Poor Signs of a Great Workout

At each stage of life we might workout for different reasons. I know I have aimed for different things in my workouts over the years. It started so I would be better at sports, then purely muscle size for bodybuilding and then absolute strength for powerlifting. Now as a non competitive adult, it has been an interesting shift to create new indicators for my workouts and their effectiveness. From my own experience and speaking with others, this is an issue across the board. There is no clear understanding of what makes a workout good or bad. Most of what’s advertised as showing a great workout is a really poor example. Whether you’re an athlete or someone in their 50s, you should have your own specific goals and understand how to evaluate the progress being made. Let’s look at some common ways people decide if a workout was good or bad and give options that might be better for the long term success of your training.

‍Calorie Burn

I believe this is one of the biggest mistakes that most fitness trackers made when being created. Strength training is to build muscle and strength, both of which require energy for the progressive overload to be effective. Your calorie burn on your watch doesn’t show the two new reps you lifted on a certain weight, the improvement in balance on a single leg exercise, or that you can now get up from the floor without the use of your hands. If calorie counting is your thing, create your deficit via nutrition but strength training is reserved for building muscle and strength which once established, helps you burn more calories on a daily basis leading to the improved body composition most are seeking. 

How Difficult it Was

I’ve been very lucky when it comes to strength training. I’ve always been fascinated by the learning process and seeing how each exercise and repetition builds into the next workout over time. I see training as learning, which requires a plan and a series of events strategically placed in order. The appeal of workouts of people surviving then laying around on the floor never really appealed to me. I’m a firm believer that you should feel better after training than before. Also, most of the difficult workouts I see are just a series of ADHD programmed exercises that don’t lead to an end goal other than being tired. Get better not tired. Some of the most challenging physically and mentally workouts I’ve ever done were very simple on paper but took a lot to get through. Here are a few:

Front Squat- 7 sets 7 repetitions at the same weight- 7 sets 7 repetitions dumbbell jumps- 1 set every 90 seconds

Squat- Max weight for 8-12 reps. Max weight for 20 reps. 

Deadlift- 5 sets of 5 reps. This wrecks your entire body and packs on a ton of muscle.

If you just want a hard workout that doesn’t mean anything- run until you can’t stand up or jump up and down for an hour. Those are hard, but not effective. 

Soreness

I joke a lot of times that if you want to be really sore, just do lunges for an hour. You’ll be so sore you won’t train the rest of the week. Why? Lunges make you really sore and people aren’t acclimated to that much volume at once. This would always take away from your overall training so don’t actually do it. Everyone has been crazy sore before from a workout they weren’t expecting and then other times not so much. There are a few things at play with this equation and none are good or bad. Generally if you’re really sore post workout it comes down to a few things:

1. You introduced a new stimulus. Your body had never done a movement pattern and is responding to that. 
2. You didn’t recover well post workout from nutrition, hydration or sleep. 
3. Too much volume increase. Too much too soon. 

That list is what creates extreme soreness and you can use your detective skills to figure out which one it was so you can address it and prevent it in the future.  Those are the top offenders that keep popping up for people when they examine their workouts. So how do we know if had a good workout? Here are a few things to ask after each session.

1. Did I improve a movement pattern?
2. Did I use more weight or repetitions on an exercise?
3. Did I feel better after?
4. Did I enjoy what I was doing?
5. Do I feel closer to my goals?

If you answer yes to most of those questions then you had a kick ass workout. String 3-4 of those together a week for many years and you’ll be on the consistent train to success.