What are the criteria for a “good workout?”
This is a question I consider often, especially lately. Even though I workout daily, it’s been weeks since I felt like I left the gym having done a “good workout.”
The criteria can vary.
Community: Can Help, But Doesn’t Guarantee
Often, it helps to have a social element. But that doesn’t always guarantee a “good workout.”
Although I like the community vibe of CrossFit classes, sometimes they cause me to feel overwhelmed. One effect of ADHD is that I can be slow to process verbal instructions, especially early in the morning. This can cause me to miss instructions during the warm-up.
I also tend to move slower than most people, so I often I find myself falling behind within the first 10 minutes.
And I find that it takes my nervous system longer than others to “come online” and coordinate movements.
This often leads me to feel like I can’t keep up with the pace of class, which creates an extra level of stress that can further shut down my movements.
On My Own: Risks of Hyper-Vigilance
Workouts on my own don’t always fare better. It can be hard for me to get started, or feel confident enough in my range of motion to begin lifting with load.
When I don’t feel supported, my nervous system enters a state of hyper-vigilance, which can inhibit my movements. The moment my nervous system doesn’t feel safe, it shuts down the movement, and sometimes no amount of “will” can get it to move.
The Criteria for a Good Workout: Inner Metrics
I tend to feel like I had a “good workout” when I felt like I was able to push my edge, and I feel like I worked the intended muscle group without pain or compensation patterns.
I’ve found that certain elements set me up for a good workout:
- confidence in my technique
- no pain in the movements
- feeling capable of doing the movement or lifting the load, even if it’s a stretch
- not feeling rushed
- feeling supported
It also helps me to feel like the warm-up and activation I’ve done have primed me for the movements involved in my lifts — that they are relevant and related.
Those conditions help me feel like I can safely push myself to lift heavier and find my edge.
The Red Herring: PRs
Although it’s fun to hit new PRs, that’s not a metric for whether I feel like I had a good workout. In fact, sometimes I’ve hit PRs and didn’t feel good about my workout because my movements caused physical pain, I knew that my form was off, or I wasn’t confident in my technique.
When I’m feeling pain in the movement, not getting the right muscle activation, or I’m not confident in my technique, even lighter weights don’t feel safe. In those cases. I become filled with doubt, and my body freezes up in hyper-vigilance.
When I leave the gym feeling like my movements didn’t contribute to my ultimate outcome, or my body is in pain in places that I didn’t even target in my workout, it feels futile.
Challenge Within Safety
A good workout challenges me within the realm of my confidence, without depleting my frustration tolerance or putting me into a state of hyper-vigilance.
That confidence then transfers to other activities I do.
Maybe the best metric for a “good workout” isn’t what we achieve, but how we feel doing it.
What are your criteria for a good workout?
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