This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 2352, Struggling with English Idioms, No Pain, No Gain.
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in today's episode a listener asks us about a common idiom to talk about overcoming obstacles and suffering through something to find success in the end learn how to talk about this topic with three idioms today do you struggle with phrasal verbs they can be confusing so coming up this week on all ears
english we'll show you three new phrasal verbs to talk about making a mistake.
And then on Saturday, we'll answer the question, should we say I don't care in English?
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And thank you for listening to our show.
Hello, Lindsay. How are you today?
Hey, Alvery. I'm doing pretty well.
How are you? I am great.
I am wondering, do you ever lift weights?
Actually, I do. I've been lifting weights a lot more in the last year or two years.
Yeah. Awesome. No pain, no gain.
Right. For sure. And sometimes it is painful.
Right. Yeah, exactly.
With pain comes gain.
You could also say.
With pain comes gain.
Yeah. Are you a weightlifter, Aubrey?
I am not. I know I should.
I should do this. I know I need to build more muscle, but I'm really bad about it.
I don't have weights at my home and I don't have a gym membership.
So it makes it a little trickier.
You do it at a gym?
I do it at orange theory so I do orange theory it kind of hit training and half of that or a third of that is weightlifting I was really bad at it a couple years too and then I started reading that actually weightlifting is a way that you can burn calories so when you have more muscle mass apparently
you burn calories faster and I thought it was just I need to run and do cardio but apparently those calories need a place to go so they go to the muscles I read that too so that you can like burn calories while you're just sitting there while you're sleeping I know I need to lift weights better.
But this came up because we had a listener ask about the idiom, no pain, no gain.
So we are going to answer that question, but we want to make sure that you guys hit follow.
We have taught a lot of idioms here on the podcast, and we want to make sure you're not missing any of these episodes.
Yes, listeners, hit that follow button right now to make sure that five episodes a week drop down into your queue.
They will be there waiting for you.
That's how we get into the habit.
And that's how we make sure we focus on connection when we're actually face -to -face with a native speaker or in a business context, then we will know how to focus on the connection and build the relationships.
All right. Absolutely.
That's what's most important, right?
You are learning English to be able to connect with others in English.
And that's what we focus on here.
We always want to show you what's the connection point here, right?
How can you connect with others with the vocab and the idioms we're teaching or the strategies?
you got it so shall i go ahead and read the question from the listener again should yeah let's do it all right all right so this is on youtube and don't forget guys we do have a youtube channel hit subscribe over there if you prefer to see us on these episodes this is from shabnam sorishnia 759 uh the listener
says hi your favorite podcast you're my favorite podcast uh i have been listening for five years that's amazing aubrey so great to hear a long term listeners in on listening today.
I heard the phrase, no pain, no gain, and didn't know what it meant.
Could you talk about it?
Great one. Yes, this is a great one.
So we are going to talk about this one and a couple of other related phrases.
But I saw another question on YouTube that we're also answering today.
This was H2GO190, who just said, what are the most useful idioms for daily use?
So all three that we're teaching today are useful for daily use.
They're very common.
You'll hear them a lot.
But we also want to share that a lot of our past episodes, you can find really easy if you search the word idiom on our app in the search bar.
And every time we teach idioms, we always share if they are a little outdated, if they are used commonly, because that is important to know.
It's one thing to learn a list of idioms, but you want to know are these actually used in conversations?
Totally. And I think a lot of textbooks are notorious for listing old idioms that just aren't used anymore you don't want to sound like a textbook from the 90s right you don't want to sound like that and so making sure that you're listening to allers english especially today and going back and finding
those other episodes will keep you in the know all right yeah right that phrase keep in the know it's a good one in the know for sure be sure to hit follow we'll do a follow -up on that and other ways that we say that that you're in the know all right good so let's go to the first one that we used at the top
of the show no pain no gain?
What does this one mean, Ombre?
So it means like suffering is necessary in order to achieve something.
I actually was Googling about this because I guess it's a myth that you must have muscle pain in order to have gains.
