No Pain No Gain

So you finally get it together and decide to begin an exercise program. It almost does not matter whether it is walking, jogging, swimming, practicing yoga or step aerobics, weight-training or following some other plan. As long as it has gotten you off the couch and onto your feet in some active way, it is a good thing.

Perhaps this time, you really get into the program and stay with it for a while. Your muscle tone and overall fitness improve, your cholesterol numbers head in the right direction, your pulse slows, your weight goes down while your energy goes up, your self-image improves and your sense of well-being becomes cheerful. You may even feel as though you can keep going like that for years to come.

Then something happens that, at least temporarily, derails your plan. It could be an injury that forces you to put your program aside for a while. It could be a death or crisis in the family that not only disrupts your routine but also so demoralizes you that you have no heart for the physical activity. It could be the arrival of the Thanksgiving-to-New Year's holiday season, with all the parties and the abundance of rich food in the house. If your exercise program is an outdoor one - such as cross-country skiing - the arrival of warmer weather can force a halt. If you are like me, I am a fair weather runner. When the cold starts, I stop. It could even be a happy family event, such as a wedding, that requires a lot of your time and causes you to set aside your fitness plan for a while.

Whatever the case, in a very short time, all those physiological and fitness gains start to reverse. A cyclist says he finds regular cycling good for his body, mind and spirit. He also says it takes only about two weeks off the bike before he starts turning back into a "slug." That is why, during the cold months, most serious cyclists either switch to a winter activity such as skiing or spinning, head south and keep riding, or learn how to dress for the weather and ride through the winter. 

What the biker calls "turning into a slug," can also be described as the process of decay, which is a natural phenomenon. Most things, it seems, do not stay the same; if they are not improving, they are decaying. In the vocabulary of sports and fitness training, that is often expressed as "no pain/no gain," but the truth is, it is also no pain/no maintain. As bodybuilder Tom Venuto puts it, "The ultimate truth is, you are either moving forward or moving backward; growing or dying. There's no such thing as comfortably maintaining."

In fact, Venuto also applies the no pain/no gain philosophy to endeavors beyond physical. He says,  

"To grow, you must step above past achievements; beyond your perceived boundaries and limits. That means stepping out of the known, into the unknown; out of the familiar and into the unfamiliar; out of the comfortable into the uncomfortable. You must get out of your comfort zone." 

Do you think such a statement is true? 

If there is no pain, is there really no gain? 

Yeah, it really is. Of course, you can find studies online proclaiming the contrary, saying that the no pain/no gain idea is a "myth." Usually, however, the people making this claim also want you to buy their program that supposedly will make you fit with little or no effort - all for only three easy payments of $59.99.

The life-journey of every human being involves pain. We may wonder why. We may rebel against it. However, the harsh reality is that living things struggle and suffer to maintain life. Often, such pain deepens the experience and appreciation of life.

A statement by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow gives me pause. 

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. 

Paul, beginning in Romans 8:17, says that we are heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, but only if we suffer with him so that God might bring us glory with Christ. He will stress that what we suffer now is not worth comparing to the glory that shall be. In fact, creation suffers and groans, awaiting the redemption of humanity. Every part of the created order experiences decay. The destiny of creation is life with God and fellowship with God. Paul challenges his readers to expand their conceptual horizons and place chronological time and personal experience within the context of eternity. Paul invites his readers to catch a glimpse of the "big picture." God, through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, has freed humanity. God, through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, is also effecting the liberation and redemption of the entire created order. Not only are persons enslaved, but the whole creation. Suffering unites all of creation. Human beings are to have dominion, yes, but they are to do so recognizing this bond they have all creation.

I am not trying to explain suffering. I am saying that suffering and pain in life is part of the training we experience that will reveal who we are. Does pain deepen our character, help us appreciate life, and even go deeper with God?