We all have those days – or even weeks – when we’re just not feeling it at the gym. Sometimes, all we have is a few reps with not-so-heavy weight.
Truth be told, there are tons of reasons to dial back workout effort. Maybe you’re super sore or depleted, you’re on your period and are feeling more sluggish than usual, or you’re getting little aches and pains, says Rachelle A. Reed, PhD, ACSM-EP, an exercise physiologist in Athens, Georgia.
And, we’ve always been taught that something is better than nothing when it comes to exercise. But do those “easy” workouts still count towards building strength? How hard does a workout need to feel for you to get stronger? Ahead, experts answer all these Qs, and more.
Can you build strength without pushing hard?
Unfortunately, no. ‘Strength gains are driven mostly by muscle activation and how close you’re pushing yourself to fatigue,’ says Reed. Our muscles need to be continuously placed under higher levels of stress through progressive overload (increasing reps, sets, or weight). Strength gains come from adapting to that higher stimulus.
Of course, ‘pushing hard’ might mean different things at different phases of your life. A weight that once felt light might feel super heavy on a day where your energy just isn’t there, you’re recovering from injury, or are postpartum. Strength ebbs and flows – to challenge yourself appropriately, you need to find weights that are ‘challenge for [your] current fitness level,’ says Tyneka Pack, CPT, the founder and CEO of Impackt Fitness and a member of the WH Strength In Diversity initiative.
This is how much effort you need to see results
To build strength, you need to be reaching muscular fatigue – whether that’s by lifting heavy weight, going for a lot of reps, or increasing your time under tension. The idea is to create ‘just enough to stress [to] your system without overdoing it so that your body recovers,’ says Jordan Farrell, CPT, an exercise physiologist and certified personal trainer based in North Carolina.
A good rule of thumb for qualifying effort: Aim to have only two or three good-form reps left in the tank at the end of each set (a concept called having reps in reserve). Another way to think about it is considering your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) – or how hard you feel yourself working, with a one feeling like you could do reps forever, and a 10 feeling like you couldn’t possibly do more. You should be consistently training around a seven or eight out of 10 to build strength, says Reed.
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For example, say you’re doing overhead presses with dumbbells, going for eight reps. By that seventh or eighth rep, you’re likely slowing down your cadence, and feel as though you could only do two to three more reps before your form starts to break down. Your breathing is heavy and intense, and you might start to feel shaky, as if ‘[you’re] having to really put all of [your] effort and energy into this to get through the reps,’ adds Farrell.
Do you maintain strength on lighter days?
The good news: While those easy workouts won’t help you build strength – they can help you maintain it.
‘There are some people that will do the same workout for years at the same weight and never change anything,’ says Farrell. In that case, they’re just preserving their general functional strength and mobility.
‘If your goal is general strength, and maintaining what you have, then those more moderate sessions definitely contribute or keep you moving forward,’ Reed adds.
Is a low-effort workout better than skipping exercise?
Of course! There will be times when you may need to pull back a little bit on your workouts and instead just ‘focus on showing up,’ says Farrell. ‘Doing something at a lighter effort, reps, [or] intensity, is definitely better than skipping movement at all.’
Plus, our experts say that there are a ton of benefits that can come with working out (even if it’s low-effort!) such as:
Decreasing stress and anxietyImproving sleep qualityBuilding bone density and potentially decreasing risk of osteoporosisLowering risk of cardiovascular diseaseImproving blood flow and circulation to help muscles repair
Also, frankly, ‘you can’t always go a hundred percent all the time,’ without adequate time to rest and recover, Pack says – that can lead to overtraining and overuse injuries. ‘An easy workout can be helpful as long as we don’t stay there consistently.’
Really, in order to build strength, you just want to make sure you’re doing two ‘hard’ resistance training workouts that target all the major muscle groups per week, Reed says.
When it makes sense to dial back your workouts
There may be certain circumstances that justify taking it easy in your workouts, like if:
You don’t feel adequately recovered (you’re extremely sore, feel weak, or have not been sleeping well)Your range of motion and mobility is restricted due to injury and you can’t execute movements safelyYour performance is decliningYou’re experiencing injury or joint painYou have an upcoming event (like a marathon or HYROX competition), and you need to taper your workouts a few weeks before the big race to perform wellYou’re feeling sick or are recovering from an illnessYou’re pregnant or postpartum, and don’t have the energy levels you had before (always consult your doctor for the best course of action in these cases)You’re experiencing high levels of stress
If any of those categories apply to you (and you feel like you need a break), feel free to skip the heavy lifting and instead go for a walk, stretch or work on mobility, train accessory muscles (instead of the bigger main muscle groups), or simply don’t train all the way to fatigue or failure. Additionally, consider consulting a personal trainer to figure out the best course of action. (As a rule of thumb, it’s also smart to take a deload week – where you ease up on your workouts to let your body rest – every six weeks, Pack says.) That being said, experiencing something on the above list doesn’t mean you absolutely have to tone it down. Trust your gut and do what you feel is best for your body.
And of course, make sure you’re eating and hydrating well. ‘If the rest and the nutrition part are not somewhere in the mix, it makes it very hard to show up for a workout mentally or physically, which means that it’s something that we’re less likely to stick to,’ Farrell says.
So even when you’re not able to push to your max in the gym, it’s still good to just go and do the dang thing. ‘Showing up is half the battle,’ says Pack. ‘So, just because you can’t lift heavy that day, it doesn’t mean your efforts that day don’t count.’
Meet the experts: Rachelle A. Reed, PhD, ACSM-EP, is an exercise physiologist in Athens, Georgia. Tyneka Pack, CPT, is a certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, strength and flexibility coach, the founder and CEO of Impackt Fitness.
Addison Aloian is the associate health & fitness editor at Women’s Health, where she writes and edits across the health, weight loss, and fitness verticals. She’s also a certified personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). In her free time, you can find her lifting weights at the gym, running on the West Side Highway in New York City—she recently completed her first marathon, the 2025 New York City Marathon—and watching (and critiquing!) the latest movies that have garnered Oscars buzz. In addition to Women’s Health, she’s made an appearance on the Oprah Podcast and her work has also appeared in Allure, StyleCaster, L’Officiel USA, V Magazine, VMAN, and more.