How much is too much?

[Tanuki]

At the gym today I watched a client with his trainer. The client was groaning with every rep - the weights were heavy, the exercises looked tough, and he was really giving it a good ol' roar or moan of despair, every move performed very slowly, every rep seemed like the absolute max of his power. It didn't look fun and it didn't look comfortable. I'm sure he was quite happy and possibly just a vocal sort of chap, maybe a bit overdramatic, and he did lower the weights on a couple of sets, but it did get me thinking.

 

I mean, is that where strength training has to go? Right now I'm still a beginner, lifting weights that challenge me but don't make me roar across the gym, and I stall by putting them on the floor and marking an X on my notepad, not howling like a Hulk and dropping them. I appreciate things are going to get harder, but might it get so hard that workouts become unpleasant? Does training become something you like the effects of - the weight loss, the rippling abs - but the actual process of working out is perhaps a thing of dread, or something you have to endure for the end result?

 

I enjoy it right now, even when I find things tough (as much as a 42kg squat can be considered 'tough') and I want to keep enjoying it. I wouldn't like to think that after a certain weight is surpassed, it's no longer a taxing challenge and something done for pleasure but a gauntlet of discomfort performed for the sake of a goal.

 

What do you think?

[Silo]

I think that some people like to be challenged to the point where they look uncomfortable and like they're completely whipped...but it's not for me. I get great results without feeling like I am completely crushed and wiped out after a workout. I don't have leg days that leave me aching and wobbly. It's not my thing so I don't do it. Now, I do cringe a bit when it's time to squat because they are my least favorite exercise but I keep doing them because they are good for me. But at this point it's more of a mental game with them rather than physical.

 

So I guess, in answer to your question, I think it's just a personal preference thing.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

In the beginning you tend to ramp up the 5x5 programs to be really struggling with that last set, but as you move to more intermediate and advanced programs, most of the sustainable ones tend to back off on the intensity (% of 1RM) and up the overall volume (total pounds lifted in a workout/week/month) so that most inidividual reps are far from maximal effort. Rather than performing a max set of 3, your doing something like your 5 rep max for 5-8 sets of 2-4. When I've tried the ones that don't do that, that still have you having to give maximal effort multiple times a workout, those were the ones that yes, I did start to dread a little bit.

[DarK_RaideR]

I wouldn't consider myself an experienced lifter, but I'm all for knowing one's limits and working on them. I recall Steve making a blog post about how growth happens when we test those limits instead of staying in familiar territory. That said, you (as in "somebody", not personally "you") should know where you're at and maybe add just a little more to keep it challenging. If it feels like a drag, you're doing it wrong. A workout that isn't enjoyed is bound to be abandoned eventually

[JPrev]

In the beginning you tend to ramp up the 5x5 programs to be really struggling with that last set, but as you move to more intermediate and advanced programs, most of the sustainable ones tend to back off on the intensity (% of 1RM) and up the overall volume (total pounds lifted in a workout/week/month) so that most inidividual reps are far from maximal effort. Rather than performing a max set of 3, your doing something like your 5 rep max for 5-8 sets of 2-4. When I've tried the ones that don't do that, that still have you having to give maximal effort multiple times a workout, those were the ones that yes, I did start to dread a little bit.

 

I've heard that people doing higher intensity for lower reps tend to report more aches and pains over time.  Did you notice any changes in "sustainability" after switching towards less intensity and more volume?

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I've heard that people doing higher intensity for lower reps tend to report more aches and pains over time.  Did you notice any changes in "sustainability" after switching towards less intensity and more volume?

 

My joints are less sore (madcow tore up my hips), but my muscles are more sore, but that's partly due to always trying to cut since my body tends to want to hold a lot of fat. With more calories it's not really an issue.

[Nordlyn13]

I think you're right on. If you enjoy a challenge, and getting to know your body, you'll enjoy lifting (or strength training of any kind) forever.

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[insanity]

I'd have to back the "sometimes I like pain" group... I know back when I was running, if I didn't hurt, then I wasn't going hard enough. So while the exercise itself might just be a miserable lesson in pain, it's the afterwards that I worked towards. Not everyone does that, but it's what made me happy.

 

In the end, it's all in where you go with it.

[Noname123]

For lifting, I want to know what I can do at my max. I'm still a huge newbie, but I push myself to the point my face turns a truly lovely shade of red at my heavy lift points. It hurts good, and at the end of the day I feel stronger doing those than I would squatting 1/2 the weight for an extra 5 reps. 

 

Additionally at that level of fitness you pay a trainer to make sure you can push yourself to the absolute MAX without hurting yourself. They're there to make sure that you are truly giving it your all without injuring yourself. If you were doing things that were comfortable why would you pay someone a good chunk of money to watch you do it? 

[Mark D]

Just my not-so-humble opinion:

 

Part of the trainers job is to figure out JUST what you're physically capable of, and demand every last bit of it from you.

 

Your mind quits before your body.  The client may have been groaning, grunting, screaming, but he still made the lifts.  He could do it, and he had to learn that he could do it.  

 

You only get stronger if you over-stress your muscles.  You brain doesn't want to do that unless you're forced to.  Your brain believes you're better off putting those extra calories into fat which you may need down the road, because your brain doesn't understand that you're not living in a hunter-gatherer situation where a few weeks of sub-optimal rainfall isn't going to kill you if you don't have the extra fat.  So your brain is saying "This sucks".  Your brain tries to tell you you CAN'T do this, it's trying to conserve the energy.  Stupid brain.

 

On top of which, some people are just groaners/grunters/screamers/moaners.  I personally tend to be quiet, except for a hard breath out and a muttered profanity I don't make much noise in the gym.  Some people scream when they curl 15 pound dumb bells, and this morning a woman was doing squats and her groans were.....distracting.  Different strokes for different folks.