If most workouts are painful, then I agree you are probably overtraining. But if no workouts at all are painful, you’re probably missing opportunities to improve. And many workouts should at least be uncomfortable for parts of it. E.g. when lifting, for the last couple deadlift sets I often feel incredibly gassed and don’t feel like doing another one. But this can be true even when I’m far away from my limits (like, a month later I’ll be lifting 30 pounds more and feel about as tired, rather than failing to do the lift).
My guess is that on average 1-2 workouts a week should feel uncomfortable in some way, and 1-2 workouts a month should feel painful, if you’re training optimally. But it probably varies by sport (I’m mostly thinking sports like soccer or basketball that are high on quickness and lateral movement, but only moderate on endurance).
ETA: Regarding whether elite athletes are performing optimally, it’s going to depend on the sport, but in say basketball where players have 10+ years careers, teams generally have a lot of incentive to not destroy players’ bodies. Most of the wear and tear comes from games, while training outside of games is often preventing injuries by preparing the body for high and erratic levels of contact in games. (I could imagine that in say gymnastics, or maybe even American football, the training incentives are misaligned with long-term health, but I don’t know much about either.)
If most workouts are painful, then I agree you are probably overtraining. But if no workouts at all are painful, you’re probably missing opportunities to improve. And many workouts should at least be uncomfortable for parts of it. E.g. when lifting, for the last couple deadlift sets I often feel incredibly gassed and don’t feel like doing another one. But this can be true even when I’m far away from my limits (like, a month later I’ll be lifting 30 pounds more and feel about as tired, rather than failing to do the lift).
My guess is that on average 1-2 workouts a week should feel uncomfortable in some way, and 1-2 workouts a month should feel painful, if you’re training optimally. But it probably varies by sport (I’m mostly thinking sports like soccer or basketball that are high on quickness and lateral movement, but only moderate on endurance).
ETA: Regarding whether elite athletes are performing optimally, it’s going to depend on the sport, but in say basketball where players have 10+ years careers, teams generally have a lot of incentive to not destroy players’ bodies. Most of the wear and tear comes from games, while training outside of games is often preventing injuries by preparing the body for high and erratic levels of contact in games. (I could imagine that in say gymnastics, or maybe even American football, the training incentives are misaligned with long-term health, but I don’t know much about either.)