Welcome to the Un-Fuck-Your-Fitness Podcast . I am your host , Christy Castillo , and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love . I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take Sexy . Let's go .
Hey guys , what's up ? Welcome to today's episode . We're going to be talking today about whether or not you are actually training hard enough and how to be able to tell , because I get asked a lot . You know , how do I know how many reps ? How do I know when I'm training to failure , how do I know when to progressive overload ? What does that look like ? What weight should I be lifting ? And I honestly , it's hard to know unless I'm in the room training with you watching you lift . For you know , workout after workout after workout , it's hard to know exactly what weight you should be lifting . Of course , that also depends on the day , on your cycle , on whether you slept enough or not , whether you ate enough or not , are you taking creatine ? So you're getting the most out of your workouts ?
Speaker 2There are so many different factors , but I do want to just chat about it , because it's a situation that a lot of us can fall into . And I say like fall into because , yeah , it's like it becomes repetitive and it's kind of boring and I don't really feel like working out . So I show up and maybe half-ass it and then , no , I'm not actually training hard enough if I'm half-assing it , right ? Yes , you want to be consistent . Yes , you want to show up , and that's most important , but are you going to see results ? Are you going to gain muscle ? Are you going to see body recomp if you're not training hard enough ? No , so I think this is definitely something that it's something we can fall into . Like I said , it's also something that like with the
Beachbody mindset , with the program mindset , with , I think , the working out exercise classes , certain things . I know I fell into that trap and I don't even know if I fell into it . It was just kind of like this is what you do . You do Beachbody workouts , you show up , you push play on the workout and I don't even know that I knew how to lift heavy or that I should lift heavy . I didn't know right . And so I love that we're having this conversation about body recomp and really opening up the floor for questions that I'm getting about each one of these episodes . So I think this can lead into a lot more episodes about this topic .
Speaker 2Don't overthink it . Okay , and I'm going to give you a . I'm going to definitely put some things on social media surrounding this episode the week this comes out , because , like the day this comes out , all of that I post on on fuck your fitness podcast , Instagram , usually some some graphics , and this will be one of them about . We're going to be talking about RPE , which is the rate of perceived exertion , but that's kind of a way that I think is really helpful to think about it , instead of just increase your weights every week or progressively overload and all those different things which we'll talk about . But I think RPE is something that you're going to hear online and you probably have no idea what it is , so I want to break that down a little bit too .
Speaker 2But the difference between moving and training I love the term training , I love the term lifting rather than workout . Yes , I say all of the above , but it's a different mindset and I've talked about this in episodes before . When you think about I'm going out to the gym to train or I'm going out to my garage to lift , it's different than I got to go work out . I've talked about that before and I really do believe that moving your body is great and that consistency is great . But I'm talking about something different here . When you can really get yourself into this position of I'm going to train legs , I'm going to train upper body , I'm going to lift , I'm going to build muscle . There's a definite end goal with that wording , rather than I'm going to go get my workout in right . So there is a difference between moving and training . Moving your body is fantastic and this all depends on your goals . But body recomp requires progressive overload and intensity Not every single day , not every single workout , but it does require it .
Speaker 2Okay . So you can't just go through the motions all the time . You can't just show up and work out . You can't just show up and wing it all the time and just kind of hope for the best . You have to show up with purpose
and you can't . Yes , there are days , even yesterday , for example , for myself , I didn't feel good . So I went out to do my workout and I was like and I am just struggling this entire workout . There's going to be those days . But on days when you feel good and you can show up and really train , don't just go through the motions . Think about what muscle group am I working ? Can I lift heavier ? Is this challenging ? Because all of that matters .
Speaker 2Let's quickly talk about the signs that you're not training enough , too . If you leave the gym or you finish your workout with gas in the tank every single time you're hardly winded , You're like was that hard enough workout ? I don't know if this is working right . That's a sign you're not training hard enough . If you've lifted the same weight for months , that's a sign you're not training hard enough for body recomp , for physical changes , If you never feel challenged mentally or physically .
Speaker 2I do sometimes have clients that come in and do a fit club or do certain workouts and they're like there's only like six moves and I didn't feel like it was long enough . I didn't feel like it was a hard enough workout . That's because you didn't lift heavy . It's hard . If you lift heavy enough . You're not supposed to feel like , oh , I'm just kind of going through the motions here , Like did you lift freaking heavy ? Were you out of breath ? Like you have to be challenging yourself and yeah , our workout with six exercises . I used to think the same thing when I started body recomp workouts . I would look at my workout for the day and be like , oh God , that's like six movements . Like I don't understand . But then , as I'm doing it and I'm progressively overloading and I'm working really hard , really hard , I noticed , oh , that's why there's only six movements . Right , it doesn't need to be an hour long . It doesn't need to be six supersets .
