Adjusting to 'Pain'

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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Important concept for beginners to keep in mind: Fat people find cardio and dieting very PAINFUL, weak individuals new to lifting, tend to find lifting weights more PAINFUL than those that are experienced. Sometimes, I have noticed in my practice, weak individuals (ectomorphs typically) find eating lots of meat to be PAINFUL gastrointestinally… Point of the article is that the human body will adjust. The magic of well designed diet and training, is that if the stimulus is correct, you can cause your body to adjust anyway that you want it to (within reason and genetic limitations).

Pain

Posted on December 12, 2012
by Brendan Evans

An important concept, to keep in mind, is that as experience increases, pain in the gym will decrease.

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. -Lance Armstrong

Overweight people on treadmills look at me like Iâ??m insane. â??How can he do that?â?? they thinkâ?¦.

Little do they know I am getting a pleasant little exercise buzz from the endorphins, and actually getting a â??highâ?? or â??rushâ?? off my own adrenalin.

If consistency is on-point for long enough, things that seem impossibly painful at first, will gradually become habits, almost like brushing your teeth. Eventually, it gets to the point where the athlete is addicted to exercise, and doesnâ??t feel â??rightâ?? in the head, if they go 24 hours, without extreme physical exertion and the resulting â??exercise high.â??

I have deffinitely exeperienced this myself. My HIIT routine originally was unimaginably painful. Now, I enjoy it, and feel refreshed afterwards. Sometimes I lose fat â??by accidentâ?? even though I am already below 8%, because HIIT is just part of my daily routine, like showering.

3 stages:

  1. Exercise is painful. Trainee uses avoidance and denial to avoid full exertion, and to skip workouts. (most â??clientsâ?? are here)

  2. Exercise is not really painful, but the trainee is not addicted to it, it doesnâ??t yet feel â??goodâ??. (most people researching exercise on the internet are here. â??Gymratsâ??.)

  3. Full addiction to endorphins. The ATHLETE (no longer a â??traineeâ?? or â??gymratâ??) feels generally crappy without a daily workout. 2 a days are more common in this phase than days off. (Most people WRITING about exercise on the internet, posting pictures, and trying to make money off their knowledge are here).

Originally posted by author Brendan Evans

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The concept is fine but there’s no content.

You could have just stopped here:

Somewhat rephrased, and encompassing the entirety of the content of your article:

And then you could go on to describe ways to transition from “exercise sucks” to “I can’t live without exercise”, but you didn’t.

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I don’t have the energy to run through this one like your other thread, but to sum: You come up with good topics and the beginnings of a few good points, but you need to include more actual content/useable advice and much, much less tooting of your own horn.

Stick with it though.

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To the OP.

As a friend i will tell you that your credibility is somewhere minus. The about you profile info is ridiculous. You sound like a pimp or a pusher trying to do business.

I would bet your fat % is 7.1435 and i would bet a $$$$$$$$$$$$$ you cannot prove me wrong.
With your pretended years of training you should know a treadmill is a waste of your time at 7.00000% body fat. If you want to jog do not rely on a motor to do half the job.

Pretending to know stuff because you have a diploma is only potentially impressing some 12 years old.

I hope you win your bet we would believe you.

All the best !

PS. When Chris Colucci does not analyze your post point by point it is a serious burn. He is credible and very generous with his time. Thanks CC for all your help.

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[quote]BHappy wrote:
PS. When Chris Colucci does not analyze your post point by point it is a serious burn.[/quote]
It really isn’t. I gave the dude some advice in another thread earlier today and I’m simply trying to manage my time online.

Thanks. I do what I can.

That said though, (and yeah, I kinda feel like an ass saying this after your compliment), but I have no idea what you’re talking about regarding this guy, his bodyfat, and treadmills. No disrespect, but a lot of your posts sound like you’re as high as Tommy Chong’s moustache.

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Like others have said, content is key. What about a routine causes the adaptation?

Is it psychological?
-Mind over matter
-No pain no gain mentality
-Mental toughness and fortitude

Is it physiological?
-reduced firing rate of nociceptors
-Endorphine release (which you touched on…but WHY do they release?)
-Possible dopamine release connection with the physiological aspect of adaptation
-Increase mechanical efficiency (leading to less awkward movements and less pain)
-Maybe for the “pain of eating” portion you could touch on the endochrine system (ghrelin vs leptin and their changes in relative concentrations through strength training and dieting?)

All in all it’s a cool read and the 3 stage thing is pretty novel. Not something you often read about in pain-related publications.

Best of luck!

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Endorphins are natural pain-killers (they prevent or reduce the ability of the brain to sense pain). Supposedly they are potentially addictive (they are similar to heroin and some other drugs in certain respects). But that in of itself doesn’t explain why an elite would feel less pain than a beginner. On the other hand, pain can’t be quantified beyond subjective perception so I don’t imagine that you can get a definitive answer as to why pain decreases. I would be surprised if there are people who really just don’t feel the pain at all.

