What to do when an exercise doesn’t feel right

What to do when an exercise doesn’t feel right

  June 25, 2025    Pratik Bandagale

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You’re mid-workout, feeling good… and then something tweaks.

A shoulder twinge. A weird pinch in your hip. A move that suddenly feels off.

Now you’re stuck in the moment we all dread:

“Should I push through this… or stop?”

As a coach (and someone who used to ignore those signals way too often), I can tell you—how you respond here makes all the difference.

Push blindly and risk a setback… or make one smart adjustment and keep moving forward.

Let’s talk about how to do the second one.

1. Don’t push through pain

Strength training can be uncomfortable—that’s normal. But pain is different.

If discomfort gets worse as you warm up or increase weight, that’s your sign to back off immediately and proceed to the next step.

2. Re-evaluate your warm-up

If you’re feeling those little “tweaks” as you work out, make sure you have these elements in your warm up!

• Light general activity (3–5 min to elevate your heart rate)
• 1 to 3 warm-up sets for your main strength exercises using lighter weights that progressively get a bit more challenging. (For specifics, check out our ​free Warm Up guide​!).

If you’ve been skipping this, or rushing through it, tightness or discomfort could just be your body saying, “I’m not ready yet.”

3. Check your technique

Film yourself or have someone else watch your form.

Sometimes discomfort comes from a technique breakdown you don’t realize is happening, especially as fatigue or weight increases.

​Check out this guide​ on how to perform the major strength training lifts like squats, deadlifts, and presses!

4. Try these quick adjustments

If you’ve warmed up properly and your form looks decent, try this checklist:

Decrease the weight – Does that reduce the discomfort?

Adjust the angle – Change your grip, handle, or cable setup

Change tempo or range – Slightly shorten the movement or slow it down

If none of those are working, it’s time to make a smart swap.

5. Swap movements strategically

If it still feels off, here’s how we think about substitutions:

1. Find a similar (but different) movement pattern → Bench press bothering your shoulder? Try an incline dumbbell press or push-up.
2. Target the same general muscles, but use a different movement → Lat pulldown not working? Try a row instead.
3. Switch muscle groups altogether → Upper body not cooperating? Focus on legs or core that day.

In other words: Don’t force it. Find a nearby alternative. And if nothing feels good, it may be time to go home and get some extra rest and recovery!

6. Reassess the next day

Once things calm down, test the area with:

• Controlled joint circles or range-of-motion drills
• Light corrective movements (band work, activation drills)
• Careful reintroduction of movements with low to zero load

You’re not trying to “fix it” immediately. You’re gathering feedback and giving your body space to adapt.

A Real-Life Example: Meet Vaughn

I want to tell you about one of my long-term clients, Vaughn.

Vaughn is one of the nicest guys I know – and one of the strongest!

But here’s what really stuck with me about Vaughn after working with him for years:

Every once in a while, something would just feel off during his workout. His form looked great. Nothing had changed. But he could tell something wasn’t right.

So he did exactly what we just talked about:

• He’d test his warm-up
• Try backing off the weight
• Reassess how things felt

And if it still didn’t feel right?

He’d say, “You know what, I’m going to call it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

And he was.

That ability to listen to his body without ego made him one of the most consistent people in the gym. He rarely got injured. He kept showing up. And he stayed strong because of it.

Vaughn taught me that knowing when to back off is just as important as knowing when to push.

Final Thought

One of the best things you can do for long-term training?

Learn to listen to your body (without panicking).

Not every tweak is an injury. But every tweak deserves a bit more investigation and attention.

And if you ever need help figuring out what to sub, tweak, or focus on, I’m here to help!

– Coach Matt  

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Are you working out hard enough?

Are you working out hard enough?

  June 12, 2025    Pratik Bandagale

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A reader recently sent me a great question:

“I’m always wondering if I’m pushing hard enough during strength training. My goals are to build strength and muscle—and not be a fragile old lady.”

This kind of question is more common than you might think! It’s something almost everyone wonders at some point: “How hard should I be working when I lift?”

Let’s break it down.

1. Do your muscles feel used during and after your workout?

You don’t need to destroy yourself to make progress, but you should feel like your muscles did some meaningful work.

That might show up as:

• Feeling tension and “work” in your muscles as you lift
• Feeling the weight start to unintentionally slow down as you fatigue in the middle of your set
• A light muscle “pump” post-workout
• Slight muscle soreness the next day (but nothing brutal)
• Feeling like you challenged yourself by the end of each set

If you finish your workout and feel like you could do the whole thing again immediately… that might be a sign it’s time to increase reps, weight, or sets.

2. What kind of soreness do you get (if any)?

Contrary to popular belief, soreness isn’t the only sign of progress, but it can give us clues.

