No Pain, No Pain

We’ve all heard the expression: No Pain, No Gain.

Well, it’s wrong.

Following that formula will lead to injuries or burnout.

First, what do I mean, exactly, by “pain.”

Pain is not discomfort. Pain is not working hard. Pain is not struggling in the face of difficulty. Pain is not wishing it was easy when its hard. Pain is not not knowing if you’re going to be able to, and making it happen anyway.

Pain is pushing yourself to the point of injury. Pain is going too far, working too hard, attempting too many reps.

Aspiring to pain, or allowing it as something that is necessary is a mistake.

*  *  *

I’m here to offer an alternative.

*  *  *

No Train. No Gain.

To get better. we must do the work.

To achieve our goals and be more we must practice, and learn, and “fail,” and overcome.

We must do the reps and grind it out when we’re tired, or we want to be home or when we just wish it were easier.

If we don’t do the work, we won’t get the result.

*  *  *

But we don’t risk injury, or burn-out, or depression or alienating those we care about by over-working.

We do the work.

And we make time for those we love.

And we rest and recover so our bodies and mind can regenerate – so we can be fresh and vibrant for each “practice” and be ready for each “game.”

*  *  *

No Pain. No Pain.

Similar Posts

  • A True Gentleman/person

    The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled…

  • F.E.A.R.

    People like to play with the letters of “fear” and make them into cute little acronyms. Some of them are actually useful, one comes to mind: False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear stops so many people from doing what they want to do that I feel compelled to introduce my own little riff on the four…

  • Don’t Know Your Purpose (no biggie)

    Everyone (in self-help and related fields), it seems, talks about “loving-what-you-do.” And how they have the formula/process/program/book to help you do it. It’s bad advice and a disservice to promise such. Putting aside my theory about how purpose is not outside us and nothing we need discover or create (it’s within and covered by by “crap”)…

  • The Elements of Success

    For anything to catch fire, for anything to burn, three things must be present: Oxygen, Fuel and Heat. Unless all three are present, there can be no fire. And, unless these elements continue to exist, the fire will not continue to burn. What’s more, fuel is the one element that needs to be renewed for…