Oh that was so hard, I almost spewed!!
I had to lay on the ground after that!
I need to get a sweat on and feel exhausted or it doesn’t count!
These are some things I have heard over the years, and we have all heard ‘No pain NO GAIN!!!’ haven’t we?
Well, to me, these can be pretty absurd. Your workout really doesn’t need to suck to work.
We can work our bodies in quite a few different ways, easy, gentle, through to high intensity and difficult, to at worst complex with redundant movements.
The old cliche I mentioned of no pain no gain has really stuck around. I really do think it does need to disappear.
Look I know you can’t get growth by being comfortable, but if you are pushing yourself to almost breaking point each and every day then fairly soon you will find that breaking point. Now it might be a chronic injury, an acute one, or it might be that the mental challenge of working out gets too much, but by inflicting pain every single session will lead to burnout and injury for sure.
For some people, going for a walk, or a swim is the best movement for them that day. This to me is what it boils down to.
You have to do what is best for yourself each and every day.
Can you do a program six days a week then?
Absolutely! Provided it is structured in a way that the volume of work, the loads, the intensity, aren’t going to overload your systems and have you fall in a heap. High intensity exercise should be done around three days a week. You can vary your intensities through the week pretty easily.
Put less weight on the bar, don’t cycle or run as fast as when you are going all out. Take your time, don’t push the movements you are doing. But on those high intensity days, give it your absolute all!
When I am building the program here at CFA I look at varying it so that people aren’t over or underloaded. Treading that fine line to create balanced training for the people here.
So some days we will see a short sharp workout, the next a longer, maybe more technical one, and then the next a heavier one, or an all out strength effort, then a day where rest is built into the workout.
That is just an idea of what happens, but to me a program should have that balance. If we hit volume like CrossFit athletes, then we will burn out or injure ourselves pretty well. If we don’t do enough, then our strength numbers, our speed over distances will stagnate or go backwards.
But the main thing is that on those days where we put in some work, and it doesn’t feel overly difficult, it is still working. There really isn’t a need to end every workout six days a week, sometimes twice a day, laying on the floor in a pool of sweat and gasping for air. Those workouts have their place in a well thought our program, but not every day.
Your workout really does not need to suck to be good for you, keep that in mind when making the choice between sitting on the lounge or doing something, because that little walk or quick set of push ups and sit ups can be the difference in keeping your momentum going and winding up burnt out or injured.