Being semi serious, is "hard work" required?

As a kid 8-13 I was just below a competitive gymnast. My younger brother 4-12 did compete around this same time. During our twice per week gymnastics lessons I probably never once did what I would now call hard work.

I did progress over the years but never to the level of competing with boys my age. However my level of strength and fitness compared to non gymnast boys my age was much higher.

Fast fwd 25 years and I have now officially blown hard work out of the water. For the first 2.5 years of the last three I was pretty heavy into training, mostly cardio and some full body, weight lifting workouts. Usually about 15 hrs each week in non peak periods

While my fitness greatly improved it hasnt gotten even close to the levels I had even a couple years after quiting gymnastics as a kid.

This theory brewing in my head is that a steady progression of work just up to but not crossing the level of "hard" could slowly but surely increase performance and strength and fitness. All the while never getting close to being in an "over trained" state.

Do those of you who actually know and understand how the body and exercise work together (unlike me who has practically zero real knowledge here) have any thoughts about building fitness by doing lots of "work" at what "feels" like an easy effort? Allowing that the actual work load of what feels easy will increase over time.

Very interesting topic... I used to also think about working xtremely hard to obtain results. It seems that is the fastest way to get an average level and then get stuck. I am obtaining faster results working slightly hard but with more consistency and in a smarter way (WOD here!).

Hard work is a relative term, but in terms of perceived rate of effort you don't want to push past a 7-8 more than 3x per week, and even then it should be a limited volume. This is because you WILL get to a point where the nervous system is the primary limiting factor, and then all you will do is get in your own way.

There's a good reason that the WOD cycle is designed to usually only have 1-3 high intensity days per week, and if anyone feels like there is more than that then they are putting too much effort into basic strength days. Dynamic days and ring strength are the only days that should be really high intensity work, and for a good long while ring strength is inherently limited by what we can do with good form and current levels of connective tissue development.

So in typical long-winded style, keeping your perceived effort at a 6-8 out of 10, mostly at 6-7, is going to produce the best results. This doesn't mean you can't work heavy, it just means that if you know you can do 5 reps you usually only do 2-3 reps. Once or twice a week it is ok to push it, but those days you keep the volume much lighter, only 2-3 sets at the most for a total of 10 sets at that level spread around the body. Could be one muscle group, or upper body, or whole body, doesn't matter.

When you consistently work moderately hard, your body consistently shifts what is currently moderately hard to more of a "very so-so effort" level as it adapts. Then you just find out what is moderately hard and wait for it to become very so-so again. This approach leads to the most rapid strength gains and also leaves you feeling the best, without destroying yourself in the process.

When we have embedded ring strength wods, I usually change them around a bit for hypertrophy (easier porgression, more reps), and I feel pretty exhausted afterwards. I still feel good, I just can hardly move anymore weight around. Is this okay?

I'm fine as long as it isn't the same plane of movement but if it's similar the day after, I'm a little sore