Are you figuring out laborious sufficient?

A reader lately despatched me an ideal query:

“I’m all the time questioning if I’m pushing laborious sufficient throughout power coaching. My objectives are to construct power and muscle—and never be a fragile outdated woman.”

This type of query is extra frequent than you may suppose! It’s one thing virtually everybody wonders sooner or later: “How laborious ought to I be working once I carry?”

Let’s break it down.

✅ 1. Do your muscle tissue really feel used throughout and after your exercise?

You don’t have to destroy your self to make progress, however you ought to really feel like your muscle tissue did some significant work.

That may present up as:

Feeling rigidity and “work” in your muscle tissue as you carry
Feeling the burden begin to unintentionally decelerate as you fatigue in the midst of your set
A lightweight muscle “pump” post-workout
Slight muscle soreness the subsequent day (however nothing brutal)
Feeling such as you challenged your self by the top of every set

When you end your exercise and really feel like you would do the entire thing once more instantly… that is perhaps an indication it’s time to extend reps, weight, or units.

✅ 2. What sort of soreness do you get (if any)?

Opposite to in style perception, soreness isn’t the one signal of progress, nevertheless it can provide us clues.

Right here’s what I search for:

Delicate soreness for 1–2 days? Nice! You’re probably getting sufficient work in.
Excessive soreness that lasts 4–5 days or extra? That’s an excessive amount of. Dial it again.
By no means sore in any respect? It is perhaps time to push issues a bit extra deliberately, or swap up workouts.

Once more, soreness is a sign, not a scorecard. It’s not one thing to chase NO MATTER WHAT, nevertheless it’s one other piece of the puzzle in understanding what’s working and never working for you. 😃

✅ 3. Are you seeing development over time?

Power coaching is about difficult your physique after which step by step rising that problem over time.

Are you lifting heavier weights than you have been 4–6 weeks in the past?
Are you doing extra reps or extra units with the identical weight?
Are your actions feeling extra steady, assured, or managed?

If the reply is sure, you’re getting stronger. And that’s precisely what we wish.

If not, it is perhaps time to shift right into a extra structured plan, like a periodized program that step by step will increase quantity (units and reps) or depth (quantity of weight lifted) over 6–12 weeks.

Be aware: as we age, we’ll naturally lose some quantity of muscle and power. That is completely regular! Nonetheless, we will help scale back that loss with sensible power coaching.

Although it’s possible you’ll be lifting much less in your 70s than you have been in your 30s, you possibly can nonetheless progress WITHIN a exercise program to step by step improve the problem. The precept of progressive overload nonetheless applies, you simply modify your start line to no matter your physique is able to proper now. 💪

🧪 Need to check your power in a protected approach?

One other approach to test in case you’re working laborious sufficient?

Attempt what I name a litmus set.

Right here’s the way it works:

Decide an train you’ve been doing constantly—one thing like body weight squats, push-ups, dumbbell rows, or a machine press.
Do a stable warm-up. Get your physique shifting and your joints feeling good.
Then go all out: Do as many high quality reps as you possibly can with good type. Cease when you recognize you possibly can’t full one other clear rep.

That is best (and most secure) with:

Machines (you’re already “noticed”)
Body weight actions (you possibly can simply cease with out threat)

Much less ideally suited:

Free weight actions like barbell again squats or heavy bench press (except you’ve acquired a spotter and loads of expertise)

What are we on the lookout for?

Evaluate your litmus set to your ordinary working units.

Instance:

When you often do 3 units of 10 reps and your litmus set will get you 12–13 reps, you’re proper in that candy spot inside a couple of reps of failure.
When you hit 20+ reps, alternatively, you’re leaving 10+ reps within the tank throughout your regular exercises. Meaning it’s time to extend weight or reps to maintain progressing.

Most muscle-building occurs whenever you’re inside 1–4 reps of failure on a working set. However in case you don’t know what failure feels like, it’s simple to cease brief.

A litmus set helps recalibrate your effort and builds confidence which you could push more durable (safely) when it is smart to.

💡 The Backside Line

You don’t have to crush your self to get stronger. However you do need your exercises to be purposeful and difficult sufficient to require your physique to adapt.

Search for:

Muscle rigidity (in the course of the set)
Muscle fatigue (after your exercise)
Delicate soreness (particularly originally of a brand new exercise program)
Progress over time (reps, weight, approach)
…and the occasional litmus set for readability

And in case you’re not seeing these? Let’s tweak your method and show you how to discover that candy spot.

And bear in mind! When you’re asking this query, meaning you’re already figuring out which is AMAZING!

You’ve acquired this.

– Coach Matt P.S. Need assistance discovering the subsequent step to progress in your exercises? Shoot me an electronic mail and I’ll see how I will help! 💪