Buzz
Exercise shouldn’t feel unbearable — though it often can feel tough. While soreness and sweat might seem like indicators of a successful workout, they don’t truly show whether you’re improving your health or advancing towards your goals. Instead, focus on these key measures.
Have you made progress since last month?
Don’t measure today’s workout against yesterday’s, but instead compare it to what you were doing a few weeks, months, or even years ago.
Why not compare to yesterday? Because your strength can fluctuate daily for various reasons, such as your diet, sleep quality, and your emotional or stress levels on that specific day.
Additionally, and importantly: Whether you’re aware of it or not, each challenging workout leaves you with a bit of fatigue that persists for the following days. You can still continue working out and see progress during this time, but your performance may not be as high. So, if you lifted 60 pounds last week when you felt at your best, but only managed 55 today, that's perfectly fine—it doesn’t mean you’ve gotten weaker.
Instead, look at how you performed a few weeks ago. Are you lifting 55 pounds now, while just last month, you could barely handle the 45-pound empty bar? Did you manage to run 30 minutes without stopping today, when last month you needed to take multiple walking breaks to finish the same duration? That’s progress!
Are you committing the time and staying consistent?
Maybe comparing yourself to last month isn’t possible because back then you were doing entirely different exercises—or none at all. Just remember: making progress is about staying consistent.
Putting in the effort itself is a win. I’ve come to realize it’s the most valuable achievement, because with consistency, progress will follow. You can even tie this back to the previous point: Are you more consistent now than you were last month?
Are your minimums increasing?
Something I’ve come to value in weightlifting, a sport that demands technique and focus as much as raw strength, is that your best days can be really exceptional, but they’re often rare.
My coach often reminds me that true progress isn’t about hitting new personal records, but rather about raising the baseline of what you can lift on any given day. I once snatched 54 kilos, but I don’t know when I’ll hit that again. On the other hand, I can consistently lift in the high 40s; I did 48 on Tuesday and 49 last Friday. That’s a major leap from just a few months ago, when 42 was a challenge for me.
This is essentially another way to track progress over time, but it’s particularly rewarding if you’ve been training for a while. I remember when deadlifting two plates felt like an impossible goal. Then I hit it for a personal record. After that, I was able to do it for reps. These days, it’s just a warm-up on my way to my working weight for the day.
In running, you may notice that your best mile time becomes your 5K race pace. A 30-minute 5K might transform from a ‘holy shit, I did that?’ moment into something you do regularly when your program includes a tempo run.
Or if you’re doing a workout video with dumbbells, you might start with five-pound weights and eventually find you can handle eight pounds through the whole session. The key isn’t about what you do on your best day, but when something becomes easy enough to do consistently.
Is your form improving?
It’s still progress if you’re doing something better than before, even if you didn’t increase your numbers. Are you squatting deeper? Getting your hips aligned every time in Warrior 1?
Any exercise that relies on technique is one where improving your form is a legitimate accomplishment. The work put into improving technique or mobility can often be overlooked. Just because it's a small change doesn’t mean it’s insignificant. These small adjustments, though subtle, really accumulate over time.
Do you feel great?
Not only do you not have to feel terrible, but you can also feel great after a workout. Have you ever finished a workout with more energy than when you started? It’s possible! Especially when you accept that workouts can feel good and that suffering doesn’t have to be the goal.
Exercise can feel great during the session. It’s also incredibly rewarding to enjoy that sense of accomplishment afterward, especially if you’ve hit a personal record or noticed other signs of progress.
The benefits of exercise can extend throughout the day. Regular workouts can improve sleep, boost your mood over time, and help alleviate symptoms of anxiety or depression.
An improvement in your mental health or mood is absolutely a legitimate response to exercise—and is honestly a better indicator of whether your time was well spent than feeling like you’re about to collapse. (It’s also perfectly valid to experience both sensations at once.)
