Effective Exercise - Gain Without Pain?

Starting an exercise routine, particularly after a long period of inactivity is a big change for your body. Pain is your bodies natural way of telling you that everything is not OK. The well known mantra that there is no gain without pain is not something you should live by, particularly in the beginning. There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself and working at a high intensity, in fact your body will burn more calories, but when you are new to working out then you must exercise caution and build your fitness up gradually. All your good intentions will be derailed if you suffer injury due to over-exertion. Any amount of physical activity will burn up calories and boost your fitness, do not feel like you have to kill yourself to get any benefit from your workout.

A certain amount of pain is perfectly normal when you start exercising or change your routine and work new muscle groups. This is known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and you will usually experience it between 12 and 48 hours after working out. This soreness is caused by very tiny tears in our muscle fibres and may leave you a little stiff for a day or so. If you continue exercising your body (and muscles) will get use to the workout and the amount of soreness you experience will vastly reduce, so stick in there.

There are a few things that you can do to limit the amount of muscle soreness you experience following an exercise session:-

1. Warm Up Properly

Prior to any exercise session you must always warm up properly. This could be a brisk walk, some light jogging or maybe ten minutes on the exercise bike. You must also reduce your work rate and warm down at the end of each session.

2. Build Intensity

Make sure you keep it light at the start of your routine and aim to build intensity later in your workout. You are more likely to get injured when you are not fully warmed up.

3. Stretch

Get in the habit of stretching after every workout. I know there is a great temptation to simply stop when you have been working hard rest. But spending five minutes stretching all your muscle groups will make huge difference to your bodies recovery and you will feel better for it in the morning.

4. Introduce Small Changes

Do not introduce to many new activities or change your workouts drastically. Introduce subtle changes and allow your body to adjust with the minimum of pain.

If your pain is particularly bad, you can always ease it with some rest and a nice long soak in the bath. When you are a beginner you should always avoid doing exercise routines two days running, aim to do about three sessions a week. this does not mean you should avoid all types of physical activity on your rest days. Get in the habit of walking whenever you can and take the stairs rather than a lift.

So when you embark on an exercise routine, start slow and build up your fitness. You will soon be able to increase the length and intensity of your workouts in time, burning more calories and shifting those pounds.

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