Have you ever heard the phrase, “You either quit or keep going. Both hurt”? Anyone who has ever recovered from an injury, started their fitness journey, or endured a difficult training cycle knows the process to improvement is difficult. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes practice. But far too often we let our desire for the outcome interfere with the growth, change, and improvement that are accumulated in the process. I’m here to say that the results you desire are not found in a specific exercise or specialized treatment, but in the consistent repetitions of learning about your body, developing new skills, and navigating new routines, habits, aches, and pain. The practice is the point.
So why is the practice itself - not just the end goal - so valuable? The point of rehabilitation is to reduce my pain and recover from injury, right? The point of an exercise program is to get stronger and build muscle, right? It turns out, there are very real processes that occur when we adhere to the process. Let’s explore three concepts that explain why this is the case.
Neuroplastic Adaptation
Did you know that 1in 5 Americans experience chronic pain? And a large portion of those people will STILL be experiencing pain a year later. Even something as simple as an ankle sprain has a high rate of developing into a chronic issue. Think of your nervous system like a complex network of pathways. When you're injured or in pain, certain paths become overly sensitive – leading to protective habits and discomfort with certain movements. When you're recovering from an injury or learning new movement patterns, your body will initially want to resist, but with practice these movements will become more comfortable, and that complex nervous system will inevitably recalibrate. The practice of repeated, controlled exposure is crucial to rehab and learning new movements.
Building Body Awareness and Confidence
Have you ever noticed how many different approaches people attribute to their physical health? Yoga, Pilates, sauna, cold tubs, Olympic lifting, stretching, knees over toes… the list goes on. None of these are inherently special, they simply provide an avenue to engage in consistent practice. When we resonate with a treatment approach or exercise regimen, we tend to show up again, and again, and again. We learn to distinguish between different bodily sensations (tension vs. pain, fatigue vs. overuse) and interpret our body’s warning signs. By practicing similar movement patterns through consistent repetition, we gradually build our capacity and confidence to push beyond our perceived limitations.
Developing of Self-Efficacy
Time for the money maker, self-efficacy, or the belief that you can accomplish goals and succeed. At the end of the day, we are always growing and changing. Some days that change is right in front of our face, others it feels like we aren’t growing, but going backwards. But you can’t make a plant grow by pulling on it. It takes the right environment and time. Understanding when to push and when to back off, when to modify exercises, or even recognizing the subtle improvements that keep you moving forward are not learned overnight – they are accumulated with consistent effort. Those who make it to this point are more likely to persist through plateaus, leading to more effective practice, and inevitably, better outcomes.
Every day, we hear about accomplishments, success stories and positive outcomes without acknowledgement of the ups and downs of the process. We are inundated with the “best” rehab exercises, nutrition plans, and technology that will quickly fix our problems, but there is no way to get the results you want without doing the work. Becoming fatigued by the rehab and training process is normal, but when you reach that crossroads, will you quit or keep going? Remember: there is power and value in showing up.
The practice is the point.
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