We had a good laugh at the gym after the coach mistakenly said we were going to do suboptimal squats. She meant to say sub-maximal. They sound almost the same, but they are worlds apart. Training sub-optimally will never get you optimal results, but training sub-maximally can get you maximum results.

Suboptimal means at less than the highest quality. You are ticking the box, but not too focused on how you go about it. Moving poorly when you train makes you really good at moving poorly.

Sub-maximal means doing less than your maximum effort so you can maintain high quality. (You can lift 200 pounds with an all-out effort, but you train with 160 pounds and move really well.) If you train with sub-maximal effort and consistently move well, you are almost guaranteed to improve.

Are you ticking the boxes or doing your best?