Like you can stay in, you know, when you're lifting weights, you can stay in that more chill zone where you're not actually going to be sore the next day and still have gains.
But we use this metaphorically for life, that struggle doing something that's difficult is often going to give you worthwhile results.
Oh, for sure. For sure.
And I think this goes along with our work ethic in the US.
So if you're running a business or something, working hard for future returns, that sort of idea.
Absolutely. If a coworker is complaining that things are really difficult, that you might just respond, well, no pain, no gain.
It actually sounds like you've got a lot going on, right?
And kind of spin it in a positive way.
Exactly. So here's some sample sentences.
I'm so sore from running this morning, but no pain, no gain.
Yeah, this is often what we'll do.
We're like find ourselves complaining about something and immediately realize like, but I know it's going to have good results.
So no pain, no gain.
Right. It is funny.
We do associate pain with progress or success later.
But it doesn't always have to be that way, but often it does, right, in life.
You have to put in some kind of difficult work or struggle up the hill to get to the summit of the mountain, right?
Exactly, right. There's usually at least some kind of struggle, something that's difficult in order to have good results, for sure.
Yes, for sure. What's another sample?
You might say, I've applied to hundreds of companies.
It's such a grind, but no pain, no gain.
This is a really good example, right?
If you're having to apply to a lot of different places, it's a ton of work, a lot of effort, but you know that eventually you'll find the right fit.
No pain, no gain. Love it.
All right. So that's a good one.
That was, that one definitely is relevant.
Wouldn't you say, Aubrey?
Fully relevant for a listener who asked, what are the common ones now?
Yeah. Yeah. I hear this one.
I use it. And I think this is such a great connection skill.
If you are chatting with someone and they're maybe whining or venting they're sharing something difficult they're going through.
This is a great way to spin it and kind of remind them, but think about the results at the end of the journey.
Yeah, it's so true.
I love it. All right.
What would be our second one?
We have another one here.
What is that one? This has a similar meaning.
It's what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
And same, right? With something difficult, if you take it literally, obviously, if it doesn't kill you, but that means there's going to be a positive result.
Right. And this could also be interpreted as what doesn't kill you makes you smarter or quicker or faster or better at something, right?
That's true. You could say any of those.
Yeah. So for example, had to replace my car's transmission and it was so expensive.
I had to replace my car's transmission.
Oh, transmissions can be very expensive.
Yes. Super crazy. And then we said, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, I guess.
I don't know if that one applies.
I think I would use it this way if I'm like frustrated that something costs a lot of money.
I'm like, okay, I'm frustrated about this is super expensive, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Right. I'm sort of trying to like reframe my mind instead of just being upset about how much I've had to pay.
Like, but did you die?
You know, I'm stronger for it.
Right. I think it's the idea that raw life experience makes you better.
So every experience, whether it's good or bad is still raw life experience, right?
Yeah. Or I might say I got food poisoning yesterday and was so sick, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, I guess.
Oh God, these are bad scenarios, bad scenarios.
But did you die? Did you die?
That's what you always have to say.
Did you die? You're still alive.
You're okay. Kind of trendy for someone to be like, but did you die?
Is that trendy now?
Yeah, I think so. I hear it a lot.
Interesting. Okay. You're complaining about something negative or something hard instead of like, no pain, no gain.
That's another one of like, but did you die?
I love that. I love that.
Okay. I'm going to start using that in that case.
Yes, do. All right.
All right. What about number three?
Fortune favors the bold.
So those who take risks reap the benefits.
Absolutely. There's no risk, no reward is another phrase that my dad used to always tell me actually because he was a small business owner and no risk, no reward, a hundred percent.
Yeah. And this one, both of those are a little bit different.
They're not just about something that's happening to you that you might be frustrated.
You know, this isn't going to be about replacing a transmission.
This is more like you're taking risks, you're proactively doing something difficult and good results will follow.
Yeah. And I think especially taking risks, uh, when it doesn't feel, it feels counterintuitive or it feels like you're scared doing the scary thing when you're already scared is often the right move.
