Meaning of No Pain No Gain? + More

[FoxLovinPat]

So I watched a video on YouTube today going over various phrases that either upset or confused autistic people and one of them in particular caught me off guard and inspired me to make this post. And I don't know what kind of engagement I expect from this just felt compelled to post it.

It was the phrase "No pain no gain", and according to the autistic creator making the video it isn't meant to be taken quite literally which threw me because I've always assumed that it was.
I've most commonly heard that phrase used in regard to exercising and working out, and I always assumed that it meant that in order to gain muscle, or perhaps even lose weight, you have to be in pain while working out and that just never appealed to me so I've never really worked out before.
Which got me thinking about other similar phrases and wondering how literally they're meant to be taken too, phrases such as.. "Feel the burn!", and "Pain is weakness leaving the body!". Like are you really supposed to enjoy the burning sensation from working out? Again doesn't sound appealing to me, and do people really think that pain is weakness leaving the body or is it just a saying?
But yeah none of this rhetoric sounded appealing to me, because to me it made it seem like you have to be some level of masochist to work out at the gym, and that you need to embrace and enjoy the pain if you want to see any results. Which my thoughts to all that were.. "Umm no thank you, pain is painful, why would I want to subject myself to that and even enjoy it?"

 

[Outdated]

I had physical jobs all my life, some more physical than others. When changing to a more active job it was painful and tiring for the first couple of weeks until your level of fitness caught up with the requirements of the job, so that saying had very a literal meaning for me.

"Pain is weakness leaving the body!"

If it hurts you know you're not dead yet.

I found literal uses for that one too, many times over. I used to ride bikes a lot.

 

[FayetheAspie]

So if it's not literal, what does it actually mean ?

 

[Judge]

So if it's not literal, what does it actually mean ?

Beyond exercise? Life. It don't come easy.

Now don't make me quote Friedrich Nietzsche.

 

[FoxLovinPat]

Yeah I was questioning if the content creator was correct in that assessment or not, and originally stated as such in an earlier draft of the op but I cut that out for whatever reason when I was "trimming the fat", in editing.

It was a confusing inclusion as the creator also at the same time seemed to confirm that it does mean that sometimes you gotta just deal with pain to get gains in life.

So I dunno, just thought it could be an interesting post.
Plus I have been wanting to say something about this kinda rhetoric in a post but I scrapped my original idea for it a couple months ago as I was worried I could offend the regular gym goers here.

 

[thejuice]

There's a theory that's caught hold in popular culture recently of the pain pleasure balance, where we need to press on the pain side of the see-saw to have the capacity to fully experience pleasure. As a society we are all in on the pleasure side but have a depression epidemic; some of this phenomenon has to be behaviour related. The seesaw is out of balance.

That doesn't mean going all in on the pain side though. I agree I don't like those mantras, it seems to be asking for an injury. By all means push yourself but listen to your body. Unfortunately I had that mindset of self punishment and so did my Dad and we both suffered the consequences.

 

[FilterFreq]

Typically there are two types of pain when you're working out -- muscle soreness (which is very much normal) and really sharp pain, which is usually a warning sign to stop what you're doing immediately or risk serious injury.

Muscle soreness is kind of a good pain, though. When you feel it the next day, it's a reminder that you worked hard and challenged your body, meaning you're gaining muscle. That's essentially what they're talking about -- not the injury sort of pain that makes regular tasks difficult.

Working out (and even suffering through the various aches and pains) is an extremely rewarding experience, though. I highly recommend it

 

[Rocco]

No pain no gain can be taken many ways but generally is associated with working out or vigorous activity. Refers to building strength and muscle. It also more broadly applies to life. Struggle, adversity, and or pain all cause growth in some way.
Like growing pains.
That is a literal and figurative statement. It is painful at times to grow up or grow older. People experience growing pains figuratively when learning something new (or building muscle).

Feel the burn and pain is weakness leaving the body are both literal and figurative too. Literally building muscle, stamina, or strength has a burn, that’s when some acid or chemical is released in the body/ muscles when exercising/ vigorous activity.
Figuratively can be applied to emotional grow or pain.

All of these phrases were very popular when I was in boot camp and throughout the military.

If you don’t challenge yourself physically or emotionally, you can’t really grow all that much. That’s the gist.

 

[Nitro]

I was in a very horrible accident a long time ago.

Could no longer walk or use my left arm and hated my physical therapy because of how much it hurt.

Until the morning that I told myself that I would never get out of a wheelchair or use my arm ever again if I didn't power thru it.
That morning, my therapist gave me a task he wanted me to complete, which was ten leg lifts on each leg.
He left me to go tend to other clients.
When he returned, he asked me how I did.

"I gave you twenty sir"

He said, good, ten each leg.
"No, twenty each leg"
From that session on, no matter how bad it hurt, I gave him double what he asked for each time.

The reward was waking out of that nursing home.
Eventually I put my dead flipper of an arm I was told I would never use again thru much of the same routine.

It is just about as strong as ever now.

No pain, no gain.

 

[Judge]

All of these phrases were very popular when I was in boot camp and throughout the military.

If you don’t challenge yourself physically or emotionally, you can’t really grow all that much. That’s the gist.

"Can't Means Won't" ?