Are you Training Effectively?!

Most of my friends in the gym will completely disagree with what I am about to say, but it has to be said. So let the controversy begin!!

The reason people are not making improvements in their physiques and/or in strength, is because they are doing too much unnecessary work in the gym! (DIETS are the number 1 reason but for the purposes of this post, lets go with the first one)

Gym Junkiez, people that love to hit the weights, love the feeling of training and will workout until they cannot complete another set… or another rep.

Those same gym junkiez likely had a good workout 5-6 sets before the actually finished their training but will keep going anyway. They will leave the gym exhausted but will say they are “feeling good”.

That “Good” feeling is a combination of a good muscle pump and blood flowing. Now here is where it gets interesting. They will keep training, chasing the pump, even after the target muscle group stops firing. Chasing that feeling leads to fatigue. And that feeling of fatigue is what most believe means that something was accomplished .

I call them “Cortisol Junkiez”. They are addicted to the stress of working out. But who can blame them, It feels like a dopamine release. 8 Time Mr. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger compared “the pump” from weight training to having sex, the greatest dopamine release of all.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with chasing that feeling. The problem is most people don’t know or wont admit that they know when to cut it off… and not ending the workout when you should can inversely impact sound nutrition habits and have long lasting negative effects on your body!

I have had some of my friends wonder why they cannot make changes to their physique or cant get stronger. And when I tell them they are doing too much (along with the dietary habits), they just laugh and gloss over the statement as if it was a joke.

But i can understand their sentiment completely, as i took a long time to accept this to be true.

But as soon as I did, my body felt better, looked better, and my strength starting to go through the roof!

At some point, the truth hits us all!!!!! Especially as we get older…

…..And the truth is to really maximize your physique and/or strength gains, you may want to do less work in the gym (and fix your diets, but thats another post for another time)….

And less work doesn’t mean you decrease intensity.

Lifting Heavy but leaving too many reps in the tank

One of the most common mistakes is lifting heavy but doing “easy sets” that end before you’ve challenged your muscles enough to grow.

If you are completing sets that are with heavier weight but you finish the set with 4+ reps left in the tank, you just wasted a set! These types of sets should strictly be dedicated to warmup sets. Anything other than that, you can consider it a junk set or junk volume.

“Junk volume” refers to exercise that doesn’t improve strength or build muscle due to not lifting heavy enough, thus wasting your time, effort, and energy.

Junk volume can include working out for too long, or doing large sets with light weights. It can be a problem for both newbies and elite athletes, stalling progress and increasing injury risk.

To avoid muscle-building plateaus and to get the most out of your routine, plan your workouts to make every rep count. Experts and evidence suggest that doing too many reps or sets can backfire.

A 2017 study referenced that “about six sets per session per muscle group is a good baseline for maxing out on benefits. After six sets, the benefits of weight training then appear to plateau, and working more will eventually lead to smaller and smaller additional gains, although muscle response can vary in different people.”

So, while you might be trying to boost your progress with more work, the additional benefit of the last few sets is small enough to be insignificant, and unlikely to be worth the time and effort.

With that being said, focus your efforts on lifting heavy enough to stress the muscle where you finish with the ability to possibly push out one or two more reps (safer for those that do not have a training partner). Now if you have a training partner. Failure should be the goal more often.

Lifting too light for high reps can waste your time, too
Another pitfall is lifting very light weight for high reps (20 or more), based on the myth that it can help “tone” a muscle without making you bulky.

While light weight or bodyweight exercise can build muscle, lifting less than 20% of your maximum effort can stall gains, research shows, even if you’re sore after.

“It can get you super sore and impair your performance for future workouts, but end up compromising your result despite actually working harder.”

So unless you are competing at the NFL combine, doing more than 30 reps for a set has no benefit. You’d be better off lowering the number and increasing the weight.

So what does right look like……

There are so many studies and perspectives on this subject that I can honestly say there is no one specific answer to consider the “right” answer. As I mentioned before it changes depending on the person.

But, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends 1−3 sets per exercise of 8−12 repetitions with 70−85% of one repetition maximum (1RM) for novice and 3−6 sets of 10−12 repetitions with 70−100% 1RM for advanced individuals. For strength training you would change the number of reps to anywhere from 3-10 reps.

Now thats number of sets per exercise. The number of sets per muscle group can vary from person to person but a good rule of thumb to start with is 6-10 work sets per muscle group. Notice i said work sets not total number of sets. Thats where the problem kicks in for most. Most do not have a definition for the sets and reps completed. And training without a plan of action does not yield tangible results (except for the ego).

I have always found great success in training myself and clients (when i trained in the past) with using the following.

Number of Exercises Per Muscle Group

• One strength (compound) movement – focused on strength/hypertrophy
• One stretch movement – focused on lengthening and stretching the target muscle
• One pump movement – after stretching the target muscle, fill it with as much blood as possible

Number of Sets Per Muscle Group

• One warm up set (compound movement) – to warm up the target and stabilizer muscles for that exercise.
• One load set – still a warm up set but load is to ensure target muscle is firing correctly with no tweaks or pain
• Work sets – 2 to 3 sets that are dedicated to pushing to failure (with a training partner) or close to failure (without training partner) leaving 1-3 reps in the tank to ensure safety.

The one rule i used for working sets was that if the target muscle stopped firing during the work set, the set and exercise was over.

Anything more than this and you are working to your detriment.

If you are new to weight training, or have some experience and just want to know how to follow an effective weight training program, hire a coach! There are a number of great coaches in the community. Post what you are looking for and i am sure someone will be happy to help you reach your goals!

Also, I know there are going to be some differences of opinion but as much as it pains me to say this… the facts are the facts. Training effectively to progress in strength/ body composition and longevity are the ultimate goals. Ill take all smoke…. drop your thoughts in the comments and lets talk about it!

Eat Smart! Train Hard!

References

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2017; 10: 85–95.Published online 2017 Mar 30. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S113093

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec; 16(24): 4897.Published online 2019 Dec 4. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16244897