Do you work hard enough?

The reader recently sent me a great question:

“I always wonder if I will press enough hard while training strength. My goals are to build strength and muscles – and I am not a fragile old lady.”

This type of question is more common than you think! It is something that everyone wonders at some point: “How difficult is to work when I raise?”

Let’s divide it.

✅ 1. Do you feel your muscles to use during and after exercise?

You do not need to destroy yourself to make progress, but you are He should You feel your muscles did some meaningful work.

This may appear as follows:

• Feeling tension and “work” in your muscles while lifting
• The feeling of weight begins to slow down unintentionally and you are tired in the middle of your group
• The light muscles pump after exercise
• The slight muscle pain the next day (but nothing brutal)
• You feel like you challenged yourself at the end of each group

If you finish the exercise and feel that you can do everything again … this may be a sign that the time has come to increase actors, weight or groups.

✅ 2. What kind of pain you get (if any)?

Contrary to the common belief, Pain is not the only sign of progressBut it can give us evidence.

This is what I am looking for:

• Moderate For 1-2 days? great! You will likely get enough work.
• Severe pain It lasts 4-5 days or more? This is too much. Ask it again.
• never Pain at all? It may be time to deliberately pay things, or switch exercises.

Again, pain is a signalAnd not the performance card. It is not something to chase regardless of what, but it is another piece of puzzle in understanding what is doing and not working for you. 😃

✅ 3. Do you see progress over time?

Power training revolves around the challenge of your body and then ​Gradually increase this challenge over time​.

• Do you raise weights heavier than you were 4-6 weeks ago?
• Do you do more actors or more groups with the same weight?
• Do you feel your movements more stable, confident or controlled?

If the answer is yes, then you are increasing. This is exactly what we want.

If not, it is time to turn into a more organized plan, such as a ​Periodical​ This gradually increases the size (groups and actors) or the intensity (the amount of weights raised) over a period of 6-12 weeks.

Note: With our age, we will naturally lose a measure of muscles and strength. This is quite normal! However, we can help reduce this loss by training smart strength.

Although you may raise less in the seventies of the last century than you are in the 1930s, you can still progress in an exercise program to gradually increase the challenge. The principle of gradual excess loading is still applied, you just adjust the starting point to everything that is now capable of your body. 💪

🧪 Do you want to test your strength in a safe way?

Another way to check if you are working hard enough?

Try what I call Litmus collection.

Here is how to work:

1. Choose an exercise You are constantly doing-something like squatting in body weight, payments, dumbbells, or machine piston.
2. Strong heating. Make your body move and feel your joys.
3. Then take out everything: Do the largest possible number of quality actors with a good shape. Stop when you know that you cannot complete another clean delegate.

This is easier (and safer) with:

• Machines (you are already “monitored”)
• Body weight movements (you can just stop without danger)

Less perfect:

• Free weight movements such as Barbell back squatting or heavy bench piston (unless you have a quorum and 4 and from experience)

What are we looking for?

Compare your Litmus collection with the usual work groups.

example:

• If you usually do 3 groups of 10 Representatives And your Litmus Group gets 12-13 representativesYou are right in that sweet spot within a few representatives of failure.
• If you hit 20+ actorsOn the other hand, you leave more than 10 actors in the tank during regular exercises. This means that it is time to gain weight or actors to keep progress.

Most of the muscle construction occurs when they are inside ​1-4 representatives of failure​ On the working group. But if you do not know the failure Feel Like, it is easy to stop.

The Litmus group helps re -calibrate your efforts and build confidence that you can pay more (safely) when it is logical.

💡 Conclusion

You don’t need to crush yourself to get stronger. But you Do You want your exercises to be purposeful and difficult enough to require your body to adapt.

research:

• Muscle tension (during the group)
• Muscle fatigue (after exercise)
• Moderate pain (especially at the beginning of a new exercise program)
• Apply over time (actors, weight, technology)
• … and Litmus from time to time for clarity

And if you do not see these? Let’s click your approach and help you find this sweet spot.

And remember! If you are asking this question, this means that you are already working, which is amazing!

I got this.

– Matt PS coach needs to help find the next step to apply for your training? They shot me on an email and I will see how I can help! 💪