Are You Lifting Hard Enough to Build Muscle? Here's How to Know.

Many new lifters struggle with a common question: Am I training hard enough? 

With so much conflicting information and debate around intensity and volume, it's easy to get lost in the noise. But the truth is more straightforward than most think. 

It comes down to understanding intensity and volume; more importantly, how progressive overload ensures both. If you've ever wondered if you should be training harder, this article will guide you in the right direction. 

How hard is hard enough?

How Do You Know If You're Training Hard Enough?

A common question many have in the gym is: Am I training hard enough?

The easiest and most straightforward answer is another question: Are you progressing?

• If yes, you are training hard enough.
• If no, you might not be, but we would need to check other variables.

The end goal is the ultimate determinant.

But let's get to the heart of the issue: how hard should you be training in the gym? This ultimately comes down to talking about intensity.

What Is Intensity?

The term "intensity" is frequently used in the world of strength training and bodybuilding. 

But what does it actually mean?

This is important because two people can use the term "intensity" but have different definitions in mind.

1. General Public- When the general public uses the word "intense", they are usually referring to a workout program being fast-paced and hard to complete. It's an overall description for the workout, meaning it was hard. For example, CrossFit is usually described as "intense".

This definition makes sense to the general public, but doesn't really apply to what we're talking about, as an "intense" workout usually means it makes a person tired.

2. Strength and Conditioning Coaches- Proper strength and conditioning coaches have a more structured definition. 

• Load Intensity refers to the % of your 1RM. "High Intensity" refers to heavier loads, such as 85-95%1RM, or you may hear Maximal Intensity meaning 1RM.
• Fatigue-based refers to concepts such as RPE or RIR, or the degree of proximity to failure. For example, RPE 9 is a high-intensity level, while RPE 7 is a moderate-intensity level.

Basically, it's a description to explain the actual effort during a set. This works well and is getting to what we're talking about.

3. Bodybuilders- When bodybuilders and individuals like Dorian Yates talk about intensity, they're talking about using an exercise to bring a muscle past failure.

Instead of performing 3 sets where you stop just at or before failure, they will use just one or two. However, they will use different lifting methods such as rest-pause, forced reps, or drop sets to bring the muscle past failure. 

Think about 100% of your energy and then use more. 

For the purpose of this article, we will primarily use a mixture of 2 and 3 - how intense are you training in the gym based on effort and fatigue? 

Why Intensity Matters When Lifting Weight

Here's why intensity matters with lifting weights and building muscle. 

Your muscles don't know you're lifting weights in a gym. This means there's nothing unique about doing chest presses if you're using really light weight and stop well before failure. 

Your body needs a stimulus to trigger muscle growth. When your lifting is too easy and doesn't challenge the muscle, it doesn't trigger that growth.

However, the amount needed varies widely among lifters, and you'll need to train with more intensity as you progress.

Do You Need To Train To Failure?

Training to failure will always be a massive debate. However, as of now, training to failure does not appear to be necessary. 

For example, a recent study showed that training to 1RIR produced the same results as training to 4RIR (Martikainen et. al, 2005).

On the other hand, when a person is performing at a low volume, it may play a larger role. For example, recent research has shown that training to failure can produce greater adaptations when using a single set (Hermann et al., 2025).

Regardless, the primary determinant is that you're approaching failure and applying progressive overload over time. And that's the secret.

The Secret To Training Hard Enough: Progressive Overload

Throughout the recent debates in strength and bodybuilding circles, it sometimes feels as if we've forgotten about progressive overload, the fundamental principle of weightlifting. 

A quick recap: Progressive overload is a fundamental lifting principle that states that to continually progress, you must continually place a greater load on the muscle (Plotkin et al., 2025). There are a few ways to do this, but the two primary ways are;

• Increasing the load
• Increasing the reps

We prefer to use a combination of both for most of our exercises except the primary lift for the day. For example, you may perform the barbell row with a 3 x 6-8 rep range and start using 135 pounds. Implementing progressive overload might look like;

• Week 1: 3X6 @ 135lbs
• Week 2: 3X7 @ 135lbs
• Week 3: 3X8 @ 135lbs
• Week 4: 3X6 @ 140lbs

As you see, you increased reps for the first few weeks and then increased your load.

