“She loved to talk,” he says. “I’ve never met anyone who could talk like that. He would come in and it was like pulling teeth to get her to do a basic move.”
Browning, who was a young trainer at the time, had the mindset that his clients needed to move. He wanted them to see results, feel better and sweat. This woman, though she kept coming back, was a challenge.
One day, a particularly chipper came in. She explained to Browning that she had been to the state fair with her grandchildren and could keep up with them, and attributed her extra energy and mobility to her weekly sessions with him.
“All this time, I thought I was a failure as a coach,” he says. “But her goals had nothing to do with track and field performance. She was deeply proud that the exercise had given her this gift of spending time with her grandchildren and feeling that she was not a burden, that she was not being dragged along.”
Browning, who also holds a master’s degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in corrective movement and sports psychology, says that was the defining moment in his career. He realized that hard workouts, sweat and pain are not always the best criteria for a good workout.
For decades, the fitness industry preached “no pain, no gain.” Today, this level of intensity is considered unnecessary. Browning warns that excessive soreness can be a sign that your workout wasn’t actually very good.
While a good sweat is wonderful and some muscle soreness is to be expected (within reason), there are several other indicators of a solid workout. We spoke with Browning and two additional fitness experts who shared other metrics to identify signs of a good workout.
1. You feel complete
Regardless of the activity you’re participating in, a sure sign that you’ve succeeded in your workout is a sense of pride after you’re done. Too often, athletes jump to the next thing after putting in the miles or hitting the gym without checking in with themselves to enjoy the post-workout glow.
It’s important to pay attention to how you feel mentally and emotionally after a workout, she says Jenna Nielsen, MSW, LCSWclinical social worker and therapist at ADHD consultantwhich specializes in sports performance.
“The mental signs that you’ve had a good workout is being able to finish the workout with a sense of pride,” he says. “We feel lighter mentally, they smile more often, positive emotions increase and they can focus more effectively.”
Browning agrees.
“The best metric you can use for your workout is basically how it makes you feel. You should feel empowered, like you’ve done something and have a sense of accomplishment,” he says.
She explains that this sense of empowerment will come from completing a challenging routine. But challenging doesn’t mean going all out. Instead of feeling exhausted, you may have a burst of energy thanks to being in a positive state when you finish your workout.
2. Your workout was “easier”
You may well understand that feeling—you get to the end of your workout and can hardly believe it’s over. Maybe it’s running and the miles have flown by. Maybe it’s a HIIT circuit and every move was a breeze. Just because it felt easy doesn’t mean you didn’t work hard enough.
That “easy” feeling should tell you that your fitness is improving, he explains Sam Witney, CPTpersonal trainer specializing in pregnancy and postpartum fitness.
“If you compare this workout to a workout you had a few days ago or a few weeks ago and it seems easier, that’s a sign of really big progress,” he says.
Even if the overall workout feels like a struggle to get by, try to notice how different things feel throughout. For example, if the lift felt more natural or the first 10 minutes of walking felt more comfortable, it means you had a good workout and the workouts before you worked.
“Your body remembers the movements and your muscles are a little more prepared than last time to be able to handle the load you’re using,” says Witney.
3. You hit a PR
Let’s clarify. We’re not talking about a workout where you run your fastest 5K time or improve your one-rep max, the heaviest weight you can lift for a single repetition. (Though, if that’s what you intended, that would objectively show good training and overall progress.)
Personal records or PRs may vary. The number of reps at an increased weight could be a PR. Or maintaining a consistent stroke rate on the rower for a certain amount of time that exceeded your previous session is also a PR. Basically, if you progress to a point where you beat a previous version of yourself, you hit PR.
Of course, you may not know how well you’re doing if you don’t keep track.
“Watching it will be one of the most beneficial things you could do,” says Witney. “A lot of times I’ll have my clients track the weights they’re using and compare the previous week’s workout so they can see, ‘Okay, did I complete more reps? Did I lift more weight?”
