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Know When to ‘Shut. It. Down.’ and Back Off The Gas

When we go into the gym to begin our training for that day, we all have the mindset of pushing past our previous limits, and taking our intensity up a few notches if possible. With that comes different physical sensations when our muscles/tendons start taking on extra load/intensity. These sensations all must be carefully listened too at all times when you’re beating down your body. There is a good pain, and there is a bad pain. The bad pain is what we all must be conscious of, and when that pain starts to come, be ready to step on the brakes. Here was this quick video of me training leg press, and during my 4th reps I noticed this bad pain, and after my 5th rep, I “shit. it. down.”

The pain I felt was not the normal beat down of the muscle (muscle pump/soreness/lactic acid build up), as you can see the weight wasn’t much of an issue to me, but rather a muscle strain about to happen if I kept on pushing past it. Now, the pain could have hit a high-point at that moment, but would be worth the risk to continue pushing forward? To me, no. Why? Well am I or you ready to take on anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months off if the injury got even more severe? Me being an athlete that is just on the last stage of recovering from two serious injuries (left and right distal bicep tendon ruptures), did not want a new present from the training gods and have to endure a new injury. So, after that 5th rep, I called it a day on that particular exercise, and for my last 2 quad dominate exercises I kept the weight low (I did feel pain, but nothing was getting more severe with the load I put on it), and just focused on control, contraction, and range of motion (ROM).  So basically, I let go of the gas when the pain wasn’t the correct type of pain I look for when training.

During those moments you must quickly identify what is right and what is wrong with the body. You must make a choice to risk it or not, and I hope that for the most of you that you decide to take the smart road and back off the gas. Smart training is always to proper way, as we want longevity with our passion. There is no fun when dealing with a serious injury (I would know), so taking the smart road is the right one. There is a big different between muscle fatigue and muscle pain from a possible strain about to occur.