The 3 Worst Opinions to Carry in the Gym

The odds say that it’s much more probable to be wrong than it is to be right. And, it’s not even close.

Since there are many ways to be ineffective, it might be helpful to shed light on some infamous ones so students can avoid them early and often. Here are three:

1. “THE WHITEBOARD IS GOSPEL.” Great scores on the whiteboard specifically don’t signal progress or great training. In fact, when it comes to timed conditioning efforts it’s best to finish in the middle of the pack in all cases except if you’re doing the prescribed loads. Furthermore, a case could be made for using loads above the prescription to achieve a median score. The reasoning here is the science of training. If training is simply a designed stimulus for physical change, the best training would capture a relative stimulus for the participant. “Winning” a workout from a training perspective most specifically signals sub-optimal stimulus. 
2. “REPS ARE REPS.” Consider two cloned avatar students who only take the same classes. It’s profoundly possible for one avatar to become significantly fitter than the other. This is true because the reps and sets are not the end all be all of progress. Skill acquisition is the kicker here. If you move better you can do more work faster than a poorer moving alternative. Your reps will count for progress as much as you are improving your skill to do them.
3. “WORKING OUT IS A RESPONSE TO LIFE OUTSIDE THE GYM.” You might hear someone say, “I train so I can eat what I want.” It’s a dangerous worldview to place fitness on one side and an enjoyable lifestyle on the opposite side of the same coin. Humans are smarter than rats on a wheel. This road we’re on is longer than any motivation to counteract cake and booze. When you divorce your training from this punishment mentality, it can stand alone as an infinitely fruitful game that coincidentally does a great job at enjoying cake and booze.

There are lots of ways to screw this up and I don’t claim to figure out the way. Keep going on your journey and reach your own conclusions, but I’d scrape these worldviews immediately. 

They don’t work.