Here’s what I look for:

• Mild soreness for 1–2 days? Great! You’re likely getting enough work in.
• Extreme soreness that lasts 4–5 days or more? That’s too much. Dial it back.
• Never sore at all? It might be time to push things a bit more intentionally, or switch up exercises.

Again, soreness is a signal, not a scorecard. It’s not something to chase NO MATTER WHAT, but it’s another piece of the puzzle in understanding what’s working and not working for you.

3. Are you seeing progression over time?

Strength training is about challenging your body and then ​gradually increasing that challenge over time​.

• Are you lifting heavier weights than you were 4–6 weeks ago?
• Are you doing more reps or more sets with the same weight?
• Are your movements feeling more stable, confident, or controlled?

If the answer is yes, you’re getting stronger. And that’s exactly what we want.

If not, it might be time to shift into a more structured plan, like a ​periodized program​ that gradually increases volume (sets and reps) or intensity (amount of weight lifted) over 6–12 weeks.

Note: as we age, we will naturally lose some amount of muscle and strength. This is totally normal! However, we can help reduce that loss with smart strength training.

Even though you may be lifting less in your 70s than you were in your 30s, you can still progress WITHIN a workout program to gradually increase the challenge. The principle of progressive overload still applies, you just adjust your starting point to whatever your body is capable of right now.

Want to test your strength in a safe way?

Another way to check if you’re working hard enough?

Try what I call a litmus set.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick an exercise you’ve been doing consistently—something like bodyweight squats, push-ups, dumbbell rows, or a machine press.
2. Do a solid warm-up. Get your body moving and your joints feeling good.
3. Then go all out: Do as many quality reps as you can with good form. Stop when you know you can’t complete another clean rep.

This is easiest (and safest) with:

• Machines (you’re already “spotted”)
• Bodyweight movements (you can just stop without risk)

Less ideal:

• Free weight movements like barbell back squats or heavy bench press (unless you’ve got a spotter and plenty of experience)

What are we looking for?

Compare your litmus set to your usual working sets.

Example:

• If you usually do 3 sets of 10 reps and your litmus set gets you 12–13 reps, you’re right in that sweet spot within a few reps of failure.
• If you hit 20+ reps, on the other hand, you’re leaving 10+ reps in the tank during your normal workouts. That means it’s time to increase weight or reps to keep progressing.

Most muscle-building happens when you’re within ​1–4 reps of failure​ on a working set. But if you don’t know what failure feels like, it’s easy to stop short.

A litmus set helps recalibrate your effort and builds confidence that you can push harder (safely) when it makes sense to.

The Bottom Line

You don’t need to crush yourself to get stronger. But you do want your workouts to be purposeful and challenging enough to require your body to adapt.

Look for:

• Muscle tension (during the set)
• Muscle fatigue (after your workout)
• Mild soreness (especially at the beginning of a new workout program)
• Progress over time (reps, weight, technique)
• …and the occasional litmus set for clarity

And if you’re not seeing those? Let’s tweak your approach and help you find that sweet spot.

And remember! If you’re asking this question, that means you are already working out which is AMAZING!

You’ve got this.

– Coach Matt P.S. Need help finding the next step to progress in your workouts? Shoot me an email and I’ll see how I can help!   

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The beginner-friendly guide we wish we had

The beginner-friendly guide we wish we had

  June 04, 2025    Pratik Bandagale

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Have you downloaded your free Nerd Fitness Starter Guide yet? I put it together a few months ago, and it’s one of my favorite things we’ve created.
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I wrote this guide to answer one question I hear all the time:

“There’s so much conflicting information out there. Can you just tell me what ACTUALLY matters when I’m getting started?”

Challenge accepted!

If you’ve already got it, awesome! This email is your reminder to actually crack it open. If not, you can grab your copy here:

​Download the Free Starter Guide​

I took 15+ years of Nerd Fitness research combined with 15+ years of coaching experience and smashed them together in the Hadron Collider.

There’s no fluff. No gimmicks. Just the essentials that help people make progress, even with a busy schedule, fleeting motivation, or years of false starts behind them.

Inside, you’ll learn:

Why weight loss isn’t magic (and what it actually takes)

How to build better nutrition habits step-by-step

The easiest way to get started with strength training

Why all movement counts (yes, even a 10-minute walk)

How to make changes that actually stick this time

I’ve also linked to a bunch of done-for-you templates, resources, and workout routines that we’ve put together over the years.

These are the exact same principles we’ve used to help thousands of coaching clients lose weight, build strength, create lasting habits, and feel good in their bodies again.

If you’ve struggled to stick with fitness before, consider this guide your reset button.

And it’s totally free.

​Grab your Starter Guide​

I hope you get as much out of it as I enjoyed making it.

– Coach Matt
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P.S. What questions do you have about fitness, nutrition, and making it all stick? I read and respond to every message personally, and I’d love to hear from you. 

