I’ve been getting a lot of queries to my blog lately, asking “how do you know if you’re working out hard enough?” Other than these obvious reasons, the ultimate answer is:
You are not working out hard enough if you’re not seeing results.
Strength gains, fat loss, endurance… whatever your health goals are, as long as you are progressing, you know you are working out hard enough.
Other random notes:
- Soreness and the amount of sweat is not an indication of how hard you are working out.
- Recovery is so important because that’s really when your muscles tissues repair itself and grow. Just because you are not sore after a workout, does not mean you didn’t have a good workout. It is human-nature to crave for instant gratification but try sleeping on it!
- If you are plateauing and no longer seeing results, you need to change up your program because your body is getting use to whatever you are doing.
- Using a heartrate monitor is a great way to make sure you are working out in the right zone. I still have a lot to learn on HRM’s so I will stop here for now.
- Just because you aren’t faceplanted on the ground with no energy left, does NOT mean you didn’t get a good workout. I get a different “tired” feeling after an intense HIIT workout and a heavy weightlifting session.
