The old-time strongmen used to say "you should feel better after a workout than you did before." Now, obviously trainers and coaches are not physiotherapists or counsellors, but still it's a good principle, and one not always followed.
Recently one of my clients came for a morning session, her upper back was seized-up and painful - an otherwise healthy young woman, basically her desk job is killing her. Our regular training involves a lot of heavy squatting, pulling and pressing, but the least you can ask of your trainer is that they not injure you, so we changed it that day. It was outside with the kettlebells for some swings, squats, floor presses and prone braces, mixed in with some short runs. Afterwards, she felt better.
That very evening I met a new client, he had a whole swag of health issues including some lower back disc problems. He demonstrated a typical beginner's squat - shallow, knees tracking in, on the toes, unbalanced, which you should not see past a few sessions with a trainer - and described sessions where he'd been doing situps with a plate on his chest, telling the trainer it hurt, but was told to keep going. "Since your lower back is injured, let's flex it repeatedly under load. While we're at it, why don't I just kick you in the back of the head on each rep as well."
I don't think he felt better after the session than before it. A workout should leave you feeling less pain, more mobility, stronger and more competent and confident than you did before it. Now, obviously not every workout can be awesome - Dan John's "rule of five" comes to mind here - but that should be the general trend.
You should feel better after a workout than you did before. Do you? If not, reassess your training - and trainer.
PS: my apologies for the long absence, unlike some fitness bloggers I actually train people, this can be somewhat distracting.
