- Oct 29, 2004
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Often a new training client will tell me something to the effect that “it felt like I could have done more”, or “I usually feel beat to hell after lifting, and I don’t now, should I be doing more?”
In most cases, the simple answer is no, your gym sessions should not leave you feeling like a used rubber when you walk out of the gym and hours afterwards. This is GENERALLY a sign that you are doing too much, doing your lifts with too much intensity, or a combination of both. It is often a sign that the trainee is in really poor overall condition and needs some GPP work. Raise your overall conditioning level and the workload that beat you into the floor often becomes a good sensible hard workout that is still extremely hard to do, but doesn’t leave you feeing like something the cat drug in when completed.
The guys that tell you how beat to hell they are after every session are USUALLY the guys that stay stuck at the same size and strength levels for eons, or guys that have absolute fantastic recovery ability. Each set should be hard as hell to do, but the combined total of them all should not be pounding you into the ground or the loading/intensity is probably too high.
Now of course there are exceptions to this, leg day leaves most people pretty beat, but that beat feeling should not last for hours unless you are doing high-rep leg-work. And yes, its totally possible and probable that most any trainee can go to the gym, and do nothing more than warm-ups and then one ALL-OUT 20 rep set of squats, and absolutely be pounded into submission, immediately, and for hours after. That is the nature of the beast. But for MOST people, with AVERAGE recovery ability, even leg day should be structured whereby not too many sets are done, or the sets are done at an intensity level that still leaves you feeling human when done.
I know this opinion isn’t popular in some circles, and many, if not most trainees always try to ensure they are totally spent before leaving the gym, but it is more often than not counterproductive. If you slowly increase the volume/intensity over time, many can build up to workloads that would have crippled them previously, while many hardgainers will find they are only able to increase volume and intensity a little bit before training is adversely effected.
And lest anyone think I am stating that it’s impossible to progress while killing yourself in the gym every session, that is not the case at all. Many do great like this, but the chances of you being one of those people are quite frankly not all that great. If you want to train like that, make sure you periodize your training, allowing times for recovery. Regardless of what you may believe you cannot push your body full-throttle every session in the long-term. If you truly think so, I think you are either not training as hard as you think you are, or are not making anywhere near the progress you are capable of.
Iron Addict
In most cases, the simple answer is no, your gym sessions should not leave you feeling like a used rubber when you walk out of the gym and hours afterwards. This is GENERALLY a sign that you are doing too much, doing your lifts with too much intensity, or a combination of both. It is often a sign that the trainee is in really poor overall condition and needs some GPP work. Raise your overall conditioning level and the workload that beat you into the floor often becomes a good sensible hard workout that is still extremely hard to do, but doesn’t leave you feeing like something the cat drug in when completed.
The guys that tell you how beat to hell they are after every session are USUALLY the guys that stay stuck at the same size and strength levels for eons, or guys that have absolute fantastic recovery ability. Each set should be hard as hell to do, but the combined total of them all should not be pounding you into the ground or the loading/intensity is probably too high.
Now of course there are exceptions to this, leg day leaves most people pretty beat, but that beat feeling should not last for hours unless you are doing high-rep leg-work. And yes, its totally possible and probable that most any trainee can go to the gym, and do nothing more than warm-ups and then one ALL-OUT 20 rep set of squats, and absolutely be pounded into submission, immediately, and for hours after. That is the nature of the beast. But for MOST people, with AVERAGE recovery ability, even leg day should be structured whereby not too many sets are done, or the sets are done at an intensity level that still leaves you feeling human when done.
I know this opinion isn’t popular in some circles, and many, if not most trainees always try to ensure they are totally spent before leaving the gym, but it is more often than not counterproductive. If you slowly increase the volume/intensity over time, many can build up to workloads that would have crippled them previously, while many hardgainers will find they are only able to increase volume and intensity a little bit before training is adversely effected.
And lest anyone think I am stating that it’s impossible to progress while killing yourself in the gym every session, that is not the case at all. Many do great like this, but the chances of you being one of those people are quite frankly not all that great. If you want to train like that, make sure you periodize your training, allowing times for recovery. Regardless of what you may believe you cannot push your body full-throttle every session in the long-term. If you truly think so, I think you are either not training as hard as you think you are, or are not making anywhere near the progress you are capable of.
Iron Addict