No Pain, No Gain - This Pain Pill Could Be Stopping Your Strength Gains
Posted on January 21, 2008
» Filed Under Medicine |
Face it - it happens. It just comes with the territory. Strength and conditioning training is all about muscles - both damage and recovery. It’s unavoidable.
The complication begins when you decide what to do about the pain.
While we’ve all heard the term, “No pain, no gain,” not everyone scrambles to hop on that bandwagon.
In addition to training schedules, we have lives. Jobs to go to, kids to wrestle with, social events our spouses drag us off to attend.
So, what do we do? A lot of us take the “easy” way out. When the pain sets in, we set off in search of a remedy - typically an over the counter painkiller and anti-inflammatory, like Ibuprofen.
Ibuprofen is what is known as an NSAID, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Unlike Tylenol or Aspirin, NSAIDs work by inhibiting a naturally occurring muscle enzyme known as cyclooxygenase, or COX. This enzyme is responsible for the pain and inflammation that flows muscle injuries - including the damage that can be done during a really intense workout.
But, ultimately, those NSAIDs might be causing more harm than good. Although the pain and discomfort (and the resulting inflammation) SEEM like a negative consequence of working out, recent studies confirm that this ISN’T the whole story.
As a matter of fact, it was found that inflammation that follows a hard-core workout may actually be an essential component of muscular growth.
For some time, research has shown that NSAIDs actually decelerate muscle-protein synthesis in both animal AND human muscles.
Once this evidence came to light, most researchers suspected that if NSAIDs were capable of blunting muscle-protein synthesis, they could also have the same negative effect on muscle growth. Unfortunately, this hypothesis couldn’t be verified.
Not until here recently, that is…
In May of 2006, in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise, researchers from the University of Florida laid everyone’s suspicions to rest.
Here’s how they did it:
For a period of 14 days, researchers overloaded the plantaris muscles (or small calf muscle) of rats by removing their gastroc and soleus muscles.
The purpose?
It would be the equivalent of losing your triceps’ lateral and medial heads - the long head would be forced to do all of the work any time you extended your arm - growing thanks to the lack of aid from your other two supportive heads.
These rats were divided into two groups - one half of the rats were dosed with Ibuprofen while the other half were given a placebo.
The results?
The placebo rats enjoyed a 60% boost in their muscle size, while the Ibuprofen rats only saw a 30% increase.
The moral of the story?
No pain, no gain! As a serious trainer, you should avoid taking NSAIDs as much as you possibly can - minus in instances of fevers or headaches.
But, if your workout packed a mean punch, you’ll just have to grin and bear it!
Rhadi Ferguson is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, a 2004 Olympian and a well sought out strength coach and motivational speaker. If you are looking to get in some great shape please visit http://www.TheBodyWeightWorkout.com and pick up your FREE DVD and get your FREE ebooks here –> http://www.thekingofstrengthandconditioning.com
Article Author :Rhadi_Ferguson
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