Suffering is not a necessary part of exercise, nor is it a measure of a good workout.
But those arent measures of effectiveness or progress.
Sweat is determined by how much heat your body is generating.
Being out of breath is appropriate during high intensity cardio, but not all cardio should be high intensity.
Exhaustion shouldnt be a regular occurrence.
And soreness isnt a very good measure of anything at all.
There will be some harder intervals in there somewhere, most likely, but theyre not the whole program.
Then I got to rest for three to five minutes between sets.
But as I followed the program month after month, my lifts went up and up.
Sure, there were some days when I got to do heavy singles.
They were part of the program, but they werent thewholeprogram.
The day after I competed in a powerlifting meet, I was tired and sore.
But thats not how I felt after my everyday workouts.
Similarly I had learned, years earlier, that slow running makes you faster.
Ads for workout clothes seem to always show people glistening with sweat, breathing heavy.
There was a time that I used to go to Crossfit classes.
Its a fine way to exercise, just not the only way.
I knew I felt good after the classes, but I was also reluctant to show up sometimes.
I had to be in just the right mood to want to commit and push myself.
And I knew I was going to be sore for probably days afterward.
I skipped a lot of workouts.
Its fine if you love the exhilaration of pushing yourself in an all-out sprint.
Youre allowed to enjoy those things, if you really want to.
The flip side, though, is that one day youwontbe sore, and what then?
In truth, if you keep changing up your workouts, youwillkeep getting sore.
(Soreness tracks more closely with new movements than with hard ones.)
But changing up your workouts just leaves you spinning your wheels, no longer working toward your goals.
