There is a version of discomfort that produces progress, and a version that simply produces damage and time off. Learning to tell them apart is one of the more valuable skills available to anyone training in their fifties and beyond.
Productive discomfort
- Effort that is demanding during the session but leaves you able to work and sleep normally.
- Sessions you can repeat later in the week without dread.
- Load or duration that increases gradually rather than in jumps.
Unproductive discomfort
- Sharp or localised pain, particularly in joints.
- Soreness heavy enough to cancel the following sessions.
- Training that consistently worsens your sleep or mood.
The practical rule is simple: choose the level of difficulty you can still be doing in three months. Almost nobody regrets training slightly conservatively across a decade. A great many people lose months to a fortnight of enthusiasm.
Adaptation comes from repeated exposure, not from any single heroic session.
Discomfort also shows up away from training — in difficult conversations, in changing an environment that no longer suits you, in stopping something you enjoy. Handling that well is what the Overcome pillar is about.
- Overcome
- Mindset