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Stuff About Embracing Pain...& Results....

Sunday, 17 May 2015 00:10

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Take your performance to the next level by learning to embrace discomfort.

By Mackenzie Lobby (triathlon.competitor.com)

Compared to the general populace, multisport buffs are as tough as they come. There’s even research to back up that contention. To gain an understanding of what accounts for that tenacity, a new study sought to examine the important link between pain and performance. Indeed, those who are able to push harder and longer are usually the ones who end up atop the podium on race day.

Published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers had a group of cyclists perform sprint interval tests on bikes, giving them either 1.5 grams of acetaminophen (pain reliever, aka generic Tylenol) or a placebo prior to exercise. They then monitored their power output and heart rate during each sprint, finding that when they took acetaminophen, the participants had a significantly greater mean power output....

This backed up related research that involved 13 trained male cyclists performing a 10-mile time trail after taking acetaminophen or a placebo. In similar findings, they discovered that the participants were able to cycle at higher mean power outputs and finish faster when they took the acetaminophen. They concluded that their findings “support the notion that exercise is regulated by pain perception, and increased pain tolerance can improve exercise capacity.”

Now this certainly doesn’t mean that triathletes should start popping pills before workouts and races. Researchers simply relied on acetaminophen as an easy and quick way to mask pain in lab conditions. In real life, taking medication to cover up pain is a recipe for injury and should be avoided in most cases. The important takeaway from these studies is that a higher pain tolerance and increased performance go hand in hand. Luckily, with a bit of hard work, you can naturally boost that tolerance—and thereby performance—without running to the medicine cabinet. READ MORE