range of motion with an 8-10s lowering phase.

It’s not crazy complicated.

Hydration and Nutrition

Another super easy way to make sure you’re not getting injured during training is to give your body the best fighting chance of getting through training. If you were going on a long car journey, you’d stock up on food for the journey, fuel the car, perhaps check the tires.

Going to the gym is a deliberate attempt to stress your body and overcoming that stress. If you give it the best fighting chance, you’ll likely succeed more frequently and to a higher standard.

Water, Electrolytes and fuelling doses are all very individual. Water makes up 70% of our body and a minor drop in water levels results in huge decreases in performance. Sodium is an essential mineral to contract muscles (look up cellular action potentials if you want to nerd out). Food wise, we want to look at easy to digest, simple carbohydrates. Berries are my go to here.

Your body doesn’t need pain to grow, it needs discomfort and the ability to overcome it. Your training should absolutely be tough and there are many that don’t actually train hard enough to illicit any kind of growth, but if you’re not sure, just ask someone. Like me.