No pain, no gain. Feel the burn. Keep pushing. If its not hurting its not working. We’ve all heard these little sayings. In fact if you have a pinterest, I’m sure they are plaguing your wall.

Recently I found myself saying I am done doing stuff I don’t like or enjoy. I’m done. I spent 3 years dedicated to lifting and doing aerobic exercise machines. Just pushing myself to work harder and work more and… I developed some serious issues that I won’t get into in this post. But as I was getting back into regular exercise, I was like no, I am not doing that stuff. I hate it. It’s not fun. Don’t you agree?

Now don’t misunderstand what I am saying here, I like working out. In fact I might love it at times. But what I think is interesting is how things seem to present themselves at just the right time you need them.

I was listening to a lecture from my school, Integrative Nutrition, from Arthur Agatston. He said 3 things that really got my attention. The first thing he was talking about was how the body has evolved and how it was made to do WORK. (Sure, make sense) But now people are spending time doing exercises, like lifting weights, that isolate muscle groups. The people who are fit and doing these types of exercises are having even more strains, tears, and injuries versus people who are fit but do physical labor for work or just spend most of their time standing and moving around. (#2 Interesting) He goes on to talk about how the body is not meant to run long distances (running isn’t good, what?), it’s really meant to do short burst or sprints. It’s just like a car, you burn more gas driving through town stopping and going than when you’re on the highway.

This really got me thinking and questioning how I am supposed to exercise, because I really enjoy running at times. To add to my exercise confusion. I have a client who I wanted to get a book as a gift. I love John Douillard,  so I looked for some books by him and I found Body, Mind, and Sport. I’m like this is perfect: he loves sports and I love ayurveda. The book shows up and I of course have to check it out before I give it to him.

John Douillard talks about how some athletes get “in the zone.” This is described as a perfect connect between your body and mind and they feel like they are invincible in their sport. It was described by Pele, the great soccer player; Roger Bannister, the man who ran the first mile under 4 minutes; Tim Flannery of the San Diego Padres; and several other sports stars. It’s described as having incredible ability, speed, etc with little or no fatigue, and no pain. Douillard’s book explains how to reach the zone, how to train your body to use its full capacity with little fatigue and no pain. Sounds good to me! Who wouldn’t want to enjoy their work out instead of agonize their way through it. (I’ll fill you in more when I finish the book)

So are you exercising the right way for your body? Is pain really the way to that rock hard bod? I’m not sure, but hopefully you’re thinking. I will tell you this. I will listen to what my body tells me is right. If my body is begging me to stop. I’ll stop. But, if its begging me to run, I’ll run!

What do you think? Is your workout hurting you or helping you?