If you’re like most folks, you probably go to the gym for two main reasons: to gain muscle and lose fat. This two-part goal — commonly (and oh-so-scientifically) referred to as “toning,” “sculpting” and “shaping” by fitness marketers — really means changing body composition, by way of less fat and more muscles. It’s best achieved through strength training, and is often undermined even by those who make it to the gym. And I’m not talking about what happens on your dinner plate. I’m talking about what you might actually be doing on the gym floor — that is, unless your gym is on one of those “planets” that has pizza nights, but please don’t get me started.
Over the next three days, I’m going to outline three relatively common culprits that may be ruining your results. Here’s part one:
1. Doing too much.
Are people really doing too much? This one is probably surprising, given the record highs of adult obesity, sedentary lifestyles and our culture of Netflix binge watching (no judging; I watched all 63 episodes of “Breaking Bad” in just a few weekends this winter). That said, yes, many folks who workout simply do too much. I have noticed more than a few tweets and Facebook posts about marathon three-hour weightlifting sessions, “two-a-day’s” and “destroying” various body parts. Marathon-anything is best left for runners; two-a-day’s are best left for athletes; and “destroying” any body part is usually just that — in the truest sense of the word.
Strength workouts should rarely last longer than about an hour. Just look at the methods employed by Westside Barbell, which has produced more powerlifting world record holders than any other gym (how’s that for results?). The beasts of Westside train for no more than 45 to 60 minutes. The time you invest at the gym is relatively meaningless; it’s the quality of the work invested that matters most. I will touch on this point again in the next piece, but the takeaway is: Worry less about time and more about what you have actually done in that time.
Along those lines, two-a-day’s — meaning doing two workouts in a single day — seems linked to social media bragging about what a dedicated “warrior” that person is. The notion of doing multiple training sessions in a single day was originally relegated to elite athletes, then found its way to pro-bodybuilding; it’s now the stuff of Internet machismo. There is most often very little reason for doing it with the Average Joe or Jane. The notion originated with training skills and/or strength and conditioning needed for competitive sports more frequently. The bodybuilding set then started separating resistance training (with weights) and “cardio,” or more aptly, aerobic exercise into different workouts — and even in special occasions, usually with the help of “special substances,” breaking up the training of different muscle groups or body parts within a single day. For nearly everyone reading this article, this is entirely unnecessary, and doing so will more likely lead to an injury or burnout than it will to enhanced results.
As for the “destruction”-set, I believe eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney said it best in this oft cited quote: “Stimulate, don’t annihilate.” Your time in the gym is not a form of flagellation. Decimating a body part will most certainly result in excessive soreness — but that increased soreness doesn’t translate to increased results. It does, however, translate to decreased training and increased injury frequency. Your job in the gym is to stimulate your body just enough to force it to adapt to the stimulus given — not to see how much it can take. Think “less is more,” unless you’re clearly doing too little.
More from U.S. News
Superhero Workouts: From Superman to Thor
Easy Ways to Get 10,000 Steps Per Day
How to Weigh Yourself the Right Way
Are You Guilty of These Gym Results Wreckers? originally appeared on usnews.com
