Two Types of Controllable Pain

March 2, 2009 on 1:00 pm | In Strength Training | 2 Comments

A definition of pain was given in 1968 by Margo McCaffery: “Pain is whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever he says it does.”

Obviously, pain has a negative connotation. I have always felt the saying “no pain, no gain” was overused by some trainers and it gives young athletes a misconception. I view pain as a necessary evil. You are going to feel pain and discomfort in your life sometime. However there are different types of pain!

I heard a saying the other day, and altered it a little for my use. There are two types of pain – pain of discipline and pain of regret. Either you put in the time and sacrifice to be physically and mentally disciplined, or you will have to deal with the worst kind of pain – the pain of regret.  Both these “pains” fit into the category of controllable pain.

Pain of discipline is NOT EASY. It hurts to lift weights and train – sacrificing your time, energy, and body to be the best.  However, this is a means to an end. Come competition time, you are prepared for victory. This applies to all realms of life. Sacrificing time to prepare for a test, putting in extra work to get a promotion, etc. In the end, you will be more proud of your accomplishments if you earned them.  This pain is temporary.  Once you win, it all goes away.

Pain of regret sucks. Plain and simple. I’ve felt it before, and I’m sure everyone else here has as well. This is the pain that you feel when you realize you didn’t work hard enough…too late.   Pain of regret will last a looonnggg time.

I’ll end my little rant the way I ended a high school football banquet speech a few years back. “Your next season will end in tears. You have 8 months to figure out whether those will be tears of regret or tears of joy. The power is yours, don’t let time slip away.  Get working.”

- Joe Hashey, CSCS -