Why I no longer chase exhaustion in my training

Ever since I turned 50 I thought I had to push harder to get the results in the gym. I used a simple metric to judge whether a workout “worked”:

Did it crush me?

If I left the gym feeling wrecked, I felt accomplished.

If I didn’t… I felt like I “didn’t do enough.”

But here’s what I’ve learned:

Exhaustion isn’t the same thing as effectiveness.

It’s just a sensation — and it’s a seductive one.

Especially for high-achievers.

Because we’re wired to trust effort.

And exhaustion feels like proof of effort.

The problem is… your body doesn’t reward effort.

It rewards the right signal, repeated consistently, with enough recovery to adapt.

So I stopped treating fatigue like a trophy.

Not because hard training is bad.

Not because I got “soft.”

But because I got more precise.

Here’s what exhaustion chasing was actually costing me:

• Recovery bandwidth (the kind you need for performance and life)

• Better technique (because fatigue is where form wants to negotiate)

• Consistency (because you can’t “crush it” forever without paying interest)

• Progress I could measure (strength, reps, power, resilience, body composition)

Now my training has a different goal:

Leave the gym better than I arrived.

Some days that means heavy and crisp.

Some days that means controlled and clean.

Some days that means walking away with energy still in the tank.

And here’s the quiet part people don’t post:

My best body composition results, best strength, and best consistency…

didn’t come from annihilation.

They came from:

• repeatable training

• solid recovery

• and enough restraint to let adaptation happen

So if you’re someone who equates “done” with “destroyed,” consider this a gentle reframe:

You don’t need to earn results by suffering.

You need to signal your body, then support it.

That’s not less intense.

That’s more intelligent.

(And yes… your ego will complain for a week. It’ll survive.)