Speaker 2We can work smarter , not harder , but you do have to challenge yourself physically and mentally and sometimes that's your job , not the workout's job . Yes , it's the workout's job to challenge you physically , but you have to pick up the right amount of weight to be challenged physically . You have to be in the headspace of your workout . Don't be thinking about work , Don't be thinking about your kids when you're at the gym . Think about your body , Think about the muscle groups and really challenge yourself mentally to get into this workout and give it your all and get that max benefit from it . And then , if you're just like checking off workouts , like , okay , check the box done and not progressing , that's a problem as well . You want to be thinking okay , what weight did I lift last week and can I lift heavier ? This is how to fix that and this is what I was talking about a little bit ago .
Speaker 2Instead of saying you know progressive overload , instead of knowing exactly how much weight you need to increase because sometimes we don't know that and sometimes we can't always increase the weight this is a good way to check yourself and say am I lifting heavy enough ? So , using something called RPE , that rate of perceived exertion . This is where you are in control , okay . So track your weights and track your reps , of course , and aim to beat them . So if you don't want
to go up in reps , aim to beat them . So if you can't , if you don't want to go up in reps , pick a heavier weight . Okay , that's easy enough to think about .
Speaker 2Other ways to do this are to add tempo , Do it faster with less reps or more time under tension . So slow down the movement that way . Or hold it at the top of the movement and do a pause so that you have more time under tension for your muscles . Embrace the discomfort . I know it sucks and I know it's really hard , but that's where the progress lives . If you're like I can't lift this weight for six reps , lift it for four and then put that down and grab the other one and finish out your six reps . Or just lift the heavier weight , heavier dumbbells , for four and leave it at that , because you lifted heavier , and eventually you'll be able to lift that weight for six and then eight , and then you can increase your weight of the dumbbells and then do it for four again and then do it for six .
Speaker 2You don't always have to meet that rep scale that you have set for yourself or even that your trainer has set for you . So this RPE kind of what you want to think about is it's a scale that you have set for yourself or even that your trainer has set for you . So this RPE kind of what you want to think about is it's a scale that you can honestly write down in your notes or you can just kind of think how hard a set is or how hard a workout feels . At the end of a workout on my app it'll ask basically , how hard was this workout on a scale from 1 to 10. ? You can also ask yourself this how hard was this movement on a scale from 1 to 10. ?
Speaker 210 being max effort can't do anymore and maybe you even went to failure and couldn't do the reps because you were lifting so heavy . 9 is near max . 8 is hard . You have like two reps left . That would be an eight . I love that place to be .
Speaker 2Actually , Usually , if you're RPE , if I'm like are you feeling like it's , you know , a level eight as far as difficulty and you have like two reps left , that's perfect . I don't . You don't always have to go to failure . You don't always have to give max effort , but living at that RPE of eight is perfect . Seven is moderate . You could do three more reps and then six is easy , it's like a light challenge . And then five below is like warm up or recovery zone . So like going for a walk , going for a little jog , that would be like a five below . That's kind of like a rest day . That's an active rest day .
Speaker 2But on a workout where I'm like you need to really freaking lift hard today , that needs to be a 10 . That needs to be max effort . On a day where you've eaten well , you've slept well , you feel really great , you should be maxing out . You cannot do any more . You walk out of the gym freaking trashed , okay , Like you can hardly walk . So why this matters in body recomp is it promotes progression without overtraining . You don't have to do more movements , you don't have to do more lifts , you just have to work harder . So when you're encouraged to push yourself but you're still listening to your body , it also helps adjust for daily energy . Like I said , if you're like I didn't sleep well last night , I'm kind of running on little energy then maybe lift somewhere between a seven and an eight , a moderate to hard , Leave three , two reps left in the tank . That's okay . It keeps you being honest with yourself and not always having to lift as hard as you can , and then it also supports hypertrophy and strength gain , so you will get the most out of your workouts .
Speaker 2If you are really asking yourself , okay , what am I capable of today ? Am I capable of a six ? Because I , you know , I , whatever it is , I'm stressed , I didn't sleep well , had a really long day , but I'm here right . So I'm going to do like a level six today . I'm just going to kind of show up . I'm on my period , I'm feeling like shit , whatever it is . Or you're asking yourself , okay , what's my RPE going to do , going to be today ? Maybe you think it's going to be a nine and you're like , oh , I am going to show up so freaking hard for myself , Like I'm feeling so good . Maybe you do that for one set of exercises , and then you're like , actually I'm not feeling so great . It's a way to check in with yourself . So this RPE is something that we're kind of going to be talking about here . A little bit more on the podcast I'm going to be throwing out to my ladies in Fit Club , my one-on-one clients , and when we're talking about especially this new programming that I'm doing inside of Fit Club for summer . So please join us if you're not in Fit Club already .
