If you’re a Viking Athletics member, you’ve definitely heard the phrase “listen to your body.” If you’re active in the fitness space at all, you’ve probably heard it too. And while it is great advice for the most part, like most things in the fitness space, it requires proper context. So, HOW do you listen to your body?
“No Pain, No Gain” is Dead
I’ve been prioritizing fitness since I was in 5th grade. I played sports in which when it came to pain, you were regularly told to “suck it up.” Playing around sprains, dislocations, and regularly going through wrestling practice with tubes of gauze stuffed up my nose to stop the bleeding – dehydration made it a normal occurrence.
Then I found CrossFit in its infancy, in which puking and torn hands were badges of honor. The era of “you’re hurt? No one cares, train harder!” I’ve had all kinds of injuries, and done lots of stupid shit. I bring this up to show you the antithesis of what listening to your body is. No, we haven’t gone soft. But that “no pain, no gain” attitude has been wildly distorted, and in many ways is detrimental to long-term progress and sustainability of training.
As we teach our on-rampers when they’re just starting, there is a difference between discomfort and pain, and only YOU can know the difference. Discomfort includes burning muscles, heavy breathing and fiery lungs, feeling depleted post workout, and soreness after training. While not all of this is necessary to make progress, they are good indicators that you’re putting in the work.
Pain is the body’s way of informing you that something is wrong. And while pain science is not well understood, it’s important to listen to the warning. It’s much more jarring that the burning of muscles. It may occur at a specific point during your range of motion in a movement, or it may prevent you from performing certain movement patterns completely. We can also lump debilitating soreness in here – you should never be so sore that you can’t move.
So, step one in listening to your body is to be aware of that distinction. You WILL encounter pain during your fitness journey – there is no avoiding it. The key is to work around it, not to push through it. We’ve covered how to do that here.
There Are Times to Push, and Times To Back Off
Step two – learning when to push and when to back off. You’re going to have days when you’re tired and don’t feel like moving. You will have days when the weight feels super heavy. Sometimes, you can push through it. Sometimes, you’ll need to dial back. And sometimes, you need to walk away. How can you tell the difference? You MUST show up and try – listen to how your body feels as you warm-up.
From there, you may find that once you start moving, you’re better off than you thought. Or, maybe things really do feel off, and trying to push leads to repeated missed reps. It’s OKAY to back off. It’s OKAY to use less weight, and to just move. You’re still putting in work. As much as we wish we could push 100% every day, we all have lives outside the gym, and our recovery is never going to be perfect. While we try to regulate this a bit with our programming, we can’t account for everyone’s stress load outside the gym.
Coaching is a Two-Way Street
Step 3 is most important: TALK TO YOUR COACH. Operating on a few hours of sleep? We need to know. Hungover? We need to know. Dealing with nagging pain? Certain movements hurt? WE NEED TO KNOW! The ONLY proven injury reduction intervention is sleep. If you’re not well rested, you’re at higher risk. We can help you make a decision on whether to push or not, but we need the information. We’re here to listen.
We can help you modify movements, but only if you tell us something is wrong. As previously mentioned, only YOU can know the difference between discomfort and pain. Coaches are guides. We’re not here to shame you, and we’re not here to judge you. We’re here to help you. Help us help you, by being forthcoming with what’s happening.
In sum, to listen to your body:
- Learn the difference between discomfort and pain, and pay attention to what causes pain.
- Learn when to push and when to back off by considering your stressors outside the gym, and paying attention to how things feel as you start warming up.
- Talk to your coach to come up with a plan for the day. We’re here to help!
See you in the gym.