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bevans100fitness Florida, USA 26 yrs
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for some reason part did not copy so here is what was left
Weight 175
Height: 5’10
Body Fat %: 7

" Overweight people on treadmills look at me like I�¢??m insane "
I typed my post before i read the one from CC and we agreed that the OP is sounding too pushy.
“much, much less tooting of your own horn.”
I might be old but to me posting our website on an other website for free is bad etiquette.

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[quote]Silyak wrote:
Endorphins are natural pain-killers (they prevent or reduce the ability of the brain to sense pain). Supposedly they are potentially addictive (they are similar to heroin and some other drugs in certain respects). But that in of itself doesn’t explain why an elite would feel less pain than a beginner. On the other hand, pain can’t be quantified beyond subjective perception so I don’t imagine that you can get a definitive answer as to why pain decreases. I would be surprised if there are people who really just don’t feel the pain at all. [/quote]

This is true, however there are systems used in medicine (“on a scale of 1-10…”) and in exercise (Borgg Scale and Ratings of Perceived Exertion) which can be used to determine how much pain someone is. The Borg scale has been found to be reliable and valid in terms of exertion during exercise.

But you are absolutely right. Pain is a very thriving field in medicine and research these days. It would take a long time to determine exactly where and to what extent the adaptation occurs.

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Im sorry, but I have to say this. I know an almost endless amount of information about nutrition. The target audience of these articles on a different website that I own is beginners. This is the “beginners” forum, but being T-Nation, a pretty fucking hardcore website, beginners means intermediate, intermediate means advanced, and advanced means elite as hell.

I’ll be more careful what I post here. I have been active in the past in other forums but not this one. This one I have just looked at the steroids section and T replacement section because I thought it was amazing, back in the day there was an actual MD on the forums giving advice (i dont remember the username).

But seriously, particular with conditioning stuff (not as much weightlifting) but like intervals of sleds, sprints, rowing, burpees etc. The stuff considered hiit… You will learn to crave that. You still hate it when you first step on the treadmill but the mental clarity when you leave the gym is like a drug.

I get most of my info (not actual MOST, but the biggest piece of the pie so to speak) from Poliquin, and he recommends hiit no more 2 (i think?.. I really hate misquoting professionals because i hate being misunderstood myself) times a week. I do it more because i like the feeling.

Which is amazing, because when I started doing that at like 18%bf in 2010… I dreaded it, pushed it further and further back in the day until i was doing it late.

Thanks for tearing me a new asshole guys :wink:

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Well i jogged 2 marathons and a treadmill is for rehab cardiac people, overweight for whom jogging is unsafe for their joints, collecting dust at home when the dream disappear, etc… Joggers go for 1-2 hours outside much more pleasant scenery. Maybe for you it is a business place like this website.

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and my bad. I occasionally get photographers to pay me to take my picture, i need to get someone to tape my workouts. I am not strong by any means, but by hiit on a treadmill my treadmill mile is down to below 5:30 with a deadlift over 400. I can do 8 pullups wide grip to a dead hang with 75 lbs strapped to my body… I dont know what i can bench because i workout alone, and i think bench is severely overrated (as long as u do so form of pushing and something with your pecs your good, your bench might not increase but the same areas will strengthen)… When i say its overrated i mean as an INDICATOR of progress… Like it should be compared next to kroc rows and pullups and overhead pressing, not squats and powercleans…

And why the treadmill?
I set it so that i puke at 17 minutes a little in my mouth (i do the workouts fasted so this is just bcaas/glutamine/vitamins and water)… when i no longer fail at 17 minutes i increase the speed. Right now i do 10 mph for the first 2 minute interval to warm up, then 1 minute rest, then 11.2mph for 2 minutes, then 1 minute rest (repeat that second one 4 times) then 10 mph one minute, followed by 10 at an incline of 8 until i fail (anywhere from 10 seconds to a full nother minute).

After that, i do stairs or swim sprints in the pool.
( as long as yall can do the above workout, and also lift more than me, I am ok with being spoken down to)

I am into conditioning… Considering that you have no idea what my goals are, if anything, it makes you look ignorant to say i should stop sprinting because its pointless at 7%, however, i have calipered well below 7%, and that is possible, because I’m not THAT strong (175lb). You dont need to eat THAT many kcal to maintain a bench between 250 and 300, db rows 8 reps w/130 lb dumbell full ROM, i have no idea how many pullups but i look like one of those “thug workout fitness guys” on youtube (LOL), and a 400 lb deadlift. In addition my squat is so pathetic im not even going to go there (which is why i always do it first on legs day, its just a severe weakpoint, that i dont care THAT much about) Point is “sprinting on a treadmill is pointless below 7%”… Ok

Michael Jordan should have sat on his ass, he was measured in the 80s at 3% (look it up), since everyoned is a bodybuilder, he shouldn’t have been practicing.