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“What if I fail again?”

“What if I fail again?”

  May 28, 2025    Pratik Bandagale

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In case you missed my email from a couple of weeks ago, Steve asked me to write some more focused fitness and nutrition content for the Rebellion.

And since then, I received a TON of emails from people circling around the same thing: a lack of belief they can actually make change work this time! I bet you can relate:

“Biggest challenge – losing trust in the process and myself.”

“Having trouble believing that being consistent will actually help and being scared that no matter what I do I’ll fail.“

“I’m afraid of failing, I’m trying to not set myself up to fail but it all seems so daunting. I know all the words for the “right” mindset, but I just can’t seem to find the will/energy/desire to go and do anything after work.”

These fears are very, VERY normal. (Though that doesn’t make them any less sucky to deal with!)

So, what do we do when we are feeling stuck and scared of how overwhelming this all feels?

The Most Important Thing

While every story is different, there’s one thing I’ve noticed that really helps you have a higher chance of success:

Building momentum early – and then protecting that momentum.

Early wins make the rest of the journey easier.

And sure, an early win MIGHT look like seeing the scale move or getting stronger in the gym.

But those things are results that come weeks or even months later, AFTER doing “the thing” consistently. That isn’t helpful in the moment when we are feeling uncertain and overwhelmed.

That’s why I like to start by tracking and celebrating effort.

Picking 1-2 repeatable actions that you can practice each day:

• Taking a short walk during your lunch break
• Adding in some fruits and veggies to each meal
• Following a ​short strength training plan​​
• Fixing a plate that matches our ​meal template​​

Each action is a WIN, which is a small sign of progress.

And if we can recognize and celebrate each action, it starts to build proof that “I am the type of person who can do this, even when it’s hard.”

And that little bit of hope?

It can be enough to keep going through the tough parts.

A Real-Life Example

Let’s take my client Ben, for example. He was in this exact same boat when we started working together.

• Super busy work schedule with an hour commute each way
• 4 young kids at home
• Had a recent health scare that made him realize it was time to make a change
• Not sure where to start, and really afraid this would be another attempt that he tried and failed at

So we talked about all those things openly – the REAL constraints on his time and energy, the fear that this wouldn’t work, and his hope for a future where he felt better and fitness didn’t feel so hard to stick with.

And then we picked a few things that we thought could be a good place to start.

A 10min walk during his lunch break

A list of go-to orders at restaurants around his work – so he would always have a good option even in a pinch

Push-ups off the countertop every time he brushed his teeth.

And while these actions may seem small, they had an outsized impact. They allowed us to build consistency and practice overcoming obstacles FIRST, then we could worry about optimizing for outcomes LATER.

And that’s where the real magic happens—not just in physical change, but in mindset:

“I’m the kind of person who shows up.”

“I can trust myself to follow through.”

“I know how to get back on track when life happens.”

Ask ​any of our most successful clients​, and they’ll say the biggest change wasn’t just in their body.

Their biggest change was actually in how they thought about fitness, habits, and who they believed they could become.

The Pitfall

When we start with trying to optimize, doing everything “perfectly” right from the get-go, it can feel like we’re drowning and not able to keep up.

That just reinforces the belief that we aren’t able to make any changes. That we’re just one of the people who “this stuff doesn’t work for.”

That’s the exact trap we are trying to avoid!

Of course, everyone’s starting point is different. You may be able to jump right into a multiple day per week workout routine, or more aggressive nutrition changes.

The point isn’t to FORCE yourself to take on less than you are capable of – it’s to make sure you can balance “challenging” with “doable” so you can build belief in yourself and the process.

Fast forward two years, and Ben’s routine looks much different from where we started.

• He now does a strength workout 4x/week in the morning before work
• He goes through periods where he tracks his calories and macros, and others where we take a more relaxed approach with a general focus on getting plenty of protein, fruits and vegetables each day
• He prioritizes sleep and gets over 8,000 steps each day

While Ben has gotten stronger, lost over 30lbs, and seen his blood markers improve – it all started with the most important thing: building momentum.

Where do I start?

So where does that leave you, today? Here’s how I’d approach it.

Acknowledge the real challenges and constraints on your time and energy.

This isn’t a “rah-rah” approach to ignore all the hard stuff. Recognize that it’s OK and NORMAL to feel this way. (Steve actually just wrote about the ​“Notice and Name” concept​ here.)

Start with practice—not perfection.

Focus on a repeatable action (like a short strength session, or protein at two meals), not just the result you want. Think of it like practice. You won’t be perfect. You’ll make mistakes. And that’s all part of it.

Create visual proof of your effort.

In our coaching program, clients check off tasks each day and we can see visible progress of their effort.

If you don’t have a coach, we love using something we call the Jar of Awesome:

Drop a marble (or paperclip, or coin) in a jar every time you do something aligned with your goals.

