Why Athletes love pain - Athletic Induced Analgesia

Athletes are well accustomed to pain. It is a part of the training process. It is the necessary evil that comes along with success. I can count on one hand how many days I have not woken up in pain. Athletes associate pain with effort. The greater the effort, the greater the pain. If I don’t wake up in some sort of pain the next day I feel like I didn't work hard enough the day before. Needless to say I wake up in pain every day of my life. Here is the difference. Athletes respond to pain differently to most people. We actually enjoy it. No seriously, we do. We thrive upon it, we live for it. It motivates us; it doesn't demotivate us like it does for most people.

You see, most people go to the gym, train go home. Then they woke up the next day in copious amount of pain and say, never again. Athletes are different.

I will never forget when I first got to University. I would squat at the end of every lifting session. At this particular point I could barely walk, but I was high on endorphin's, so I crawled. The sight of the secretary at the front desk as I came crawling out on my hands and knees was priceless. She even called the security guard. He was like,” are you OK Sir" and I was like" Yeah I am good bro, just a heavy squat session. At that particular point I was physically done, spent, finished. I would crawl outside and lie on the grass for about 20-30 minutes before I was actually capable of waking again. This tradition went on for many years, and it became quite normal for people to see me crawling out of the building. Lol – Good Times. It was largely due to this that I was given the nickname "Mighty Mouse" by the Sports Department. I would like to think it is because I am strong, not because I am small. (You can stop laughing now)

 

The study I read found that athletes respond to pain differently to other people. The sensory receptors usually associated with pleasure or happiness light up in the brain of athletes after a heavy training session. They Called this Athletic Induced Analgesia. A perfect example of this is Polish skier Justyna Kowalczyk. She won gold in a 10 km Cross country ski race all while having 2 broken bones on her foot. Only an athlete can endure such pain. We literally do love pain. We are very adept at being able to tell the difference between muscular pain and an injury. We know when we are merely sore from training or have an actual injury. Athletes truly do process the stimulus of pain differently than most people, and we love it.

"The pain of discipline is far less than the pain of regret"