You see them popping up all the time on Pinterest and Facebook–inspirational workout slogans meant to get you motivated to exercise. But can some of them actually be harmful to your health?
We asked Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D., a psychologist, physical therapist and author of A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness, and Pete McCall, an exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise to weigh in on some of the more popular mantras we’ve seen lately.
Mantra #1: No pain, no gain
This motto isn’t doing your body any favors and could actually be setting you up for injury say both of our experts. “Pain is your body indicating that something is not right,” says Dr. Lombardo. “Pushing through pain results in injury. In contrast, ‘no train, no gain’ is more accurate–you need to train your body in order to make changes, and sometimes that includes working your body so you fatigue the muscles, but that is VERY different from pain,” she explains.
McCall agrees: “There is a big difference between pain and discomfort; when we exercise we need to push ourselves to discomfort in order to create an overload and create adaptation. Discomfort = progression and growth, pain = stop and rest.”
Mantra #2: You can feel sore tomorrow, or you can feel sorry tomorrow
We get what this mantra is aiming at (i.e. get that workout in!), but we can’t say it sounds too inspiring to us. “This focuses on two negatives, and it is hard to be motivated by a negative,” Dr. Lombardo points out. “It leaves us with a sense of fear. Instead, focus on the positive, such as, I will feel so much better (physically and psychologically) when I exercise.”
04/11/2012 : By Jessica Smith / Health Magazine.
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