by Michael Plank
Let’s get this out of the way, right up front: How sore you are is not a good or accurate measure of how good your workout was.
Especially in the early days of CrossFit, being absolutely obliterated by a workout was kind of a badge of honor. Torn hands, brutal soreness, even puking, were all proof that you were going hard enough.
Thank God we’ve matured a little bit. Right?
But there’s still a very powerful idea that the only workout that counts is the one that hurts. And don’t get me wrong, if you train consistently and are working on improving things like strength, muscle mass, endurance, or general fitness, you absolutely will be sore sometimes.
You might be sore because it’s the first time you’ve done a movement, or the first time you’ve done it in a while. You might be sore because you did a lot of eccentric loading (i.e. negatives… the “down” portion of a movement). You might be sore because you were pushing into the limits of your stamina. There are a whole host of reasons.
But you won’t be sore every time. And that is 100% FINE. It’s even correct.
That feeling of soreness or fatigue or the copper taste in your mouth that comes from pushing into your absolute limits can be thrilling and even addictive. But don’t confuse it with effectiveness. The thing that has proven to work best, time and again, over disciplines, cultures, and decades, is the thing that you do consistently. Having to take the rest of the week off from training because you went too hard on Tuesday is counter-productive.
Push your limits once in a while, but keep the bulk of your training at a level where you can keep coming back week after week, month after month, and year after year. Because that’s where the magic happens.