How To Tell If You’re Pushing Yourself Hard Enough In Your Workouts

To get results from strength training, it’s important that you know how to push yourself in each workout.

That doesn’t mean you have to totally exhaust yourself every time you exercise. In fact, that would be counterproductive. But you do need to challenge yourself a little more over time.

It can be tricky to find that balance - pushing yourself hard enough, but not too hard.

In this article, I’ll describe a system I like to use in my workouts and with my personal training clients to make sure they’re putting in the right amount of effort.

A Scale For Measuring Strength Training Effort

I recommend using a 1-10 scale to measure your strength training effort.

This is called the “Repetitions In Reserve” Scale. It measures your effort at the end of each set in terms of how many more good form reps you could have done.

If at the end of your set you rate your effort at a level 10, that means you pushed as hard as you possibly could and it would have been impossible to do even one more rep with good form.

If your set feels like a level 9 on the scale, that means you feel like you could have only done one more rep with good form, and it would have been a struggle.

An 8 on the scale means you could have done 2 more reps with good form, but no more.

Aim For An 8 or 9 Effort

You don’t need to get to a level 10 in your normal workouts. In fact, a level 10 effort is very difficult to maintain, and your form will generally break down when you push yourself to your absolute limit.  

For example, here’s me on my last rep of a bench press. This is a 10 out of 10 effort. I had to push with everything I had.

You can see how the bar slows down during this last rep and it took me a while to push it all the way up.

I needed encouragement from my spotter, and I had to arch my back and push with my legs to get the bar up. If I had tried to do one more rep, I would have gotten stuck and needed my spotter to help me lift the bar back to the rack.

This level of effort isn't necessary in every workout. In general, you can get the benefits of strength training with an 8 or 9 out of 10 effort.

Test Your Limits To Calibrate Your Effort Scale

Many people, especially new lifters, don’t truly challenge their muscles. Until you’ve really pushed yourself to your limits, it’s hard to know when you’re getting close to your maximum effort.

I recommend testing yourself to get an idea of where your maximal strength is and to learn what it feels like to push as hard as you can.

Try this after you’ve been training consistently for at least 2-3 months and you feel very confident with the correct form for each exercise.

You can do this with any exercise, but at first I would choose exercises that make it easy to drop the weights if you need to. Stick to dumbbell, cable, machine, or bodyweight exercises.

Step 1.

Mentally prepare yourself that this test will be challenging. You’re going to aim for a 10 out of 10 effort. If you can, have a spotter with you for safety and to help you keep track of the number of reps you’re doing.

Step 2.

Start with a light warm up set with a weight that you can comfortably lift about 15 times, but only do 10 reps. Rest 2 minutes. Do another warm up set with a weight that you can comfortably lift about 10 times, but only do 6 reps. Rest another 2 minutes.

Step 3.

Pick the heaviest weight that you think you could lift for 10 reps. Once the weight starts to get challenging, call out how many more reps you think you’ll be able to do.

For a guide to choosing the right weights for each exercise, see my full article here.

Step 4.

Keep doing reps until you absolutely can’t do any more (aim for a 10 out of 10 effort).  

Pay careful attention to how you feel and how you move as the set progresses. You’ll start to feel your muscles burn and shake. Take note of how many reps you’re able to complete after you notice those sensations.

Also pay attention to your movement speed. You will slow down as fatigue sets in. Notice that change in speed and the number of reps you can get after you start to slow down.

These are clues that will help you gauge your effort when you go back to your usual workouts.

Compare the number of reps you thought you could do with the number you actually did.

Step 5.

Repeat for 2 more sets. Adjust the weight if necessary to try to reach your maximal effort on your 10th rep.

Do this test with several different exercises. You’ll find that your effort level and your maximal strength varies between exercises.

The Bottom Line

Learning to properly gauge your effort is a skill, and you’ll get better at it with practice.

In your usual workouts, stick to an 8-9 out of 10 effort in your sets. That’s enough effort, but not too much. Do that consistently, and try to slowly increase the weights you use, and you’ll get the results you want.

If You Need Help

If you're getting started on your strength training journey, download my FREE Strength Training 101 eBook. This guide will teach you everything you need to know: which exercises to do, how many sets and reps, and how to progress your workouts over time to get results.

For more guidance, check out my Strength Training For Anxiety Program. This 12-week workout program is delivered through an app which guides you through each exercise and tracks your performance over time. I designed this program specifically to boost mental health, with bonus video lessons to help you use strength training to think and feel differently about yourself and manage your anxiety.