I have chosen to be shredded at 50-100lbs weaker on every lift, than i could be if i stayed higher bf%. Mainly due to a)vagina addiction and b) it is easier for me to get crazy ripped than crazy strong…
I was always one of the fastest on the football team, never one of the strongest.
And lastly, I dont do steroids because my father died very young of heart disease, and i have tried them, and they feel unhealthy to me (in a cardiovascular way. My fathers father also did not live to 60. but my father did not live to 50.

Oh yeah… “why the treadmill?”

Without a football coach screaming at you and others racing you, to have the willpower to do my workout would be impossible, if it werent for the treadmill forcing me to maintain speed. Ok… now, say what you have to say.

and yes, my mom got my brother a bench set for xmas when he was 14, i was 12, i did only upper body until age 14. Got into marijuana, there was about a 1.5 year gap when i didnt lift. Got REAL serious about 2 or 3 years ago. Original plan was to get huge. Id rather be ripped as hell year round, and 50-100lb weaker on main lifts, then juice and be stronger and 12%bf and unhealthy (due to my GENETICS+gear, gear does not always result in bad effects, i am not a drug free crusader, i think thats stupid, if anything). If it was equally easy to bench 350 and be 15% as it is to bench 270 and be 7%… there would be a more difficult decision to be made.

As a teenager, before i started, i was ripped, fast, excellent athlete, beanpole.

I could not below parallel squat 95lb.

And i started so early its really impossible to compare lifts with others when they started, because im sure at 17 i would have gotten stronger than 12 anyway, even without training.

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and i will say one more thing. In the gyms i work out at, if i get on a treadmill, the guys squatting 550lb look at me like im a fucking nutcase…

Yall need to realize there are different scales to be judged on.

Jay Cutler is not as hardcore as greg plitt, because greg plitt is an army ranger (and a really self absorbed asshole but i would be too)… but by yoour scale, greg plitt is a 450 deadlifting vagina

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as far as the getting over pain thing- it is psychlogical.

You learn to be elsewhere in your head.

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18% - 7% in 2 years is a pretty solid achievement. Good job!

As for your article, I guess I just misinterpreted what you were going for and the vibe of your site. These days I’ve seen a shift from just writing observations in a fitness environment to evidence based research when it comes to fitness articles. I should have regarded your post as more of a blog-style article!

I will say this much, it’s a nice post for beginners to see that the “pain” stage is temporary and that a fitness addiction really does come around.

Not sure what your knowledge of nutrition has to do with it though?

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Im just saying, i have read varoaciously for atleast 5 years of my life on this stuff, have lifted 12.5 years (not icluded are those gaps), have read insane amounts about food. I have the glycemic index b asically memorized, as well as the micronutrient content of different fruits and vegetable and nuts and what their effect on the endocrine system is, as well as how each of those antioxidants work, and an advanced knowledge of hormones, and psychology.

14 years since i started. I have a genius level IQ. My father had a phd in economics. My mother is a princeton lawyer and now one of the top real estate agents in the country. Almost perfect Asvab, perfect math sat. I pick things up faster than most ppl and ive been doing this forever.

I’m getting to a point of mind/matter where all i think about is fitness and quantum physics, and i feel no pain… ever

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the thing to consider, is my articles are written to written, the guy curling in the squat rack, or the guy BEGINNING to squat amd deadlift.

My advanced knowledge is used to explain complex topics in a way where it is exactly what the trainee needs to know and nothing more that would confuse them.

Concise as possible. risk/relapse elimination. and 2 steps fprward 1 day backl is about losing fat 7 days a week, and if u cant manage that, MAINTAINING but not reversing on the “fun days”

My main thing is the human mind and limitation. I am naturally fat, and i am having smalltime magazines offer me free photoshoots

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the lowest i have measured is 5.3% have pics i cant upload them tho

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[quote]bevans100fitness wrote:
Im just saying, i have read varoaciously for atleast 5 years of my life on this stuff, have lifted 12.5 years (not icluded are those gaps), have read insane amounts about food. I have the glycemic index b asically memorized, as well as the micronutrient content of different fruits and vegetable and nuts and what their effect on the endocrine system is, as well as how each of those antioxidants work, and an advanced knowledge of hormones, and psychology.

14 years since i started. I have a genius level IQ. My father had a phd in economics. My mother is a princeton lawyer and now one of the top real estate agents in the country. Almost perfect Asvab, perfect math sat. I pick things up faster than most ppl and ive been doing this forever.

I’m getting to a point of mind/matter where all i think about is fitness and quantum physics, and i feel no pain… ever[/quote]

See…this, i think, is where you lose people. I don’t think you are selling your site very well with all this self-boasting. I really don’t understand what QM has to do with exercise? Were you just trying to impress the masses by name dropping a complicated SOUNDING field of physics? Please, enlighten me with exactly what aspect of QM tickles your fancy.

I hate it when I come to a forum and think that I am having a conversation and discussion with somebody who can actually teach me something, or who could maybe even benefit from my body of knowledge and they just turn out to be a crazy person who doesn’t feel pain…ever.

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I hear lithium dulls the senses a bit, but its important to take it when you need to nonetheless.