Somewhere deep down inside, we all know that moving more, that exercising more, will make us feel better.

 However, many of us are stuck in the Pain/Injury Cycle, which prevents us from every consistently working out.

 Pain Cycle:

Many people, at one point or another, attempt to start a new workout program.

They don’t really know where to start or what to, but they give their workouts 110% effort.

And then they get injured. So they take some time off.

During the time off, the pain does lessen yet they may suffer from other aches and pains. So they again start working out in an attempt to get rid of their pain.

But because they haven’t really improved their movement patterns or rehabbed their injuries, their pain increases and may even lead to further injury.

That in turn leads to them quitting their exercise program yet again and leads to continued chronic pain.

This cycle of pain and injury is why it is hard for many people to even get started on a healthy lifestyle program.

Most of us don’t like doing things that are uncomfortable. Most of us doing like being in pain.

Actually most of us will do a lot to ever avoid suffering pain, which unfortunately can cause us to never truly feel good.

So how do you get started when you are suffering from pain and exercise just seems to cause more pain?

YOU LEARN TO MOVE WELL!

Don’t worry about lifting a ton of weight. Don’t worry about doing crazy cool stuff.

Deal with the pain first!

Start with the boring tedious stuff that everyone wants to avoid.

Start with the foam rolling. With the stretching. With the activation moves. With the strengthening moves.

THEN learn to move correctly before you worry about adding weight or doing brutal workouts.

BABY STEPS!

If we try to run before we can walk, we may be able to run for a bit but we are probably not going to be running for long because our body doesn’t truly know how to run. So it will get injured.

BE PATIENT. Allow your body to grow and to learn.

Don’t skip those first ESSENTIAL steps. No, that first rehab/prehab stuff isn’t glamorous, but it is essential if you want to run and run without pain.

It is essential if you want to stop that pain cycle from repeating itself over and over again.

I know we all want to just jump right in and use all the cool equipment and do all the crazy “badass” workout moves so we can post our gnarly workouts on Facebook, but if you want to MOVE BETTER AND FEEL BETTER, if you want to make working out a way of life, you’ve got to EARN those moves.

Start with the basics. Learn to move well and you will earn the fun stuff! Plus you will break the pain cycle and really start feeling good!

Here are a few posts about EARNING your exercises and progressing your workouts. Plus if you want some great stretches, foam rolling and activation moves, check out Redefining Strength!

Progressing the Sprint

Workout Progression – Building a House

Develop Workouts to Feel Better and Move Better