No Pain No Gain? Rubbish!

All Pain-Free Movement is Good!

If you experience pain during or soreness after a workout, you are possibly doing too much too quickly and not giving your body time to adjust. There will be, of course, a period of adjustment that your long-time inactive body absolutely just has to go through. Or you may be not doing the exercise correctly, or using too heavy a weight. Either will put too much strain on your muscles, which could damage your muscle fibres.

Pain or soreness is not necessarily a good gauge of the effectiveness of your workout. Some people feel they have not accomplished anything unless they feel pain or soreness. I believe pain associated with exercise is not good; you can achieve a great workout without pain during or soreness after by taking it slow. By gradually increasing your muscle strength in small steps, you can work out more often and actually enjoy exercise.

Muscle soreness or pain is caused when your muscles are under stress. A small amount of tightness without pain is not a bad thing, but is less acceptable as we age. You may also experience muscle burn, which some people will refer to as mild pain. This is also okay and is not a bad thing as long as you don't experience sharp pain. Muscle burn means you are working hard; your muscles are becoming fatigued and losing power due to an accumulation of lactic acid. If this does occur, do not worry; it is only temporary. After a little active rest as explained later in Chapter 7, you will be back to normal within no time and with no damage done. Assessing muscle burn can also serve as a good gauge of your fitness level as you move forward: the longer it takes in your fitness session to experience muscle burn, the fitter you are becoming. If you challenge yourself with my great high-intensity interval training (HIIT) routine, and you do not push yourself to feel some mild muscle burn, you are doing yourself an injustice.

If you feel you are not doing too much but still experiencing sore muscles or pain, try extending your dynamic stretching warm-up and your static stretching wind-down. Use a massage roller after a workout. When you apply your own body weight, the rolling action and pressure applied along your muscle fibres will increase circulation and aid in muscle recovery time and soreness. It is simple to use in the privacy of your own home. It can also be used before a walk, a workout, or participating in your chosen sport for added flexibility and range of movement, and as they say, if pain persists see your doctor. It is definitely possible to achieve great results from an exercise program, or increased activity like taking up a sport you enjoy or just going for a walk without trying to push yourself through a pain barrier.

Look at it this way: If you were to tread on a sharp object in bare feet, you may not realise it, but your brain would tell you to stop walking before you do serious damage to yourself. It's the same with strenuous activity. Let your brain be your guide. It is designed to be sensitive to your every need. If you are going to work up a sweat, make it a fun, happy sweat without pain.

Disclaimer

Before starting even a light exercise or weight reducing program, you should consult your healthcare professional, even if you are not overweight and feeling good. You will be putting your body under more stress than usual.

Even though these changes can have great long term benefits you need to rule out any hidden medical problems before you begin.

Why We Need to Move

I keep a completely open mind as to how we started off being on this planet — a creator (a superior being/god) or evolution. Both theories have merit. And there is the chance we came from another planet. However it happened, you must admit our bodies are miracles of construction, designed to perfection, unless you were unfortunate enough to be born with or suffer from a grievous affliction that you will suffer with for the rest of your life. I cannot possibly begin to imagine how painful and distressing that would be.

The majority of the population is born with perfect bodies, and it must be against God's law, the laws of nature, or whatever other laws are out there, to stuff it up the way a large percentage of the population has done today.

We started with a pristine earth, and we are messing it up with mining and the burning of fossil fuels.

We started with pristine bodies, and we are messing them up with overeating and a lack of physical activity.

I am unsure of a few things, but one thing I am sure of is that our bodies were designed for movement. We could not have possibly survived and arrived at this point in time without a lot of work (movement). We needed a lot of flexibility, strength, and movement to be hunter-gatherers who had to catch animals to eat while avoiding animals who wished to eat them. "Why do I need to move today?" you might ask. Many of us have jobs that require us to sit in front of a computer all day. For entertainment, we have a television with an endless number of channels, Internet shopping, and home delivery. Many of our brick-and-mortar businesses are close by and often open 24/7 so we can buy whatever we need.

All movement is good. Vigorous activity or exercise is even better.

Everybody benefits from movement, regardless of his or her physical abilities, age, or gender. Even if you don't enjoy or are unable to exercise, any physical activity is good, and the benefits gained are impossible to ignore.

If this does not sound like common sense, or if you do not agree that Nature intended for us to move frequently, it is up to me to prove it to you. If you are already converted, you may just need to be motivated more to continue or increase your daily physical activity.

The more you move, the more you gain: movement, activity, and exercise.

Here are some very good reasons to get your body moving:

• Preventing and restoring bone loss: This is certainly in the top five of importance. All movement prevents and restores bone loss. If you can add weight-bearing exercise to your normal everyday activities, the rewards are even greater. Keeping your bones healthy can prevent and even help reverse osteoporosis. It is never too late, and if that in itself is not enough reason to convince you, there is a heap more.

• Weight loss: It is common sense that all physical activity...