"No Pain, No Gain" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2020-07-15

0:00 - How to Say, “No pain, no gain.”
0:16 - Examples of “No pain, no gain.”
0:48 - Meaning of “No pain, no gain.”
2:48 - Origin of “No pain, no gain.”
3:21 - More Examples of “No pain, no gain.”
4:12 - Conclusion

“No pain, no gain.”

No doubt you’ve heard someone say, “no pain, no gain,” when talking about the value of hard work.

“Exercise is tiring and hurts, but remember; no pain, no gain,” your friend might say to you during a morning run together.

Perhaps your sister is complaining about her French homework, “If you want to live in Quebec next year, you’ll have to learn French! No pain, no gain.”

As you can easily tell, “no pain, no gain,” means that without hard work, you will not be able to see results.

The idiom can be used for situations that require actual physical work, which can be quite painful...

… or, it can be used for situations which require non-physical work which is painful in a different way; such as learning, negotiating with people, or doing something for extended periods of time.

A related idiom with a slightly different meaning is, “you reap what you sow”, or sometimes, “you harvest what you sow”.

It’s quite easy to understand that if you sow, or plant, a watermelon seed, you’ll reap, or harvest, watermelons. If you sow basil seed, you’ll reap basil.

“You reap what you sow,” is most often used in a negative sense, however.

For example, if you don’t save any of your money, then one day you won’t have any money when you need it most.

On the other hand, if you go through the “pain” of delaying your spending and saving your money, then you’ll “gain” peace of mind!

“No pain, no gain,” was popularized by Jane Fonda’s enormously successful aerobics workout videos of the 1980s.

Before that, the idiom wasn’t very popular, though the idea behind it was and can be traced back almost 2,000 years to Hebrew texts discussing religion.

“You need to work harder than that if you expect to make the volleyball team. No pain, no gain!” your phys-ed teacher might tell you.

Maybe you are whining as you and a friend are on a long hike up a mountain, “If you want to enjoy the beautiful views at the end of the hike, don’t forget, ‘no pain, no gain!’”

Your partner might be complaining that a certification program is too difficult, “You need the qualifications and you’ve done harder things before! No pain, no gain!”

So, whenever you find yourself or someone else in a painful situation - but one that leads to a desired outcome - don’t forget, “no pain, no gain”!

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