You guys are always asking me if things like muscle soreness are signs of a good workout! So you may be surprised to learn that’s not necessarily the case…
But I don’t mean that in a bad way, I mean it in a GOOD way!
Because now you don’t have to worry that if you’re NOT sore, it means you didn’t push hard enough.
Everyone who has asked me, “What are the signs of a good workout?” seems to be worried they aren’t working hard enough!
On the one hand, it seems like it should be easy to know when you’ve had a good workout. You’ll probably feel great and really invigorated, and feel like you really made another step towards your goals…
But on the other hand, you may not really know when to leave the gym…when to keep going…when a workout is too easy…when it’s too hard… the answer is NOT always so intuitive and straightforward.
And unfortunately it’s not quite a question I can answer for you, since I can’t get inside your brain and know what your body is feeling.
However, don’t exit out of this article just yet…😉 I promise I have a couple ways for you to figure out whether your workout is REALLY a good workout, or if you could be pushing yourself harder!!
For cardio, it’s actually EASY to quantify a good workout!
There are really only two ways…one is, if you have a fitness tracker or something like that, then see what your heart rate is during your cardio workouts!
If you are at 75% of your max heart rate for a 20 minute workout or longer, that can be considered a really good cardio workout!
You calculate your max heart rate by taking “220 minus your age.” So if you’re 30 your max heart rate is 190.
So if your heart rate during your workout is 3/4 of that or more — 142 beats per minute or higher — then it’s a great workout!!
For lifting weights, it’s more complicated. How do you know whether you’re pushing yourself enough there?
Well, of course you are going to be able to TELL mentally how much you’re exerting yourself. And, if you work your muscles to the point of failure, then you know you did a good job…or, do you?
It seems like a lot of people think they have to work themselves to utter failure, exhaustion and reach their absolute limit each time they lift weights. I really don’t think that’s true.
Overtraining is a thing!!
And remember that a lifter’s definition of “muscle failure” is NOT when your muscles are so totally pumped they’re cramping and burning so bad you can’t stand it…
Muscle failure by a lifter’s definition means that your form is starting to fail. And that, of course, means you are risking injury!
So a good strength training session for the purpose of building muscle means doing sets of 5 – 8 reps, choosing weights that are about 70% – 80% of your one-rep max.
Also, if you’re new to weight training and doing it alone, it’s a good idea to have a personal trainer teach you good form.
Or you can always video yourself and send it to me, and I’ll tell you if there’s anything wrong!!
So in summary, I know I talked a lot about the dangers of overtraining at the gym in this post, but I only did that because some people think DOMS is one of the only signs of a good workout. It’s not, because as crazy as it sounds, 33% of people are lucky enough that they don’t even really get DOMS! No fair!!
Or they think if they’re plateauing in their progress, it must mean they need to push and get more extreme. Not true, necessarily. A pause in progress could be the lack of variety in your workouts, and even more likely, it’s your diet.
Some of you seem to think that if you’re not killing yourself on every single workout, it means you’re not doing enough!
So I wanted to make sure you all knew that even if you don’t have DOMS, and even if you’re starting to plateau in your results, that may just be a sign to switch your workouts up!!
NOT a sign to overtrain!!
That’s my moral support for the day, LOL. ♥
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