If it's not painfull you are not exerting enough effort at least that's the case in the gym. People who are refreshed and more energetic after going to the gym are the same people who won't improve beyond intermediate levels. The ones who let go of the any set at the first feelings of unease and never take a set close to failure.
It's actually fascinating how an ancient proverb could line up with modern science so perfectly.
It certainly does not need to be painful. I think most people will make a distinction between the burn of acidosis, or what you call unease, and actual pain indicating damage is occurring.
But yes, if you never train close to failure you will not grow, not past beginner gains, unless you take steroids.
> think most people will make a distinction between the burn of acidosis, or what you call unease, and actual pain indicating damage is occurring.
There's not a discernible distinction for me. Which is why I always hate hearing shit like "It should feel uncomfortable but not painful." Like, no, it's FUCKING PAINFUL! It HURTS!
I understand you, I just think there is value in using a separate adjective, to avoid beginners thinking pain caused by damage to tissue is normal and you need to push through it to get gains.
This is really terrible advice that just discourages people.
You absolutely can get significant improvements without (much) pain. DOMS during the initial stages is going to be the most uncomfortable part. Once you're past it, you don't need to push yourself to a breaking point, just to the point of mild exhaustion.
This will provide you enough resistance to gain muscle mass and improve the bone density to healthy levels.
Yeah, "no pain no gain" is probably the worst advice I've ever received. It encourages sedentary people to go hard for a week and then quit, which is the exact opposite of what works: starting with consistent easy sessions and adding progressive overload.
Dynomight has a good blog post about this[0], but applied to running rather than resistance training.
I think propensity for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) must be genetic or something because I've never been able to get "past it," even after many years.
Have you tried avoiding eccentric exercises? The ones that require you to stretch? Try to do more of the "push-style" exercises.
Also, I highly recommend getting a physiotherapy-educated trainer for at least several sessions. They know _exactly_ how to make people hurt after exercises :)
No pain, no gain.