Why do people say "No pain, No gain?"

I have heard this phrase a few times over the last few weeks and its made me a bit curious.  Where did the saying "no pain, no gain" come from?

From what I remember, this saying came from aerobics workouts in the early 1980's where the instructor would encourage participants that they need to "feel the burn" and "pain is only temporary."  The unfortunate thing is that these sayings were not the right way to go about encouraging people. Like that game of telephone we use to play as kids, where one person would start with a message, and by the time it got to the end of the line, the message was not what was originally intended, these phrases of encouragement have been long since misconstrued.

The saying "no pain, no gain" today means that people should continue on with activities that cause physical pain.  We see this in runners who feel that they should continue running even though their knee pain from poor running mechanics will continue to make the pain worse.   We see this in people with back pain who only feel a "twinge" so they continue on with their activities with the "no pain, no gain" mentality. 

So if the term "no pain, no gain" was taken literally, why don't you see people continually slamming their hand in a door, or repeatedly dropping heavy objects on their foot?  It most certainly be painful.  It is pretty clear that there is little to gain from the previous two examples.

What is pain suppose to signify?  Pain is like a warning light on your car.  It tells you that something is not right.  Most often with pain, if you cease your activity, the pain will subside (as in the runner with knee pain, or slamming your hand in a door).  However, if you later decide to resume the activity, the pain will likely return.  This is where it is helpful to see someone who can determine the cause, and treat the source of the pain. 




To go back to the origin of the motto "no pain, no gain" I believe what the aerobics instructors were trying to encourage people to do was to work through some mild discomfort to your cardiovascular and respiratory systems.  I hope they weren't encouraging people to work through back and knee pain, but it seems that this is what has become of the famous motto.

Reasons why machines should be banned from gyms

Its a wonder that some people can actually get a workout in if you go to the gym.  If you go into most gyms, you will see most of the gym floor is cluttered with large weight machines.  There seems to be a stigma that a gym has to be full of equipment and bulky machines, or it won't be considered a gym.  Most of the gyms I've been in look similar to this:

Here are some of my reasons why machines should be outlawed at gyms:

1.  We use machines everyday to make things easier (and less physical) for us.  If we are going to a gym, aren't we trying to do more physical work?  Are we not trying to get a sweat on?  If we were looking at making things easier, why are you working out in the first place?

2.  Machines are expensive.  Most cost thousands of dollars.  The hilarity of it is that they are only good for one thing.  For instance, a leg extension machine can only be used for leg extension (besides being a terrible exercise for your knees, but that is an article in itself).  There really is no other use for it.  The other thing is that it usually takes us through a fixed plane of motion (there is minimal stability required).  Very little things we do in life require us to minimize stability and move through one plane.

3.  Machines are huge.  They take up tons of space.  This reduces space to move and perform other (and in my humble opinion, better) exercises.

4. Most machines are bad for you.  I've outlined some of the machines that can cause more harm than good.  For instance, the leg press machine and weighted abdominal machine can lead to disc herniation, the oblique twist machine can stretch out ligaments in your low back, and the knee extension machine can cause patella and ligament problems.  

So if there is a gym with no machines, what can you do to workout?  You can do what they use to do in the old days and actually lift a weight and doing exercises that mimic what you do in sport or life.  Doing lifts that include lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling and dragging requires no machines and minimal equipment.  Ideally, a gym would have a squat rack (handy for many exercises besides a squat), an olympic bar, some cables (for pulling exercises), some dumbbells, and maybe a few other pieces of fancy equipment such as kettlebells, gym balls and stability boards.  With this combination of equipment, you can do a huge variety of exercises.


What about the older people or the people who are new to the gym.  Shouldn't they be using machines to introduce them and to teach them how to work out?  I would say no way!  Why would you teach them bad habits and use machines that only do one thing, when you can start fresh and teach them how to do functional exercises.