When you push yourself in a way that aligns with your overall fitness goals, then a PR is a clear sign of a good workout.
“The process and path to fitness should be enjoyable. People have to feel like they want to come back to it. And they should feel capable.” —Scott Browning, ACSM-EP
4. You feel better than when you started
While tracking weights, reps, pace and other stats may work for some, others need a different approach. With many clients, Browning uses subjective measurements to rate workouts.
“The majority of people I work with, their goal is to really feel better,” says Browning. “So if they’re not measurement oriented, they might not care that they put on extra weight today. But if I make them feel better, that’s fantastic.”
Browning begins each session by checking in with his clients to see how they are feeling and ends each session with the same question. You can do the same to see if your training was successful.
For many people—especially those prone to overtraining or experiencing exercise exhaustion—using this frame of reference can be even more helpful than using traditional metrics. Additionally, an improved mood and general sense of well-being is a hallmark of a good workout.
“This tends to happen because you’ve activated different areas of your brain and released different neurotransmitters that increase joy, reduce stress, and improve overall mood,” says Nielsen.
5. You explored emotions
Movement can be a healing force when it comes to complex emotions. So even if you’re running 1mph on the treadmill, but you’ve given yourself time to process a difficult decision or situation, your workout has probably been more beneficial than you know.
“What I discovered through my athletic career and having some trauma and tragedy in my life is that movement gave me a space to feel,” says Browning. “It gave me an unlimited space to explore emotion without judgment.”
Nielsen explains that this type of processing is common during activity and says that exercise can calm your mind.
“You can be more present when you exercise,” she says. “Emotional indicators that would indicate a good workout would be a decrease in anger or irritability, an increase in attention and focus, a decrease in sadness, and an increase in energy.”
6. You notice improved range of motion
Mobility is such an underrated metric in fitness, and yet so important in the gym and in everyday life. So if one day you’re working out and you notice your body moving in ways it couldn’t before, you can chalk it up to a good workout.
Witney says this goes back to paying attention to how your exercises feel in your body.
“Let’s say you’re squatting,” he says. “If, in the third week, you notice that your squat is lower than the first week, your mobility is better. You have more balance. Your ankles, in particular, have improved range of motion. This is huge.”
7. You promoted
You know those days when you’d rather sit on the couch and eat chips than work out? We’ve all been there. Sometimes, whether you’re following a workout plan or have a goal or personal training appointment, you need to get up and force yourself into some workout clothes.
Nielsen says that in this scenario, getting to practice is a mental victory.
“You push yourself mentally by being able to overcome the negative thoughts you might have because you’re not physically at your best,” she says. “You can also push yourself mentally by being able to stay positive even when you’re feeling a little sluggish or listless. You can find acceptance in your physical ability, which will improve your mental ability to overcome physical weakness. Sometimes our best mental performances happen when we’re not at our best physically, because it takes more effort to stay positive and push through the training.”
So while it may not feel good going through the motions, you are working a mental muscle that is a necessary part of a good workout.
8. You listened to your body
On the flip side of pushing through a workout, sometimes you need to quiet the nagging thought to get moving and have a rest day.
“For many people who are active and physically active, it can be difficult to listen to your body and not push through an exercise even if you’re going to get injured,” says Nielsen. “If you can mentally accept that you are helping your body and keeping it healthy by quitting, then you are achieving physical and mental success.”
The same is true if you are in the middle of an activity and notice that something is off or painful. Stopping instead of pushing through the pain means you’ve accomplished your workout for the day.
“It’s a huge mental success to really listen to your body and stop when you feel like you’re not physically able to continue,” says Nielsen. “You need to be aware of your body to notice that your body is not performing well physically. That mental awareness is part of what a successful workout looks like.”
The bottom line: If it feels good, it’s a good workout
No matter what your goals are, one sign that you’ve accomplished your workout is that you feel good and look forward to your next workout.
“The process and the path to fitness should be enjoyable,” says Browning. If it isn’t, a good coach could make all the difference. “People have to feel like they want to come back to it. And they should feel capable.”
