How to know if your workout is successful

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Do you have a slight unpleasant aftertaste after training, as if you had not finished something? Or, on the contrary, the impression is that you dug up the whole grandmother's garden? Jessica Matthews, assistant professor at San Diego Miramar College, says we shouldn't feel overwhelmed after training. On the contrary, exercise should be invigorating!

Neither the amount of sweat we lose during exercise nor muscle soreness is a correct way to measure effectiveness. There are other, scientifically proven signs for this. So how do you know if your workout was really good?

Perceived load level

Personal Trainer Keri Lynn Ford uses the perceived load level to measure the effort her client exerts during a workout. The American Council on Exercise offers a scale of 0-10.

The level of load should be measured by the pace and sensations that arise during this. Increasing your speed or adding hill running can bring you closer to the 10 mark. For many, the perception of the load received is not entirely correct. You may think that you are already somewhere on the eighth level, although the coach knows very well that you are still at the fifth level.

Your heart rate is used to determine the perceived load level and its relationship to your target heart rate zone. An increase in intensity is directly related to an increase in heart rate and an acceleration of metabolic processes in the body.

During aerobic exercise, effort is measured by a combination of sensory signals from muscles, joints, respiratory rate, and heart rate. Usually only the coach can assess the condition of the athlete. During the first few workouts, control measurements of the pulse are taken before starting a workout and after completing a set of exercises. This is necessary in order for the trainer to be able to determine how the ward's body reacts to various loads.

Measurement using actual heart rate

For accurate measurements, you need a heart rate monitor. If not, just place your fingers on the carotid artery, count the number of beats for 10 seconds and multiply by 6. In this case, your maximum frequency is used. For this, age is subtracted from 220 (for men) or 226 (for women). The number of heartbeats should not exceed this maximum. If the pulse is off scale, you need to reduce the load.

Now that you know your maximum heart rate, you will be able to determine whether you have completed your workout at 60% of your maximum power or 100%.

The number of forces

Unlike your heart rate, which is objective (which is, that is), the sense of the quality of the effort you make during a workout is very subjective. It may seem to us that we are trying very hard, although in fact we only turned on 50%.

How do you know that you are working at full strength? The workout should be explosive, it should give you a feeling of a surge of strength, not complete exhaustion when you fall to the floor after completing a set.

Muscle condition after exercise

Your muscles will increase in volume (tone) as more blood flows to them during exercise for better oxygen supply and uninterrupted elimination of waste products. If you start to feel a burning sensation in the working muscles, do not stop! Right now, they finally started working.

The condition when muscle fibers can no longer contract is a 100% workout indicator. However, you should be very careful here, since there is a very thin line between correct muscle fatigue, accompanied by a burning sensation, and excessive efforts leading to injuries.

If you feel dizzy, weak, or nauseous, sit down and take a short break and drink some water. If during muscle work you begin to hear strange sounds: clicks, crackling, popping - and there is a feeling of stretching, stop the workout. After that, it is advisable to see a doctor, since, most likely, you were injured.

Recovery rate

The effectiveness of a workout can also be measured by how quickly our heart recovers after a given load. You need to count the rate of recovery of the heart rate after a low-intensity load. Recovery within one minute is considered normal. Slower recovery indicates either poor physical condition or overuse.

Appetite

The feeling of hunger and cravings for carbohydrates are absolutely normal for the body after a quality workout. Your body has expended energy and now needs to refuel. It is advisable to do this within 30 minutes after the end of the session.

Dream

Usually, immediately after a quality workout, we feel a surge of strength, a surge of energy and positive emotions. However, once in bed, we quickly fall asleep and sleep soundly until the morning. If you feel the opposite effect: you cannot fall asleep, sleep becomes superficial and you often wake up, then you have gone too far with the load.

Properly dosed exercise improves sleep quality. But if you overdo it, you can forget about a good dream.

Feelings after training

If your plan is morning or afternoon workouts, really high-quality physical activity, despite physical fatigue immediately after it, should charge you with vigor for the whole day. Psychologists say that mood improvement occurs five minutes after the end of the exercise.

Also, after a good workout, it will be much easier for you to concentrate on performing work tasks, your productivity will improve. With excessive physical exertion, you will feel tired and overwhelmed, and a flaw will leave an unpleasant feeling of incompleteness.;)