Every CrossFit athlete knows that some workouts simply hurt. The burning lungs, the shaky legs, the fight to keep moving when your body is screaming to stop. The question isn’t whether pain will come — it’s how you’ll respond when it does.
At ZOAR Fitness, we’ve spent time breaking down coping strategies for exercise-induced pain. Here are the main approaches that help athletes not just survive the hurt, but perform through it.
1. Acknowledge Productive vs. Destructive Pain
Not all pain is created equal. There’s a big difference between the burning discomfort of a hard effort and the sharp pain that signals injury. Productive pain leads to growth; destructive pain demands you stop. Knowing the difference allows you to cope without breaking down.
2. Use Mental Framing & Narrative Control
How you talk to yourself during a painful workout changes everything. Reframing the sensation of hurt as progress rather than failure helps. Instead of thinking “I can’t keep this up,” shift to “You Got This. Keep Goin.” Priming yourself before the workout — expecting that discomfort is coming — keeps you from being blindsided when it hits.
3. Break Workouts into Manageable Segments
Coping strategies shift based on the workout duration. In a three-minute sprint, you might need sheer grit. In a 20- or 30-minute piece, chunking the workout into manageable bites makes the pain feel less daunting.
4. Anchor Focus with Sensory Cues
Pain feels overwhelming when it’s all you focus on. Give your brain somewhere else to go: breathing rhythm, body posture, or maintaining technique. These focal points redirect attention and prevent pain from spiraling into panic.
5. Control Breathing & Adjust Tempo
Breathing is a powerful coping tool. Resetting or slowing your breath can lower the perception of pain and keep physiology under control. Similarly, micro-rests or slight tempo adjustments help manage spikes of fatigue without fully stopping.
To dive deeper into breath control, read Breath Ratios: Developing Movement Economy.
6. Build Tolerance Through Exposure
The more you practice being uncomfortable, the less foreign it feels. Progressive exposure to painful efforts trains both body and mind. Over time, the same workloads feel less overwhelming because you’ve built mental pain tolerance and physiological underpinnings.
7. Rehearse Pain Before It Arrives
Visualization and mental imagery are underrated tools. Running through what pain will feel like — and how you’ll respond — helps prepare you for the real thing. When the workout hurts, you’re not surprised; you’re ready.
8. Reflect & Recover
Thriving through discomfort doesn’t end with the workout. Post-session reflection helps you identify what worked and where you broke down. Recovery practices (cool-down, sleep, nutrition) ensure you’re ready for your next training session.