A common “side effect” of being dialed into your training plan and consistently giving your 100% (maybe, sometimes 200%) for every session is fatigue.

No matter how hard you try to double down, there will always be those couple of workouts where you feel weak, unfocused, and meh all around. It’s like playing a sick game of “two steps forward and one step back”.

Counterproductive.

So, the question is … can you prevent excessive fatigue after training without “slacking off” on your training plan and, as a result, hurting your gains?

The answer is yes.

What causes fatigue after training?

But first, let’s understand fatigue after training.

Or, more specifically, we’re talking about weight-training fatigue. So, during a bout of resistance training, several things could occur:

Post-workout, your body must “expend resources” to get back to “normal” or homeostasis. This requires energy that your body would have “freely available” otherwise — explaining fatigue after training.

Managing fatigue after training

Let’s be clear.

Too little fatigue after training is not good. It’s highly suggestive of a lack of progressive overload, which, as we all know, is necessary for continued muscle growth.

On the other hand, too much fatigue is also not good.

So, how do you achieve a “Goldilocks situation”?

Where the fatigue after training is not too hot much, not too cold little, but just nice? Here are 4 tips.

#1: Don’t go to failure on all sets

If you’re an experienced lifter, you don’t have to go balls out on every set to see optimal muscle growth.

Training a few reps shy of failure (1-2 RIR) is just as good as training to failure for hypertrophy.

Read more here:

Should You Be Training to Failure? (New 2024 Research)

We last talked about training to failure in 2019. It’s now 2024! Five whole years have passed — what’s new? Has our stance changed? Answers here.

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Make use of that because there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence showing that training to failure leads to more acute fatigue and takes longer to recover from than non-failure training.

Disclaimer: this isn’t to say that you should take all sets to 1-2 RIR.

A more sensible approach would perhaps be to take most of your sets to 1-5 RIR and a select few (e.g., the last set of an exercise) to failure.

Those selective failure sets could help:

OK, but what if you’re a beginner lifter? Research suggests you’re bad at estimating RIR, so maybe you’d want to take more (🚨 but still NOT all!) sets to failure to improve your accuracy.

Also, check out this article to learn what truly matters for progress in the gym:

Gym for Beginners: The Ultimate Guide for What Truly Matters

Training. Nutrition. There are so many things you should optimize when you’re a beginner at the gym. Good news: not all matter for progress.

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#2: Learn how to reallocate training volume

Want to bring up a particular muscle? E.g., want a massive chest?

Here’s a secret to managing fatigue after training: you don’t have to increase training volume for your chest while maintaining that of other muscle groups.

Instead, research shows that it only takes about a third of your training volume to MAINTAIN your existing muscle.

Meaning? If you want, you could cut the training volume of your other muscle groups by two-thirds. This would help you focus all your efforts on growing your chest without overtaxing your body.

To illustrate how this would work, imagine that you’re running a push-pull-legs workout split where your weekly volume is somewhat equalized across the following muscle groups:

• Chest: 12 sets
• Triceps: 6 sets
• Back: 12 sets
• Biceps: 6 sets
• Legs: 12 sets
• Shoulders: 6 sets

Total sets: 54 sets

Here’s how you could “redistribute” the weekly sets to better manage fatigue after training:

• Chest: 20 sets (+ 8 sets)
• Triceps: 2 sets (- 4 sets or by two-thirds)
• Back: 12 sets
• Biceps: 2 sets (- 4 sets or by two-thirds)
• Legs: 12 sets
• Shoulders: 6 sets

Total sets: 54 sets

Of course, how you choose to do it depends on your aesthetic and/or fitness goals.

#3: Know when to take a step back

Feeling a little under the weather? Not quite mentally zoned in on that day?

Still, show up at the gym — this prevents you from “skiving off” — but just make it a light day. For example, do 2 sets instead of 4 sets. Or, if you can’t find it in you to pick up those weights, why not get some cardio in on the treadmill, elliptical, or assault bike?

You never know: getting your heart pumping (harder) might help you find the motivation you were lacking.

#4: Focus on sleep

Sleep is by far the best recovery method.

Research suggests that people who get at least 7 hours of sleep recover their muscle strength faster than those getting less than 6 hours.

So, to better manage your fatigue after training, prioritize your sleep.

Ah … but what if you struggle with sleep?

If so, this new piece of research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology will help you. The researchers found that chilling your body before and during sleep can help you fall asleep more quickly and enjoy higher-quality rest throughout the night.

How do you chill your body?

You could invest in a cool mattress. A more budget-friendly method is to take a cool shower before bed and keep your thermostat set between 15.6°C and 20°C.

FYI, check out this article for more sleep tips:

Secrets To Getting A Good Night’s Sleep

Finding it tough to fall - and stay - asleep? Here are 5 science-backed tips that’ll help you get a better sleep nightly, so you perform and look your best.

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How else to manage fatigue after training

Do you know what else matters (a whole lot) for managing fatigue after training?

It’s the quality and structure of your training plan, plus nutritional habits. Get both right with GymStreak, an AI-powered workout planner with nutrition tracking.

We’ll let the video do the talking: