"Go Hard or Go Home" If Your Workout Hasn't Killed You, Does It Even Count Bro?

 "Go Hard or Go Home"
If Your Workout Hasn't Killed You, Does It Even Count Bro? 

Ever feel that if your workout hasn't left you in the foetal position it wasn't worth it? Can't sit on the toilet for three days - it must be good!

When you start something new then you probably will get a bit of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) a couple of days later, but that's a sign that you've done too much. The next time it shouldn't be so bad. But does that mean it’s not working?

No.

You shouldn't feel destroyed after every workout.

Whatever your goal: to get stronger, lose body fat, increase power; this won’t happen if you grind yourself into the floor every time.

Adaptations happen after training - you want to work but how much is too much? When it hurts for days after then you’ve damaged your muscle fibres too much. They need to do a lot of repair before they even start adapting. If you’re super sore then you’ve over trained. 

Avoid chasing soreness as it doesn’t mean you’re adapting quicker it just means you’re damaging the muscle fibres too much and they need to repair. The repair happens when you’re sleeping and fed. Go for progressive overload, but over time. You don’t need to lift double what you did last week.

Should you train when you’re sore? Yes, but at an appropriate intensity. If you’re still walking like John Wayne it might be low intensity or just some simple movement or stretching out. 

The old school training model (periodisation) is to build the intensity over three weeks then have a lower/maintenance week but this is designed for men.

Women are better working with their menstrual cycle, if you still have one. You’ll get better results if you train hard in your follicular phase (low hormone - the first day of your period through to ovulation) and take it easier in your luteal phase (the high hormone stage - from ovulation to the build up to your period). And menstrual cycles can be 20 to 40 odd days, not your text book average 28 days. Work with how you feel.