Athletes trying to find their physical limitations know that a certain amount of injury is inevitable if they want to reach their goals. Sedentary people frequently will try to do whatever they can to rationalize why it is better to avoid working out. And the rules for what constitutes an appropriate workout regimen change over the course of a person’s life. As a younger man, I worked out until all my joints were sore then I took some NSAIDs and worked out some more. I still feel the pain of my choices, but I don’t regret them because I found my physical limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or perhaps I should say, I don’t regret my choices yet. Now that I’m older, I’m far more conservative. If I think that my younger self would have taken an anti-inflammatory and pushed through the pain, then I know that it’s time for a significant break. But I’ve also had to think a lot about injury prevention. I don’t want to become so conservative that I become meek, but I don’t want abandon what remains of my athletic potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve made cross training mandatory. I avoid concerns about personal records. At a certain point in your life, you just have to accept that your personal records are all behind you. My workout routine has become pretty simplistic. I hike one day a week and do calisthenics another day a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As conservative as I try to be, my natural tendency is to make my workouts longer and harder. So I have to focus on pain and fatigue. When I feel that some areas of my body are getting sore and staying sore or just feeling and staying in a state of fatigue, I change up my routine. And if changing up my routine doesn’t work then I back off and if backing off doesn’t work then I stop. I always try to stay ahead of a potential injury no matter how minor it may be. I didn’t have many major injuries when I was younger, but whenever I feel pain, it is in usually in a place where I didn’t experience a major injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unless your goal is to find your physical limitations, I don’t recommend trying to fight through the chronic pain barrier. And even if you do want to find your physical limitations, pushing yourself that far has questionable efficacy on performance enhancement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having said that, you can’t be a wimp. Nobody gets into shape without being tired and sore. There have been textbooks filled with how to cycle through training schedules. But almost all of them say the same thing: You’ve got to increment the stress a little bit at a time, and you’ve got to be patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n