If You Don't Feel It... Is It Working?

Have you ever finished an exercise and thought, "I didn't really feel that."

Maybe you were doing a core exercise and didn't feel your abs. Maybe you were doing a pulling exercise and didn't feel your back. Maybe you finished an entire strength training session and wondered if you worked the "right" muscles at all.

In fitness, we've been conditioned to believe that if we aren't feeling a specific muscle working, we must be doing something wrong.

But what if we're asking the wrong question?

Why We Chase the Feeling

When we perform an isolation exercise, it's fairly easy to identify the muscle doing most of the work. Think about a traditional biceps curl. The movement is primarily happening at the elbow, which makes it pretty easy to feel the biceps doing their job.

But once we start adding more joints, more movement, and more of the body into an exercise, things become a lot less obvious.

A pulldown, for example, involves movement at both the shoulder and elbow. Even though you may think of it as an exercise for your upper back, your arms are participating too. Add your trunk, hips, and feet to an exercise and suddenly you have a much more integrated movement experience.

That's where the question "Where should I feel this?" starts getting a little more complicated.

"The more joints we start including in an exercise, the more challenging it can be to identify one muscle that we're supposed to feel."

At FLD, Strength Training Is a Nose-to-Toes Experience

At Fitness Lying Down in La Crosse, WI, our approach to strength training is built around integration rather than isolation.

We want your body learning how to work together.

Your feet interact with the ground. Your hips create and control motion. Your core helps transfer force. Your shoulders and arms contribute. Your nervous system coordinates the entire experience.

That's why we often describe our training as a nose-to-toes experience.

Whether we're using kettlebells, Ultimate Sandbags, resistance bands, suspension trainers, or bodyweight exercises, we're looking for ways to create functional strength that carries over into everyday life.

And when your entire body is contributing, you may not always get that isolated muscle sensation people often associate with a "good workout."

Maybe the Better Question Is: What Am I NOT Feeling?

This is where the conversation gets interesting.

Instead of constantly asking:

"Where should I feel this?"

Try asking:

"What am I not feeling?"

Are you feeling irritation in your low back?

Are your knees uncomfortable?

Is your shoulder bothering you?

Are your elbows starting to complain?

Those sensations can give us valuable information about how we're performing an exercise and whether something needs to be adjusted.

"Don't think so much about what you might be feeling. Think about what you're not feeling."

That doesn't mean every uncomfortable sensation automatically means something is wrong. It does mean we should pay attention to the feedback our body is giving us rather than chasing one particular muscle sensation simply because we think we're supposed to feel it.

You Don't Have to Feel the Burn for an Exercise to Work

A productive strength training session doesn't always announce itself while you're doing it.

There are times when you may work hard, move well, and never experience a dramatic muscular burn. Then a day or two later, you may notice that your body definitely remembers the work you did.

Other times, you may feel a muscle working significantly during the session and feel almost nothing afterward.

Your body's response to exercise isn't always predictable—and soreness isn't a scorecard.

The goal isn't to leave every workout feeling destroyed.

The goal is to continue developing strength, stability, coordination, confidence, and movement capacity in a way that allows you to keep coming back.

Functional Strength Training Is About More Than Muscles

This is one of the biggest differences between traditional bodybuilding-style training and the type of functional strength training we use at Fitness Lying Down.

We're not simply asking, "How can we make this one muscle work harder?"

We're asking bigger questions.

How well can your body coordinate movement?

Can you create force while maintaining stability?

Can different parts of your body work together?

Can the strength you're developing in the gym actually help you outside of it?

That's the kind of strength we're interested in building.

Watch Strong Brew: If You Don't Feel It... Is It Working?

In this episode of Strong Brew, Cory takes a deeper look at why we tend to chase muscular sensations during exercise and why that may not always be the best way to judge whether an exercise is effective.

Looking for Personal Training in La Crosse, WI?

If you're looking for a gym where strength training is about more than simply lifting heavier weights or chasing soreness, we'd love to introduce you to our approach.

At Fitness Lying Down, we provide functional strength training, group training, and semi-private personal training in La Crosse, Wisconsin, with an emphasis on helping each person move and train according to their individual abilities.

Our goal is to help you build strength that actually makes your life better.

If you'd like to experience what we mean by a nose-to-toes approach to fitness, our 2-Week Immersion is a great place to begin.

Learn More About the 2-Week Immersion

Fitness Lying Down
La Crosse, Wisconsin

Functional strength training. Personal training. Semi-private training. Movement coaching. And a whole lot less worrying about whether you "felt your glutes."

Because at the end of the day, fitness should help you feel better, move better, and enjoy what your body is capable of doing.

And remember: fitness and fun both start with F. Not a coincidence. ☕💪