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Training towards a goal - must it hurt?

BerryH
BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm coming to the conclusion that if you're training toward a goal, whether that's building running mileage towards a marathon, lifting heavier to change body composition or adding HIIT to your cycling to increase your speed, after at least one session a week it's inevitable that it will hurt. This makes sense as you effectively have to damage the muscles for them to develop your slow-twitch or fast-twitch muscle fibres or achieve hypertrophy.

Is this always true? Can we improve our athletic abilities without limping the next day? What about people completely new to exercise who improve leaps and bounds just by starting gentle walking or swimming? Should only one session a week push us hard enough to hurt?

Just something I'm pondering!

Replies

  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
    If it was easy, we would all look good.:flowerforyou:
  • helenium
    helenium Posts: 546 Member
    As far as muscle building goes, I'm pretty sure muscle tearing and repair is the only way known of building muscle strength, so yes, tearing muscle fibres is required.

    At the beginning most of the physiological gains of exercise are in the cardiovascular system: building of more capillaries in the lungs to increase the surface area for a greater oxygen exchange and increased delivery of oxygen to the body. I don't think this requires damage to induce this, though I may be wrong - I would suspect it would be a result of hypoxia signalling (though I don't know what detects this).

    But once you've got a firm grip on your 20 minute run, gains from here-on are in the musculoskeletal system, be that increased muscle fibre size or better oxygen delivery and use, and minimisation of heat generation (I would suspect!). I think this requires damage first.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,151 Member
    No pain (this doesn't apply to acute pain), no gain still applies. Pain is temporary. Feeling good and being strong lasts a lifetime.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition[/b
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    If I'm a bit sore, I am happy because I know my workout was effective. No soreness and I wonder if I gave it all I could.
  • janeinspain
    janeinspain Posts: 173 Member
    I am not a professional athlete, but with the exception of the first few sessions, until your body gets used to moving around, I don't think it should really hurt. More like a pleasurable exhaustion of the muscle, but not hurting.

    And I think that it's better to train moderately high 3 times/week than kill yourself once a week.
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
    For new runners almost any stimulus will lead to improvement so there is little need for painful workouts. But after that period of initial conditioning you have to enter the "pain zone" periodically to train the mind as much as the body.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Soreness (the good kind) yes, acute pain means you're doing it wrong.
  • gaberieger
    gaberieger Posts: 69
    Can we improve our athletic abilities without limping the next day? What about people completely new to exercise who improve leaps and bounds just by starting gentle walking or swimming? Should only one session a week push us hard enough to hurt?
    This is what I did. Just some walks, rides, some sit-ups and push-ups. I did not hurt at all, but knew I had to ease my body back in to fitness... from being a 24/7 pixel jockey behind a monitor.

    Still getting there, but tried to push myself the other day and ended up hurting a heel out of ignorance - so waiting for that to recover then get back at it. I agree with another - if I don't feel completely spent after a workout, I wonder if I've given it my all. Probably not. And if you are just going to waste time half-*kitten*'n it, what's the point?
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    To be fair, if every workout causes you to be sore, you're probably overtraining. Once in a while, and when you first start training it's normal, but feeling sore every time is really not a good indication of how effective your workout is.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    Define "hurt".

    Being the right kind of sore after a good lifting session isn't "hurting" to some people, but others may call it agony.

    Out of breath, legs like jello after a track workout is expected, but some may call that "hurting".

    Now are you working out to the point where you cannot move for days after lifting without pain or discomfort...that's likely a bit much, and uneccessary.

    Are you running until you puke? Probably not really needed for a recreational runner to improve.
  • bbygrl5
    bbygrl5 Posts: 964 Member
    I can only respond as to my own personal experience. I can greatly improve my cardiovascular health without it 'hurting' much. Otherwise, if I'm wanting to see real body changes, it has to 'hurt'. Like someone else mentioned, soreness, sapped energy, out of breath, burning lungs, tight muscles, etc., not acute pain. Again, this seems to be true for me personally. If I'm not 'hurting', I'm not pushing hard enough.
  • chaitrex
    chaitrex Posts: 94 Member
    My back and legs feel very pleasantly sore from yesterday's workout. I usually don't work myself out to a place of agony, but it's nice to feel a little muscle breakdown the next day-let's you know you're on the right track.
    I've found it helps to stretch for a long time afterwards. i used to just stretch really quickly, and now I make myself do it for at least ten minutes, and that definitely helps. Also, ibuprofen is your friend.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    To be fair, if every workout causes you to be sore, you're probably overtraining. Once in a while, and when you first start training it's normal, but feeling sore every time is really not a good indication of how effective your workout is.
    I have to agree with this.

    I've eased into running and haven't had one day of soreness since I started, including after my first half marathon. Of course, I have a pretty high threshold for pain, but I was never limping or restricting my activities because anything "hurt."

    I've done competitive sports in the past (gymnastics, karate, and softball) and there are definitely occasional days where you are really, really sore because you pushed yourself really hard or something got pulled, but on a day-to-day basis aches, pains and general muscle soreness were not the rule.
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