A large man comes stumbling out of the gym, drenched it sweat. He must have had a great workout, right?

Not so fast.

Pain and wear on our body are the most obvious indicators in the gym. We “feel the burn” and the sweat starts dripping off our foreheads, so we assume that we’re doing something right.

But it isn’t that easy.

Sure, any time we sweat from physical activity, it means we’re working our body. It’s definitely better than sitting on the couch.

But the effectiveness of our workout can’t be gauged so simply.

Supersets and short rest periods are a great way to work up a sweat and tax our muscles, but they’re far from the best approach for building strength. Similarly, drop-sets and forced negatives are excruciating – they force our muscles to work after they’ve already reached failure – but arguably these hardcore techniques aren’t the best for building muscle.

The obvious signs are a decent data point, but that’s all they are – one data point.

It’s better to have a clear objective and be intentional about our actions than simply doing whatever makes us feel like we worked hard.

-Brandon