It’s a way to see your consistency and progress, even before the mirror or the scale reflects it.

Celebrate the small wins.

You walked today?

Ate mindfully?

Skipped the all-or-nothing spiral after a rough day?

That’s a win worth acknowledging. The process leads to the result.

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If you’re feeling stuck right now, or even hopeless, let’s see if we can flip the script.

We’ll start small. We’ll celebrate the effort.

And we’ll build that momentum back together.

You’ve got this.

And if you want help choosing your first “quick win,” just shoot me a message and I’ll help you find it.

– Coach Matt

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When your body won’t cooperate

When your body won’t cooperate

  May 27, 2025    Pratik Bandagale

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I’ve dealt with back pain for over 20 years.

It started back in high school—warming up for a soccer match, everything felt fine… and then *SNAP*, my back seized up. I had no idea what had happened. All I knew was: it hurt, I could barely move, and I was scared.

That moment started a lifelong journey of learning about fitness, mobility, injury prevention—and also, learning how to cope when you realize that not everything is within your control.

I learned how to train better. I ate a nutritious diet. I prioritized sleep and regularly kept up with the corrective exercises prescribed by my doctors and physical therapists. But even though I was doing “everything right” – every 6–24 months, I’d get hit with a serious back flare-up. Sometimes it would last for a couple of days. Sometimes, I would wrestle with it for YEARS.

The last one was the worst.

I spent months twisted in a literal C-shape. I couldn’t stand up straight. I couldn’t move like I wanted to. And more than the physical pain, it was the mental spiral that got me.

“Am I going to be stuck like this?”

“How long will it take this time?”

“Who even am I if I can’t move or teach or coach like I used to?”

It messed with my identity in a way I wasn’t even fully aware of in the beginning.

I’m the trainer. The coach. The guy who teaches others how to move well. I’m the dad who wrestles on the floor with his kids. Who takes care of the physical labor around our home.

Now I was working from bed and questioning if I’d ever feel “normal” again.

Eventually, I did get out of pain again (not everyone does). And it taught me some valuable lessons.

What I’ve learned:

Playing the hand you’re dealt.

Turns out I have congenital spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spinal canal). I didn’t cause it. I can’t “fix” it. But I can build a plan around it. Physical therapy and strength training are a lot alike! In it’s simplest form, it’s all a version of “exposure therapy.” Stress your body just enough, and in the right ways, to get the response you want. Not too much, not too little.

Over time, I’ve learned the movements that are more likely to cause a flare-up. And I can organize my training to build a bigger “buffer” of strength and mobility in that area.

It’s not what I would have chosen for myself. But it’s the best way I know how to respond.

Recovery is mental as much as it is physical.

Don’t discount the mental and emotional toll that an injury takes on you or a loved one. You can do all the “right things” and still feel like you’re not making progress if your brain is flooded with pain, fear, frustration, or shame. You may not even recognize the impact it’s having on you! I often felt like I was handling everything great. But my loved ones could see the toll the mental stress (let alone the physical pain) was taking on me.

I learned this phrase from a mentor of mine, and it still resonates with me to this day. “Start where you are. Do what you can. Use what you have.” It’s way easier said than done, but falling back on this mindset helped me in some of my darkest moments.

Movement is still worth fighting for.

Even when it takes months. Even when it’s slower than I’d like. Even if exercise doesn’t look the same as it did before. It’s still worth working towards.

The mental and physical benefits of movement, in any form I can do it, are too powerful to ignore.

The same solution doesn’t work every time.

This was one of the hardest ones to learn. There was no “one size fits all” solution to my pain.

• Sometimes heat helped. Sometimes it didn’t.
• Sometimes an exercise would feel GREAT. Sometimes, it would feel AWFUL.
• Sometimes, anti-inflammatory oral steroids helped. Sometimes they didn’t.

This made me learn to approach each new flare-up like an experiment. To take each DAY as a small test of what I could do. And this is the same approach we’ve learned to take with our own clients – even those not dealing with an injury or chronic condition. What worked for them in the past can give us clues, but it might not be the best current solution for what they need.

More than anything, this made me a better coach.

I understand now—really understand—how people with chronic pain or injuries feel.

The fear, the doubt, the grief of losing part of what makes you you.

That perspective made me more empathetic, more flexible, and more helpful–and it’s something I’ve tried to pass on to our entire coaching staff here at Nerd Fitness.

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If you’re dealing with pain, setbacks, or feel like your body’s betrayed you lately, I see you.

It might take longer than you’d like.

It might look different than it used to.

But you can still build strength, confidence, and momentum even now.

And if you ever need help figuring out how to do that in a way that fits your body, your history, and your reality? I’d love to help.

Just shoot me a message.

– Coach Matt

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