Does every workout need to be really challenging to be effective? This is a really important question from the stance that is prioritizing short term, or first order, over long term, or second order. 

A common thread is that in order for something to be effective it needs to be really challenging. The concept hard is effective is based on aggregating high efforts to a greater goal. But does this logic actually make sense? 

Fatigue is a very difficult concept to define. Being tired or exerting high effort is relative to a multitude of factors. A well designed training program that allows for microcycle recovery can mean a more complete thing than a poorly designed program that goes for broke every day. 

High frequency work is hard to manage. Recovery from one session to the next is difficult to manage. Add to this subjective assessments of it being perceived as ‘hard’ make harder to create longer term adaptations. Higher perceived effort is as much the product of pre-existing fatigue as it is from the actual workout. 

Low wellness (Fatigue, Soreness, Stress, Sleep Quality, and Mood) all will have a net impact on perceived difficulty. Other markers such as low HRV or high RHR will increase perceived effort. Simply being under-recovered will mean someone thinks they are working hard. 

This could compound the fatigue aspect of training leading to diminished performance over time. Perceived effort over well aligned training programming towards a larger outcome is a mistake. Working hard strategically is the plan. Lowered intensity is the end result of excess fatigue which leads to a lowered output towards the end. The diminishing returns from excess detrains the person while they are training. 

We want hard days to be hard and easy days to be easy. The planning of a deload week in a mesocycle or low days in a microcycle is fundamental. Lowered performance is the result of myopically focussing on just making people tired every day. Intentionally adding in restoration to balance hard training is the only means to larger second order outcomes.