You know what I mean?
that's often the right thing to do and you don't figure it out until much later but if you have a gut feeling then you're on the right track you know sure right you might say like with buying lottery tickets right i'm buying some lottery tickets this week fortune favors the bold it's like you're taking
a risk that's a big risk dollars yeah exactly exactly and then we could say fortune favors the bold so our company is acquiring a competitor yeah you're being aggressive you're not caving in on yourself as a company and hoping to win.
Instead, you're going after your competitors, acquiring them and being aggressive.
So being aggressive when you think you should be defensive.
Um, what is that expression that Warren Buffett has?
He always says, you know, when others are being fearful, you, or what is it?
What is it that he says?
Do you know that? He says something like, when others are being fearful, you should be aggressive and vice and then the opposite of that vice versa.
So our listeners can look it up.
Yes, look up that phrase but that is such a good, it's so true, right?
That if you see your competitors kind of hedging their bets, that's the time to be aggressive, maybe take advantage of the situation.
That's often how you're going to get ahead.
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All right, Aubrey, let's roll into a role play, shall we?
So here, What's our scenario?
You and I are neighbors that run into each other on the sidewalk, both going for a walk.
Okay. Hey there, going for a run?
Yep. No pain, no gain.
I heard you're training for a marathon.
Oh, yes, I am. It's in June.
Ooh, better you than me.
They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but I think a marathon would kill me.
It'd kill me if I tried to run one day, one today, it'd kill me if I tried to run one today.
Definitely takes a lot of training.
Well, I'm impressed you're going for it.
Fortune favors the bold.
Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
For a marathon, we can't just walk out our door and start running.
Imagine. Unless you're Forrest Gump or something.
He did that, I guess.
Takes a lot of training for the average person.
For sure. Oh my gosh.
All right. Let's break this down.
So you said, hey there, going for a run?
Yeah. You said, yep, no pain, no gain.
So this is a fun way to respond, right?
It's playful. It's like, yep, you know, because when someone says like going for a run, when you run into a neighbor like this on a sidewalk, it can be awkward.
It's like, what do I say?
I want to say hello, but they're clearly going for a run.
We're not going to have a long conversation.
This is a great way to connect.
Just be like, oh, going for a run.
Yeah, no pain, no gain.
Exactly. You don't want to show any signs that you're trying to engage them in too much conversation because they might be busy.
They might want to not break their rhythm of the run.
So there's a privacy aspect here, right?
It's a real value in American culture.
We don't want to kind of like insert ourselves too much if someone already has a routine going.
Yeah, for sure. And this is interesting because this role play would branch depending on how the person responds.
If they say, yep, no pain, no gain and keep running, you'd be like, bye, have fun.
That's it. The conversation would end, right?
Yeah, but if they you know, they've stopped and they clearly are like, oh, I kind of want to catch up for a second or maybe they're running in place.
You could be like, I heard you're training for a marathon.
It's still going to be a pretty brief conversation, but you can have a little bit of a back and forth.
Yeah, for sure. So just kind of keeping in mind what's going on in the context.
I love it. And then you said, better you than me.
They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but I think a marathon would kill me.
And what's the intonation there for our listeners, Aubrey?
but I think a marathon would definitely emphasize wood would kill me right yes yeah and this is a fun way to use this right to to kind of say that you don't believe this is true they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger but and then whatever it is that you don't want to participate skydiving
scuba diving something you'd be like but I'm actually worried that I would die yes I love it and then you said Aubrey what's the last thing you said I said well I'm impressed you're going for it.
Fortune favors the bold.
And this is great. If you find out someone's running a marathon or doing something that is a huge challenge or taking on a risk, what a great thing to say.
What a good way to connect, to compliment them this way.
Fortune favors the bold.
Exactly. And then the next time you see them, the way to build that connection is check in on that marathon training, right?
How's it going? I see the marathons coming up.
Are you ready? Oh yeah.
How have your training sessions been?
That is the way to really strengthen those relationships through English.
Yes, follow up. Absolutely.
We want to share.
