More Isn't Always Better

Let’s clear something up: feeling sweaty, tired, and sore does not automatically mean you had a good workout. Yes, those feelings can be satisfying. They can make you feel like you “earned it.” But they’re not the gold standard for progress.

The truth? Any coach can make you tired. Any workout can leave you sore. That doesn’t mean it was smart. Or productive. Or actually helping you reach your goals. At Core, we train differently because we’re not chasing exhaustion. We’re chasing results.

It’s one of the most common fitness myths out there, and one of the most harmful. “No pain, no gain” teaches people to ignore warning signs from their body, associate soreness with success, push through fatigue and injury, and believe that harder always equals better.

The reality is, pain is not a requirement for progress, and it’s definitely not a badge of honor. It’s often a signal that something isn’t right. We’re not here to break you down. We’re here to build you up.

Real progress looks like moving better and with more control, getting stronger week to week, feeling more energy after a workout, not less, being able to recover faster and train more consistently, and performing better in life: walking up the stairs, lifting kids or grandkids, swinging a golf club, carrying groceries, and more. You can’t measure those things by how sweaty your shirt is or how sore your quads are the next day. Those are just sensations, not results.

I once heard a coach say: “Any idiot can make you tired.” And it’s true. But that doesn’t make it good training. That doesn’t mean there is a “why” behind what you’re doing. We see it all the time: group classes or random workouts that pile on intensity, throw in endless circuits, and leave you crawling out the door. But here’s what they’re missing: there’s no long-term plan, no progression, no attention to recovery, no individualization, and no understanding of how your body adapts over time.

That kind of training might make you feel accomplished in the moment, but it often leads to burnout, injury, or stagnation. We take a different approach, one that’s smarter, more intentional, and built to last.

Our job as coaches is to apply the right amount of stress to create a positive adaptation. Too little? No change. Too much? You break down. We find the sweet spot and that doesn’t always mean red-lining it every workout. In fact, some of your most productive workouts might feel, well, kind of uneventful. And that’s OK. It’s not about how much you did. It’s about what that work is doing for your body, today, next week, and a year from now.

Fitness is not a punishment. It’s not about doing more and more and more until you crash. It’s about showing up, doing smart work, recovering well, and doing it again, consistently. That’s how real progress is made. That’s how you stay healthy. That’s how you build strength that supports your life.

So next time you leave a workout without being drenched in sweat or barely able to walk, remember, that might actually mean you’re doing it right.