Fitness: find the right balance between pleasure and pain during exercise

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For some people, exercise is too much effort. Others feel that it is not exercise unless their physical limitations are increased. This love-hate relationship often marks the dividing line between exercisers and non-exercisers. It is also the subject of many studies investigating how effort can be manipulated to inhibit exercise.

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Regardless of who exercises, the more maximal effort the exercise requires, the more unpleasant the exerciser will feel. Exercising in a more moderate zone usually brings more pleasure, although the line between feeling good and feeling uncomfortable when exercising varies greatly between individuals.

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Some people maintain a level of intensity that never enters the zone where there is more pain than pleasure. But most workouts choose to gradually increase the intensity until you have enough effort to maintain the pace, then try to maintain it until the end of the workout.

Also popular is interval training, in which you reach a peak of intensity for a short period of time, followed by equally short periods of recovery. This rhythmic style of exercise has been found to be more effective for those who find it difficult to sustain sustained effort for long periods of time, although the jury found that steady state or interval training is more appealing to people trying to exercise. habit.

The problem is that when it comes to assessing exercise enjoyment, there is a distinct difference in feedback when the exerciser receives a questionnaire. Remembered pleasure or displeasure is very different from the feelings experienced during the exercise. The longer the gap between the end of the exercise and when the exerciser reports how they feel, the more they enjoy the exercise.

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However, no matter how much time changes our feelings, there are some things we don't forget. Research shows that the more unpleasant an exercise is, the less likely you are to return for more. However, there is a caveat. Researchers examining how pleasure factors influence exercise adherence have noted differences between recreational exercisers and athletes. In goal-oriented athletes, intense bouts of effort are associated with achievement, which changes their perspective not only on the importance of enjoyment during exercise, but also on enjoyment after exercise. With this crowd, the idea that exercise must cause harm to be beneficial is ingrained in their psyche.

For everyone else, the slope of exercise enjoyment per workout is worth exploring. Is there a way to manage the time of pleasure to complete the exercise at a higher level compared to the physical stress? Doesn't this sense of pleasure make the next exercise less intimidating and therefore more likely to occur?

There is some research that suggests that rather than focusing on increasing or maintaining intensity, the exercise should end as easily as it begins. Others suggest putting in the effort and finishing with a goal. Then there's a pyramid shape that starts at a comfortable intensity, increases midway to maximum effort, and decreases again when the workout is over. Each format has pros and cons, and the results are inconclusive as to whether one design is more pleasing than the others.

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A recent study published in the journal Sports and Exercise Psychology adds to the body of evidence, looking at what researchers call the “pleasure slope” and its effects on remembered pleasure, perceived pleasure, and pleasure. Researchers at California State University at Bakersfield theorized that the optimal slope of pleasure occurs when exercisers' effort gradually increases and then decreases, either during a ramp-up (the exercise becomes more difficult, with peak effort toward the end of the workout) or a ramp-down. (exercise intensity rises quickly and then ends more easily than it started) slope. The idea was to see if he liked a less intense start or finish.

To ensure that all exercises were of equal volume and overall intensity, they all began with a two-minute warm-up, followed by 30 minutes of continuous exercise and 10 minutes of recovery. All protocols were matched with approximately 20 minutes of exercise at moderately hard intensity and 10 minutes of total effort at or around maximal intensity.

The uphill incline increased the intensity by 2.5 percent every two minutes, while the downhill exercise decreased the intensity by 2.5 percent every two minutes. The increase/decrease protocol increased intensity by 2.5 percent every two minutes, then began decreasing effort by 2.5 minutes at the midpoint. Pleasure was asked before exercise, every five minutes during exercise, and 10 minutes after exercise.

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Only elevation training changed the level of enjoyment during exercise, which felt worse when the intensity of exercise was constantly increased. Other exercisers who showed a decrease in intensity noted that there was no change in enjoyment from the beginning to the end of the exercise.

These results disproved the researchers' hypotheses, which thought that pleasure would increase as the intensity level decreased. It also differs from previous research reports that decreasing intensity leads to greater enjoyment of exercise, including remembered enjoyment, than exercise that becomes increasingly difficult.

But for the average exerciser, the result is not the expected results. Instead, the idea that intensity can be manipulated to provide an enjoyable workout is worth noting.

Another thing to note is that individuals have different preferences about when to increase and decrease intensity during exercise.

If you're naturally slow out of the gate, let these results take time before you increase the intensity. And if you start off strong but down the stretch, keep going and get closer to the finish line. Stop fighting your natural tendency to take the path of least resistance and focus your training on what makes you feel good, not someone else's idea of ​​an ideal workout plan.

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