You won't be able to progress on a weekly basis, but this should be your overall goal in the long run.

How Does Progressive Overload Ensure Intensity?

Here's why using progressive overload really cuts through the noise of how hard to train and will help solve the problem.

By consistently applying progressive overload, you can ensure that you're always stressing the muscle with a greater stimulus.

Scenario 1: Those Who Think Intensity Is Most Important. With an increased interest in figures like Dorian Yates and Mike Mentzer, there has been a greater emphasis on intensity over volume.

Realize that it is impossible to apply progressive overload without training with intensity.

Consider this: how can you perform more reps or lift more weight with low intensity?

On the other hand, when you use intensity-focused training methods, such as rest-pause, you're essentially performing more reps and stressing the muscle more. You might not realize it, but you are in the long run.

For example, how could you honestly say you're training with intensity if you perform the same reps with the same load every session?

That sounds like you're doing the same thing over and over again, i.e., not intense.

Scenario 2: Those Who Think Volume Is Most Important. If you're on Team Volume, progressive overload obviously meets these needs as the primary goal is to do more work. 

Increasing volume is an integral mechanism of progressive overload and is directly connected to its philosophy.  If you're applying progressive overload, over time, you're performing more reps with heavier weight. This adds up to increasing volume.

A side note: When some people hear "volume", they assume this means very high volume, and your goal is to do as much as you can. It doesn't.

While some lifters like high-volume training, "volume" simply means focusing on increasing your volume over time. This is in comparison to focusing on bringing your muscles past failure every week.

Scenario 3: Those Who Don't Train Hard Enough. Lastly, there's the group of trainees who are unsure if they're training hard enough. In the same boat are those who have been going through the motions for too long and are wondering why they're not seeing results.

If you're tracking your weights and applying progressive overload, you'll be increasing the load and volume over time as mentioned. It doesn't matter where you start from; eventually, you'll be training at the proper intensity.

For example, let's pretend I'm using 150lbs but should be using 200lbs. If I add 10lbs to the bar every week, I'm training with intensity after a month!

Don't Overcomplicate Lifting

Over the years, there has been a trend to overcomplicate the process of lifting. Things that used to be simple have been researched and analyzed to the point that it has become confusing for the general public.

It doesn't need to be.

Our primary purpose for lifting is the end result, but people have become obsessed with the methods.

There are many ways to lift, but they all lead to increased muscle growth as long as you're applying progressive overload.

If you're building mass and strength, you're lifting with enough intensity. If your body is staying the same, switch it up.

That's ultimately how you know if what you're doing is working. 

References 

1. Hermann, T., Mohan, A. E., Enes, A., Sapuppo, M., Piñero, A., Zamanzadeh, A., Roberts, M., Coleman, M., Korakakis, P. A., Wolf, M., Refalo, M., Swinton, P. A., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2025). Without Fail: Muscular Adaptations in Single-Set Resistance Training Performed to Failure or with Repetitions-in-Reserve. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 57(9), 2021–2031. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000003728 
2. Martikainen, O., Niiranen, H., Rytkönen, T., Schoenfeld, B. J., Ahtiainen, J. P., & Hulmi, J. J. (2025). Influence of varying proximity-to-failure on muscular adaptations and repetitions-in-reserve estimation accuracy in resistance-trained individuals. Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42978-025-00393-8
3. Plotkin, D., Coleman, M., Van Every, D., Maldonado, J., Oberlin, D., Israetel, M., Feather, J., Alto, A., Vigotsky, A. D., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2022). Progressive overload without progressing load? The effects of load or repetition progression on muscular adaptations. PeerJ, 10, e14142. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14142 
4. Steele, J., Malleron, T., Har-Nir, I., Androulakis-Korakakis, P., Wolf, M., Fisher, J. P., & Halperin, I. (2022). Are Trainees Lifting Heavy Enough? Self-Selected Loads in Resistance Exercise: A Scoping Review and Exploratory Meta-analysis. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 52(12), 2909–2923. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01717-9