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People say it all the time: “No Pain, No Gain.” But is it true? Do you have to experience pain to gain muscle?

And, if you’re already sore, should you still go to your spin cycle class?

First, realize what type of pain you have.

The Different Levels of Pain

On the most basic scale, there are 4 levels of pain you can experience working out.

  • Light Pain

This is the type of pain you start feeling after a few minutes of physical exertion. It’s your brain setting a limit on your body. If the pain is manageable, keep going. You must conquer this moderate form of pain in order to conquer yourself and your workout.

However, you need to pay attention to where the pain is. If you’re doing a deadlift and you’re experiencing pain in your lower back, that’s a sign you’re not doing it right.

  • Sudden, Sharp Pain

If you ever feel pain suddenly come on, stop. Chances are you’ve injured something.

If you didn’t injure anything, then it’s a sign that you’re doing something wrong. Go find someone who can tell you the correct way to do the exercise you’re attempting.

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  • Overexertion

This one is a little tricky to figure out. It takes you getting acquainted with your body and putting it through a lot of stress over time. You don’t want to stray too far beyond overexertion as it can cause permanent damage.

  • Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)

DOMS generally appears two days after your workout. If you experience pain the first day, it’s a good sign that you put in some serious work the day before. Congratulations. But that means that you should not work those muscles again until the soreness goes away.

Muscle Building Explained

In order to build muscle, you have to stress it to the point that it tears. The pain you feel is the micro-tears in your muscle. If it really, really hurts, chances are you’ve done more than micro-tear level damage. This is not a good thing. You must immediately work on recovering.

When you tear your muscles, all sorts of signals start getting sent out to the repair team. HGH, lactic acid, proteins, etc. Stuff is flying all over the place in an attempt to bridge the gap between the tears you’ve created. The “bridges” that are created are what makes your muscles bigger and stronger. You need the workers to finish their job before you hit the gym again.

Why?

Let me put it this way. You’re a kid building a block tower. You’re trying to get it to be as tall as your dad, but it’s leaning a little bit, so your brother knocks it down. Then you try building it back up and he knocks it down again.

If you keep exercising those same muscles before they’ve finished recovering, they’re never going to grow and you run the risk of serious injury. So on days when your whole body is sore, do some active recovery. Don’t force a spin class. Do yoga. Go for a swim. Take a walk in nature. Anything low impact is perfect. Your body will thank you and reward you.

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