No pain, no gain...?

There's a reason this is an old adage--emphasis on old...as in outdated. The better way to think about it is "good pain" vs. "bad pain." How do we know what pain is good and what is bad?

Good pain is pain with a purpose...something that makes you better. Bad pain just hurts, doesn't make you better. A few examples to hammer home the distinction: leg muscles burning during lunges? Good pain. Sharp knee pain during the very same lunges? Bad pain. Lungs straining for oxygen as you run up a hill? Good pain. Someone takes a hammer to your big toe? Bad pain!

It's not complicated, but it's critical that anyone with real fitness goals gets good at telling the two apart. Good pain needs to become something you're very comfortable with if you wish to reach great heights in your health/fitness journey.

Bad pain can cause long-term damage to your body because it fosters compensatory movement patterns. These suboptimal patterns of movement increase wear and tear on your joints and can lead to conditions like arthritis.

So is it accurate to say no pain, no gain? Well yes, in that if you never generate enough intensity to feel a muscle burning or your heart pounding (good pain), you won't give your body the necessary stimulus to improve. But also no, in that if you're experiencing bad pain, and you ignore it, you're destroying the machine you need to carry you through the world!

If your pain is above a level 1/10, ignoring this pain will lead to small (possibly undetectable) changes in how your body is moving, causing you to use the painful body parts in a suboptimal way.

To sum it up, you must understand the difference between good and bad pain, and practice distinguishing between them during your workouts. Get comfortable with good pain! Address the bad pain by working with a physical therapist. Once you're managing the bad pain alongside your PT, study up on exercise progressions and regressions (or book a session with me and I'll teach you) to craft a workout that avoids aggravating your bad pain spots. Don't work through bad pain unless it's very, very low on the intensity scale (hint: 1/10 pain is barely perceptible and most people would say "it doesn't really hurt, I just can tell something is going on there"). Consider working with a physical therapist if the bad pain is strong (2+/10), and/or persistent.

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