You Get What You Tolerate
If you are consistently experiencing pain when working out this post may be for you.
You’ve been working out consistently for years. You love it, it's an important part of your life.
But there has always been a movement that has caused you pain.
Maybe it’s running, maybe it’s squatting, maybe it’s deadlifting.
You have always pushed through the pain. You’ve tried rest, you’ve tried ice, you’ve tried some exercises you found on youtube.
Nothing has been the solution.
So you continue on, tolerating the pain.
Eventually your pain tolerance even increases. But you are still in pain.
You need someone to ask some important questions.
Are you over-stressing your body?
Do you have some restrictions that could affect those painful movement patterns?
Are there factors outside of the gym that influence your pain?
These questions (and more) will lead to a better path towards solving your problem.
Training with a small amount of discomfort or pain can sometimes be appropriate. This is why I give specific pain tolerance directions for my clients that are specific to the issue we are trying to solve. Sometimes it’s below a 4/10 for perceived pain. Other times it could be to move in 100% pain free ranges of motion.
But if we are only ever experiencing pain, with no positive changes, then we need to find a different path.
