Special Forces - Ultimate Hell Week: How can you increase your pain threshold?

This weekend we’ve been captivated by David Hellard and Clare Miller, two BMFers, who have taken on the ultimate endurance challenge for BBC 2’s “Special Forces - Ultimate Hell Week”.

Clare Miller and David Hellard

The first show alone pushes them beyond their physical and mental limits by battle-hardened veterans from the world's toughest special forces, so we took the opportunity to speak to Mark Wood, Training and Education Manager for British Military Fitness, to discover how we can overcome our pain thresholds in order to succeed.

Mark spent 6 years as a Royal Marines Commando, where their 32 weeks of the most intense physical training (when compared to any other armed forces across the world) prepares them to overcome the toughest of challenges. This, alongside numerous Obstacle Course racing events and an astonishing 2 hour 36 marathon time, has given him the knowledge and experience to overcome mental and physical battles to succeed:

All human beings will have a very different resistance to pain. Some will have a high pain threshold, while others see fear in the slightest task of adversity.

Pain is a natural defence mechanism, it is a series of reactions and signals that tell you to stop doing something in order to prevent further damage or pain. Firstly, to begin on a journey of increasing your pain threshold or overcoming pain, you need to understand different types of pain. Pain from touching something extremely hot or the intolerable pain from completely tearing a muscle is "bad" pain and should signal a response to immediately stop whatever you are doing. However, is there such thing as "good" pain? Well we have all heard sayings such as, "if it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you" or "no pain, no gain" and probably one of my favourites, "pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever".

When you set a fitness goal, whether you are a beginner and it is your first time exercising, or you are an experienced elite athlete competing in the world finals, at some point you are going to experience some pain. To a certain extent the only way you are going to achieve your goals is to push yourself a little further and work a little harder than before. If it was easy everyone would be doing it, right? The psychological aspect of training plays a huge part here and, to be honest, if you are not ready to commit and it doesn't mean anything to you then your chances of giving up at the slightest sight of pain are extremely high. Your first step to overcoming pain comes long before you embark on the gruelling trasining sessions. You must find something you are extremely passionate about and ask yourself some of the following questions:

• Why do I want to do this?
• What will it mean if I achieve this goal?
• What will it mean if I don't achieve this goal?
• On a scale of 1-10 how important is this to me?

Once you can answer these questions and your goal is a priority in your life then you are already half way there to overcoming any mental battle you might face on this journey. When things get tough you can come back to these questions and remember why you started.

Now it's time for the training to begin. A famous quote from the legend Muhammad Ali is very appropriate here. He once said "I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'” There will be times when training is hard, there will be times when you will want to quit, but this is when you need to remind yourself of why you started.

Clare Miller

Steps to overcoming pain:

1.       STAY POSITIVE: It's true when people say your mind will quit a thousand times before your body will - the human body is an incredible machine, designed to withstand pain and overcome challenges. Get any form of negative thoughts out of your head; you must stay positive and remind yourself of what is waiting for you once you complete this challenge.

2.       SET LITTLE GOALS: Throughout the whole process set yourself little goals. If you embark on your first ever 10mile run, break it down, mile by mile and overcome each small challenge one at a time. Overcoming pain is far more of a mental test than a physical challenge.

3.       PRACTICE EXPERIENCING PAIN: Train yourself to experience pain. Work hard, push yourself a little further so that when it comes to the final challenge or race you have already experienced the pain, the mixed emotions, and most importantly you have already overcome these challenges in the past, proving to you that you have the ability to overcome them now.