For those of you seeking a better understanding of what people mean when they say “feel the burn” when training etc, have a read of this....

The burn is a chemical reaction which happens in the muscles from repetitive overuse of a muscle whilst training. For instance if you were performing a Squat exercise for the leg muscles, after a certain number of reps (whether your toning with lighter high reps or bulking with heavier low reps) your body will start to release lactic acid into the muscle. Lactic acid is a waste product released into the muscles by various chemical reactions in the blood and energy systems and the more intensely you train that muscle, the higher the release of lactic acid which equals more pain and eventually resulting in muscle failure. 

But don't get bogged down with the science stuff, all you need to know is, it is essential to feel the burn during an exercise as it signals you have trained your muscle to relative failure, which is desirable especially when you require to improve the shape, performance, strength and size of the muscle targeted. So next time your in the gym don't be afraid to go through that lactic acid pain barrier, just push yourself little harder and feel the burn! 

- APG