How do I know if my workout is effective?

rlynnrowe

I began with 21 days of doing Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30, which was 20-25 min of HIIT, which made me sweat and got my heart rate up. I lost a few inches all around and 10lbs. Now that I've missed about a week and a half of exercise (and gained a few lbs back), I'm going to try to workout for about an hour 5 days a week with clean eating of course. Today I did Tracey Anderson's "Metamorphosis level 1" which is 30 min and then "Fusedance Cardio Melt" by Tracey Mallot which is also 30min. I workout at home and like to find different videos to do so my workouts don't get boring (I get bored quite easily). They definitely got my muscles burning but my heart rate was barely racing.. I guess I only consider a workout successful if I feel like I'm gonna go into cardiac arrest.

I know that the level of enthusiasm I bring into the workout is important as well - I just want to make sure I'm training appropriately for the results I want (weight loss + toning).

cwolfman13

weight control (whether to lose, maintain, or gain) is about energy balance and is more readily controlled through diet than what exercise you do. As "toning" goes, this is simply a bi-product of having some muscle and leaning out to reveal that muscle.

You know when your workout is effective when you are making fitness gains.

futuremanda

You might want to check out Blogilates. It's pilates-based, and tough, but there are also cardio videos. Plus, Cassey Ho, the trainer, is also a clean eater, so it might be a good fit for you.

You start with the Beginner 2.0 calendar. When you finish it, you hop onto the monthly calendar. IMO, you may not need to do the whole beginner calendar if you've been doing JM, but you might want to sample some of the videos, maybe try a week, to learn good form. Beginner calendar is also short, so to meet your 60 min goal, you'd do something else on top at first.

Every month, she makes a new calendar. She does short-ish videos and you do several a day (about an hour on the regular). She also does challenge calendars that you can layer. And, of course, you can add or sub extra videos.

You never have to wonder what to do, and it's NEVER boring. Every day is new, and I find Cassey so positive and funny.

I'm still on beginner calendar so I don't know if the cardio options are going to do it for you. But you could follow along the calendars, and find supplemental cardio. That way you'd get the best of both worlds, and not get bored.

You can also check out fitness blender if you haven't! You can choose by type, intensity length, etc. I started my recommendation with Blogilates because of the boredom + clean eating connection. And she does work you hard!

jacksonpt

Speaking very generally, a workout is effective if it helps you progress towards your goals. Only way to evaluate that is over time.

More specifically, I base a lot of my workouts on RPE - rate of perceived exertion. If I can talk in full, complete sentences, I'm probably not pushing myself hard enough. Obviously that doesn't hold true for the entire duration of every workout, but it's a good enough gauge for me.