Pain or No Pain? That is the question!

The biggest hurdle many personal trainers encounter when training clients both old and new, is trying to understand the pain that the client might have during or after exercise. Of course, everyone is different and some are much less in tune with their bodies and the pain they might encounter having better proprioception but also can differentiate what is warning pain and what is healing pain better than others.

Healing pain might sound like an oxymoron, however when it comes to working out and exercise, after a particularly intense workout you will feel muscular pain that is the result of breaking down the muscle fibers and those will now begin to rebuild stronger.

Learning to feel the difference will help you communicate to your trainer in a more efficient way and help your trainer train you correctly.

It is important also to pay close attention to what you are feeling and not to ignore the pain. The next time you are say, in an Indoor Cycling class and your legs are burning, instead of doing everything possible to ignore the pain, focus on it. FEEL it, learn exactly how it feels and what you are experiencing. As a matter of fact, when you actually turn the pain into a learning tool it becomes much easier to deal with. You learn more about your body and become in tune with it. After you have done this just breathe and focus on making the pain go away. Trust me, if you do this it becomes surprisingly easy to deal with.

Bad pain, such as shin splints or joint pain feel completely different than something like the pain you feel the day after a good workout (DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). Be fair to yourself and know that DOMS is necessary for your body to go through the changes it needs to.

Good DOMS? Soreness the day after that makes you feel stiff.
Bad DOMS? You can't function you worked out so hard. Even going to the bathroom brings you to near tears.

A good trainer will keep you within the good DOMS range, and again communication is key. Be fair to everyone and know when to cry out without crying wolf.