Many therapists have the no pain, no gain philosophy. When it comes to training the body though, our philosophy is different: pain, no gain! One of the biggest reason as to why people do not reach their long-term fitness goals, is that they get pain or disability from training. Either they do too much too soon, in the hopes of loosing weight or some other temporary goal, or the wrong type of training for their level (or both).

It’s very easy today to go online and look up a training program on the internet or join a group class with some form of circuit training or boot camp style. The problem if you look online for a program, most likely you will end up with a very advanced training program that is designed for some elite athlete such as a squat program that is made for someone that has been squatting for years and needs something extra to take them to the next level. Most of these people are conditioned to perform these activities and don’t have a notable dysfunction or disability. We can guarantee that you as a beginner, an intermediate or even an advanced but non professional athlete, are more likely to get injured a couple of weeks into such a program.

Group classes and boot camps are great because they get people moving and they can be very motivating, but the problem is with that type of training which isn’t individualized, with little or no focus on form and how to perform movements correctly. Most of the time the groups are too big and that doesn’t give any time or ability for the trainer to correct or focus on your form. If you join a group class, make sure that either  you know how to perform all the exercises correctly or that it’s a small group where the trainer has time to watch and correct you.

What I suggest that you do is that you find a good coach and get yourself a individual training program that’s suits you and your fitness goals. You should also do a movement analysis to make sure you can move correctly, and perform a squat, lunge, push up and so forth without causing pain! You might have to spend some time with corrective strength training and mobility work!  Sit down and make a long-term training program that is right for you and your goals. And don’t be so impatient! Find out where you have weakness and learn how to work on them!

Change doesn’t happen overnight. A good physique is not built in 8 weeks before the summer. It takes great nutrition and a great training program to create physical change. Remember that injuries caused from faulty high impact movements can do more harm than good, such injuries set you back hugely and demotivate us to getting back into shape.

Jens