Pain is Temporary. Quitting Lasts Forever (says Lance Armstrong the great role model....)

Most of us know or have known pain. That includes most able-bodied people, or as I once heard a disabled comedian say, "The not yet disabled".

There is a lot of controversy around whether personal trainers are equipped to deal with and assess people who suffer pain. And it has been said that personal trainers could be complicit in encouraging behaviour that can cause injury.

But if I avoided working with anyone who suffered pain, then I would have to avoid almost half of the British population. That is because 28 million people suffer some kind of recurring discomfort (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/06/20/nearly-half-of-britons-suffer-from-chronic-pain-study-finds/). I would also be ignoring the group of people who have the most to gain from training - better health and better quality of life.

With that in mind, why are we bombarded with weird and sometimes dangerous motivational messages from all kinds of dubious role models? And who should we trust to give us information? Kate Moss supposedly once said, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." Lance Armstrong apparently is a trusted source on quitting.

The internet and particularly Instagram are filled with those often hilarious motivational quote and picture combos. You know the ones, usually accompanied by pics of rock-hard looking Arnie or bobble-headed photoshopped Kardashian-types?

I cannot think of another profession where such recklessness exists. It is like your doctor saying, "Smoking? Sure, just do whatever it takes to be popular." If the accountant in your life keeps reminding you life is short, and your lawyer is telling you to avoid all this unromantic pre-nup business, well maybe it's time to question your sources.

A quick Google search reveals some motivational doozies:

"Pain is just weakness leaving your body." Phew, I did wonder what that was!

"Suffer the pain of discipline, or suffer the pain of regret." Two fun options to choose from there!

"You can have results or you can have excuses." Erm...

And my favourite motivational charmer, "Unless you puke, faint or die, keep going."Well, that now gets me going in the morning. The bad cliches around pain and training are too many to mention.

Yes, I want you to train to the edge of your limit. And no, I'm not the kind of personal trainer who will tell you how to avoid putting in the work either. I'm honest, attentive and direct with just a touch of that Baltic Bluntness. Yes, that's a thing. But I try to listen to my clients, and if you puke, faint or die, I'm smart enough to guess we are probably off piste.

Amid a huge range of potential training role models, some them inappropriate, I'm not surprised when I see people return to training after a long period of inaction and train themselves to the point of injury.

I don't want to rob anyone of their source of motivation, the whole point is we are all different. But similarly we all return to training after the holidays feeling like we are wearing a belt made of fruitcake.

My aim is to get you to be kind to yourself before you allow that unhappiness to cause panic, overtraining and injury. Channelling all of that frustration into fitness is not a bad thing to do, but how you do it will determine whether you get lasting results. Another injury, especially if you already suffer pain, could put you back months. The circle of injury starts just like this, suffer pain, ignore it and train harder, suffer worse injury and more pain.

It may seem difficult but you really need to work your way back to the same level of fitness, slowly. It's OK to challenge yourself on a workout but pain, real pain, is a warning sign and not to be ignored. Equally though, pain shouldn't stop you from doing everything it just means that you should modify your workouts to avoid activities that cause more pain. If you are not sure where to start then just start with one small exercise at a time. Take it slow, build strength gradually and listen to your body. I am not equipped to assess your pain. Nobody is, but you.