Thanks for joining us for the latest episode of the Pain Free Living podcast with your hosts Bob Allen (osteopath) and Clare Elsby (therapy coach).

In this one, you’ll find out why most exercise is safe and really good for you and more importantly, how things can go wrong when intensity, recovery, or motivation get out of balance.

Bob explains why overtraining is often more about “too much, too soon” rather than doing something wrong. He discusses cases where marathon prep went horribly wrong and gym injuries were caused by over-enthusiasm. You’ll learn what happens when the body’s recovery systems can’t keep up resulting in fatigue, irritability, sleep problems, and things stop being fun.

Clare looks at how this can spill into anxiety, burnout, or even exercise addiction, where the drive to train starts to control your life.

Together, we put popular myths like “no pain, no gain” and “stretch to prevent injury” under the microscope. You’ll find out why static stretching doesn’t reduce injuries, and smart warm-ups should mimic your sport. Bob also highlights the problem of kids specialising too early in one sport, and how this raises the risk of overuse injuries, while a mix of sports activities builds stronger, more resilient bodies.

We also look at bodybuilding culture and performance-enhancing drugs which are often the hidden health costs behind the perfect physique, and the pressure social media adds to chase unrealistic ideals.

This episode isn’t about fearing exercise, it’s about awareness so you can make informed decisions without the hype and noise that social media 'experts' use to obscure the facts.

Exercise will always be one of the best medicines we have when approached with balance, rest, and variety.

5 Key Takeaways

• Overtraining is a dose problem: persistent fatigue, mood changes, sleep and performance dips mean “back off and recover,” not “push harder.”
• Static stretching alone doesn’t reduce injury risk; do a gradual, sport-specific warm-up and add strength work.
• Early single-sport specialisation raises overuse-injury risk; multi-sport variety builds robust, adaptable athletes.
• Aesthetics-driven bodybuilding and PEDs carry real health risks; pursue strength, function, and longevity instead.
• If exercise feels compulsive or harms relationships, that’s a red flag, but support is available and effective.

More Resources

Stretching & injury Thacker SB et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15076777/

Overtraining consensus: Meeusen R et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2013 — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23247672/

Exercise addiction / over-exercising support (Mind): https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/physical-activity-exercise-and-mental-health/over-exercising-and-exercise-addiction/

Early sport specialisation: Jayanthi N et al. Sports Health 2019 — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6805065/

PEDs / anabolic steroid misuse: https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/anabolic-steroids#types

Local Northampton fitness & wellbeing links

Please note that we do not have any affiliation with the gyms or PTs listed but we do have real-life experience of how good they are hence the recommendations.

As always, do your own research.

Gyms & studios

• BST Academy
• Trilogy Active
• ETC – Empowerment Training Centre
• Northants Pilates
• The Farm Powerlifting & Weightlifting Club

• Andy Jackson
• Sam Canham
• John Dunkley

Find out more about us and stay connected

😎 Learn more about Bob’s story https://bit.ly/BobsOsteoStory

🤩 Find out more about Clare’s work https://www.clareelsby.com/

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