Is “No Pain, No Gain” really good advice for your fitness journey? At FitnessWise, we’re here to clear up the confusion about workout pain. Discover how to recognize “good pain” (like muscle soreness and lactic acid burn) that leads to progress, versus “bad pain” that could be a sign of injury. In this guide, we’ll break down the differences and share expert tips to prevent injuries, recover faster, and get the most out of your exercise routine.
Good Pain
Yes, there is the “burning” sensation of increase in lactic acid and hydrogen ions that happens inside of your muscles when you are working at a high level. This is generally a good thing. It means that you are pushing your muscles beyond their comfort level, and that is necessary to improve muscle endurance and work capacity. This is a fact. If you want to do well in a sport or activity that involves any sustained effort beyond 5-10 seconds, then you must have a good level of “lactic acid tolerance”. Some of this “tolerance” is the result of physiologic adaptations that happen in your muscles and cardio vascular system through training in this “Pain”-ful zone. And some lactic acid tolerance comes from mental fortitude and being able to push past the place of muscle fatigue where others would quit. I call this “being comfortable with being uncomfortable”. It is a necessary quality if you are an athlete at any level.
Another realm where “pain” is acceptable in exercise and fitness is in the case of DOMS. We’ve all experienced DOMS before. For whatever reason, you hadn’t worked out in a while, then you hopped right back into the total body conditioning class or decided to go for a 3 mile run, or joined a friend to do his/her workout at the gym. That muscle soreness that made you not want to get up out of bed or think twice before getting up out of a chair two days later is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).
DOMS can be good pain, or it can be bad pain. The theory is that DOMS is caused by micro-tears that occur in muscle fibers as a result of weight training and/or stressing your muscles beyond what they are used to. This is essential to the adaptations that happen in your muscles to increase lean muscle growth. As the micro-tears heal, your muscles become stronger to prevent micro-tears from happening as a result of the same stress.
Normal DOMS can last for 2-5 days. DOMS can be bad if you are so sore that you don’t workout at all for 2-5 days. This means that you probably over did it in your last workout. There is a fine line between good DOMS and bad DOMS. Only experience and the guidance of a good coach or fitness professional can help you walk the line successfully.
Bad Pain
When you have pain in or near your joints, it is bad. When something hurts as soon as you get up in the morning or awakens you at night, it is bad. Or when pain is sharp and/or involves numbness or tingling, it is bad.
Here are some guidelines for avoiding and dealing with pain as it relates to exercise:
- Before beginning a new exercise program or routine, consult your physician AND get evaluated by a Certified Fitness Professional. Many injuries can be prevented if you know what your strengths and weaknesses are beforehand. You don’t want to find out that you have limited ankle range of motion while you are doing a squat with weight. By then, your knees are probably already hurting.
- Be sure to always begin exercise with some sort of warm-up to elevate your core body temperature and prepare the muscles and joints that you will be using to work in the range of motion that you will need them to. So if you are going to do squats, your warm-up better include something that looks like a squat. And avoid static stretches (where you hold a stretch) in your warm-up. Stick to dynamic stretches (where you only hold a stretched position for 2-3 seconds).
Your warm-up should also address any flexibility limitations and muscle imbalances that you found in your evaluation prior to exercise.
- Proceed slowly. Better health is a lifelong journey. While you may have immediate goals (wedding dress to fit into, bathing suit season, etc.) it is not worth wrecking your body to get there. As a general rule, you should not increase any variable in your workout (reps, sets, time, speed, distance, etc.) by more than 5-10% per week.
- If something does hurt (especially in or around a joint), stop what you are doing and correct your form (with the help of a coach or trainer). Choose a different exercise that will still strengthen your muscles in a pain-free range of motion.
- When in doubt, seek help from a medical or other health professional. Some pain could be the result of structural damage or other issues that can only be addressed through medical intervention. Now this does not mean that you are headed for surgery to correct the problem. Often times, it may just mean some physical therapy, massage or manual therapy, acupuncture, chiropractics, etc.
There is a vast array of ways that you can successfully address what is hurting you so that you can get away from Pain and get back to Gains.
In Health,
The FitnessWise Team