How do you know you're working hard enough?
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GetSoda
Posts: 1,267 Member
What's your tell-tale sign?
Sometimes I find it hard to tell if I'm exhausted due to the work, or just mentally in general.
For example, last couple reps on squats can be excruciating.
But doing endless let-me-ups (inverted rows) really feels like phoning it in.
What's your queue that you're actually working hard enough in a particular lift?
Sometimes I find it hard to tell if I'm exhausted due to the work, or just mentally in general.
For example, last couple reps on squats can be excruciating.
But doing endless let-me-ups (inverted rows) really feels like phoning it in.
What's your queue that you're actually working hard enough in a particular lift?
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Replies
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For me, it's the amount of reps that I am physically capable to do. If I can physically do more than 15 reps on a set. I'm not working hard enough. The weight is not heavy enough. I don't know about everybody else, but I let the rep range that I'm capable of doing guide me in whether I'm working hard enough.
I don't use what sort of logs you use to track your progress, but I highly recommend JEfit. I use it to track my workouts and it will graph my progress. Sometimes I'll feel like it's slow progress, and then I'll go look at my logs and go, you know what, I'm making really good progress here.0 -
Train to failure.0
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What's your tell-tale sign?
Sometimes I find it hard to tell if I'm exhausted due to the work, or just mentally in general.
For example, last couple reps on squats can be excruciating.
But doing endless let-me-ups (inverted rows) really feels like phoning it in.
What's your queue that you're actually working hard enough in a particular lift?
I think there's a few variables at play but largely I believe it comes down to experience. This is one of those "know your body" kinds of things.
It also varies for me depending on the lift.
Example: For deadlifts, my first issue is lower back rounding (this is where my form breakdown happens). When it STARTS to round, I feel it, and I know that I'm pretty much done. Could I do another rep or two, or if I'm running up singles could I add another 20? Probably, but at that point it's sort of my safety cut-off. This comes from previous experience knowing that I can handle slight rounding of the lower back but if I go overboard then I REALLY round the low back and I get injured, more often than not.
For squats it's basically based on bar speed if I'm running anything in the 1-3 rep range. Based on how fast or slow the bar goes up I can at least get a reasonable idea as to whether or not I can push out another rep, or go up in weight if I'm running singles. For higher volume squats, I stop when I start seeing things or get lightheaded, as that typically happens before my legs are done.
For bench, it's either a bar speed issue on singles or it's form breakdown on reps where I will lose my tension on the bench and after that point my *kitten* starts lifting because I'm no longer tight. On heavy sets this happens around rep 3 or 4. I did 250x4 today and attempted 5. I should have stopped because I lost my **** on rep 4 and my butt came up. I had no chance on 5.Train to failure.
Once in a while yes, regularly, no.0 -
I kinda follow SideSteel's process when lifting. I know what my signs are when things are about to go south and know what my recovery time will be between sessions so I listen to my body.
On my program (5/3/1) the last set with the heaviest weight is a rep out. I go until either form breaks or that last rep was a grind and the next would either be a miss or really ugly. I rarely fail a rep, I stop before, and I never work to failure on anything because that just kills my CNS. I follow that protocol on squats, bench, and overhead. For deads, the rep out thing doesn't work for me, the few times I've done it and ended up getting 10-12 reps of my 5 rep weight, it took me 10+ days to recover. So now, if it's a 5 rep day, I do 5 reps of that top weight, then do 2 more sets of 5 to get the work volume in that I want.
Just listen to your body and push as much as you can, but leave something in the tank.0 -
By training to failure, I mean keeping good form but needing help from my spotter to to finish last rep of last set. Is this a bad idea? I have been doing this for years.0
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I kinda follow SideSteel's process when lifting. I know what my signs are when things are about to go south and know what my recovery time will be between sessions so I listen to my body.
On my program (5/3/1) the last set with the heaviest weight is a rep out. I go until either form breaks or that last rep was a grind and the next would either be a miss or really ugly. I rarely fail a rep, I stop before, and I never work to failure on anything because that just kills my CNS. I follow that protocol on squats, bench, and overhead. For deads, the rep out thing doesn't work for me, the few times I've done it and ended up getting 10-12 reps of my 5 rep weight, it took me 10+ days to recover. So now, if it's a 5 rep day, I do 5 reps of that top weight, then do 2 more sets of 5 to get the work volume in that I want.
Just listen to your body and push as much as you can, but leave something in the tank.
Yup, pretty much this for me too
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I kinda follow SideSteel's process when lifting. I know what my signs are when things are about to go south and know what my recovery time will be between sessions so I listen to my body.
On my program (5/3/1) the last set with the heaviest weight is a rep out. I go until either form breaks or that last rep was a grind and the next would either be a miss or really ugly. I rarely fail a rep, I stop before, and I never work to failure on anything because that just kills my CNS. I follow that protocol on squats, bench, and overhead. For deads, the rep out thing doesn't work for me, the few times I've done it and ended up getting 10-12 reps of my 5 rep weight, it took me 10+ days to recover. So now, if it's a 5 rep day, I do 5 reps of that top weight, then do 2 more sets of 5 to get the work volume in that I want.
Just listen to your body and push as much as you can, but leave something in the tank.
^^^^I'll chime in with a me too on this reply. As far as knowing whether I'm working hard enough, I just blindly trust Jim Wendler and the 5/3/1 program. If I hit the numbers, I trust that I am working hard enough.
ANd I agree with the DL comment above. I like jokering up to 1RM's on DL because I get to use most of my plates. But I pay for that for many days afterwards. I should just hit my 5/3/1 numbers and stop, but it is a lot of fun putting all your plates on the bar and pulling them off the floor. Ego is a serious impediment to progress.
Tom0
