Tip Do This When Training Hurts Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Do This When Training Hurts Use this 5-step assessment to know if you should stop a set or continue by MC Schraefel, PhD December 15, 2016April 5, 2021 Tags It Hurts Fix It, Tips, Training All Pain Happens in the Brain There's the old joke about shoulder injuries with lifters. The coach asks, "How many of you have a bad shoulder?" Half the group puts up their hands. The other half can't. Lots of lifters weaned on the "no pain, no gain" mantra think they should just tough pain out and keep going with their set. This is just wrong. In fact, it's really harmful to your lifting goals. Pain is complex. It's fundamentally a signal for change, but not a prescription for action. If we get a pain signal and don't do something to calm it down, the body will increase the intensity of that signal until you're forced to listen to it. The longer we force that signal to get louder, the more that particular neural pathway gets optimized to signal pain. The reinforcement of that pathway has lasting effects. For example, even after the inflammation is gone and the injury healed, that pathway has been super-sensitized to react to signals in the brain. Had a stressful day at work? How's that old shoulder injury? Some of the consequences of this optimized pain path can also mean screwed up muscle-firing patterns when trying to lift, which means screwed up progress. Oh yeah, pain changes muscle-firing patterns. The area experiencing pain is taken out of the "firing range" as much as possible. But even when the area has healed, the firing pattern is often stuck in that pain-learned pattern. That can mean that muscle never seems to get as strong as the other side. This can often be addressed, but it takes work to find the issue, and more work to unlearn. The 5-Step Self-Diagnostic If you're in the gym and you have pain (not just discomfort) during a movement and you're uncertain about whether to continue or quit, run this simple self-diagnostic inspired by Eric Cobb's work. It allows you to get mobile much faster without jacking up your nervous system in the process. As soon as pain starts: Stop what you're doing, whether it's a muscle cramp or just a twinge. Then try the move again with reduced speed. Recheck. If there's still pain, proceed with the next step. Reduce load. Recheck. If there's still pain, got to step 4. Reduce range of motion. If there's still pain, pay heed to the next step. Do some other movement that incurs no pain. If no movement without pain is possible, that's okay. It's temporal. Take the time to heal. Just use the above tests to check when you're ready to move/lift again, and how much. Remember, don't chase the pain. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Kettlebells 101 Our cub reporter went to Sin City to do some swinging and sweating, but not the usual kind. He was there to learn the basics of kettlebell training with our own Mike Mahler, and to share that knowledge with you. Training Nate Green October 7 Training Tip The End of Shoulder Pain Here's an easy way to balance your training and avoid shoulder pain and injuries. It Hurts Fix It, Training Tom Morrison November 1 Training The Best Cardio for Hardcore Lifters Not everyone likes cardio or metcon, but everyone needs some form of it. So what's best for people who'd rather be lifting? We asked our pros. Fat Loss Training, Metabolic Conditioning, Metcon, Training T Nation October 18 Training Tip Do Bike Sprints for Quads The “pump” assists in muscle growth, and nothing pumps the quads like bike sprints. Try this at the end of your next leg day. Tips, Training Ben Bruno March 14