Speaker 2But this is a way to ask yourself how do I feel , how are the conditions of my day , my body , my mindset , what am I capable of ? And then this sets the tone for my workout . I'm going to do a moderate workout today , number seven . I'm going to give it a number eight . I'm going to work really hard and I'm going to feel like at the end of my Christy has it set for six to eight reps today ? At the end of my six to eight reps , I could maybe squeak out two more , but I'm not going to because I'm doing a number eight RPE today . That's how I want you to think
about it .
Speaker 2Okay , an example of this would be you . For , let's say , dumbbell RDLs , you do 10 reps at 25 pounds . It feels like you could definitely do more , like six more . You're like , oh , I could easily keep going . This was me yesterday . Physically , I'm like I could keep going Mentally and my heart was pounding so fast that I couldn't have .
Speaker 2But that's like an RPE four or five , that's too light . If you want to recomp , if you want to grow muscle , that's too light . To be like , oh , that's so easy , I could do six more of those . We don't want to feel like that on a regular basis . So the next set you bump up to 35 pounds and you hit 10 reps . Now you're feeling like , okay , I just have like two reps left in the tank . Now you're at an RPE eight and that's where the muscle growth happens . So don't just wing it . Okay .
Speaker 2And this is harder to do , like in those beach body workouts when they're like next move , next move , don't rest , Don't stop , Keep going , Keep going . You can't increase your weight all the time because you're constantly out of breath . So you need to lift heavy , keep a couple of reps in the tank sometimes right , it's okay to do that have two , three reps left in the tank , rest two minutes and then do it again . That would be a real life example of what that feels like . So I hope this is really helpful . I want you to just be thinking about am I lifting hard enough ? Are my workouts hard enough ? Am I challenging myself ? And then use this RPE now to check in with yourself and say , okay , how am I feeling ? I don't need to progressively overload every single week . I don't need to push harder every single day , Every single time I do bicep curls . I don't need to increase it by five pounds . You literally can't Increase it by two reps curls . I don't need to increase it by five pounds , Like you literally can't increase it by two reps . Increase it by holding the movement at the top and squeezing your bicep and that time under tension .
Speaker 2There's different ways , but make sure you're asking yourself what you are capable of and be realistic about it . If you slept like shit , you didn't have a break at work , you forgot your lunch at home , you're drinking a you know energy drink , maybe on the way , but you're running on empty . Don't think that , oh , like hell . Yeah , I'm going to show up and give it a 10 effort today Maybe not right and use that scale , which , again , I will put out on Instagram so you can screenshot it Next time you go to the gym . You can look and say , okay , this is what I'm aiming for and experiment with this . This is what I'm aiming for . I'm gonna show up today . I feel pretty good . I'm gonna pick a weight where I have two reps left , Literally , if you are in Fit Club and you see that I have six to eight reps listed .
Speaker 2If you get to six reps with a certain movement maybe it's bicep curls like stop that six reps and say can I do two more ? Yes , easily . Do six reps and say can I do two more ? Yes , easily , Do that two more . And then stop again and say can I do two more ? If the answer is yes , you need to go up in weight . So let's say you were doing that with 10 pound dumbbells in each hand . Put 12 pound dumbbells in each hand for the next set and do six reps and ask yourself again this is a good way . You could do this every single workout . Can I do two more ? Yes , do two more . Can I do two more ? Yes , Don't always do the two more , but you wanna check in with yourself and say yeah , and then that is a good sign .
Speaker 2That would let me know , Christy , we're not working hard enough , we are not lifting hard enough . This is me in real time saying I could lift two more reps . I did that . I lifted two more reps and I could still lift two more reps . And then I'm going to look at myself , dead ass in the mirror and say this is why your biceps aren't growing , this is why you don't look like you lift . You haven't eaten enough today to lift heavier . You don't sleep well , you don't manage your stress right , Whatever else there is . This is where that self-talk's gonna come into me , maybe a little harsh , and say this is why . Okay , and this is what I want it to do for you too .
Speaker 2If you are like I am doing everything right , I'm working out every day , I'm walking , I'm getting my water in , I'm tracking my macros , macros but I don't see any change physically , Are you lifting heavy enough ? Are you working hard enough ? Because if you don't have access to heavier dumbbells , maybe you work out at home and you're like I can't go up in weight , I don't have those weights . Do more reps , Do them faster , with less reps in between . You have to figure out a way to challenge yourself . Maybe it's time to invest some money into heavier dumbbells . Maybe it's time to invest some money into a Planet Fitness $10 a month gym membership .
Speaker 2We got to keep going . You've got to figure it out . If you want your body to change , we have to figure out how to access challenging ways to make our body change . So I hope this was really helpful . I hope the RPE little RPE chat I can dive into this and put more graphics out there and I will definitely talk about RPE more as we get into more body recomp , which I do definitely wanna talk about into summer , into fall and all of that as we move through maintenance and as we move through builds and all of those types of things in real time throughout these seasons . So I hope this was helpful . I'll talk to you in the next episode .
Thanks for listening to today's show . Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and , of course , follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes . And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at ChristyCastilloFit . I will see you next time . Bye .