Sometimes I sit down to write the pep talk and there is a topic one of the coaches has requested, or there is a common theme that needs addressing that has come from one of our shorter term programs.
Other times, it is an overall theme I’m seeing on social media etc.
Today I sat down and was torn between 3 different things!
So much to talk about and so few Mondays 🙂
The thing keeping me up at night this week is the “no pain no gain” fitness myth.
This is a tough one to break.
Many of us were heavily influenced by this at a time or another in our fitness days. “Go to failure”. “If it isn’t burning, do more”. “If it isn’t hard yet, keep going.” “Your muscles should be shaking and trembling and ready to give out” . EEEK… All things I’ve heard in my day. Perhaps you too?
So here is the scoop:
The body lays tissue along lines of stress.
Adaptations occur all the time. Both positive and negative.
The amount of “Stress” required for an adaptation to occur does not need to be much.
So basically yes, we need to challenge ourselves in order to progress but the challenge itself can be pretty small.
Dr Mike T Nelson (a friend of ours at MPower/ Fit Body) was telling us years ago that discoveries in labs were being made about strength gains at as little as 8% of a person’s maximum lift. 8%!!!!
That is full blown lolly gagging. That is barely even lifting and progress is being made.
**Now please note 8% is not the best path for most people. It won’t be the fastest. But hopefully you are getting my point here. It doesn’t need to be miserable or require burning, excruciating soreness etc to be working. **
What a relief right?
There’s no need to beat ourselves up, punish ourselves, feel the burn, go until failure, create a lot of soreness or any kind of other thing like that in order to see progress.
You can thoroughly have your butt kicked and still make progress but the craziest part is that less than that and you’ll actually progress faster.
Say whaaaaat?
I’m not kidding.
Keep your reps (movement patterns) as tidy and as efficient as possible and you’ll progress faster.
Stop when your form slows.
Stop when your form looks sloppy.
Rest if it is tough. Resume when it is easy and efficient again.
This is such a hard one to master for a lot of people because there can be a real feeling of “accomplishment” that comes with grunting it out, lifting heavy, really going into “beast mode” or whatever.
And sometimes psychologically that “win” or feeling accomplishment outweighs the physiological risks.
If you are willing, try this for the next few weeks in studio.
If you notice yourself slowing down, rest a bit.
If you notice your form changes, rest a bit.
If you notice a weight you normally lift feels really hard on that day, go lighter.
Really Listen to your body.
Jal and Kim came up with a better saying than “no pain no gain”.
“No pain, know gain”.
Try it. See how you feel.
We are excited to see you continue to succeed.
Megan K and the team