Fatigue - How hard should I train ?(I'm a recreational trainee)

Fatigue, sweating and a high heart rate are just more of these popular indicators people use to rate the productivity of their workouts. Take a few steps backwards and try to remember what the purpose of joining a club and training was. Most of us want to feel better and more energized after a workout, but instead most trainees leave the gym looking like they are ready to fall over and die. So the goal of your workout should dictate how good you feel after, not the other way around. For example, if I am working with a competitive swimmer whose goal is to improve their vertical jump, in order to acquire a powerful launch off the starting block, then they should not feel exhausted, rather they should be fired up. On the other hand it is good to be exhausted after a training session if it was designed to put you into your “game shape” for your given sport. Again if you are not an elite athlete then you do not have to kill yourself! And this does not mean that a training session is never hard; it should always be hard and you should always challenge yourself. The point that I am trying to make is using fatigue, sweat, and other common myths as your indicators is not the most efficient way to monitor your progress. Most of us sweat on a hot summer day while working on our tan at the beach. Your heart rate will skyrocket when you are free falling out of a plane or riding a crazy roller coaster ride. You see, it is not how hard you train, but how smart you train!