The Only 3 Training Metrics That Matter.
For efficient, effective, and safe training.
Here are the metrics that should NOT BE USED, but most people do use, to judge the effectiveness of their workouts:
- How sweaty they are
- How sore they got
- The pump they get
- How long their workout lasted
- How exhausted they feel
Any idiot can “accomplish” the above and you certainly wouldn’t need to pay me or even go to a gym if those things are what you are seeking.
Just buy a band and do 100 band pull aparts, 100 Tricep push downs, and 100 band curls, then follow it up with 100 burpees.
You’ll for sure have a great pump in the arms (legs don’t matter anyways).
And you’ll be exhausted and sweaty from the burpees.
I just wrote that workout off the top of my head because there is no strategy other than to manipulate your emotions by telling you that you did a great job because look how tired you are!
The Truth
Her are the ONLY metrics that matter when judging the effectiveness, efficiency, and safety of your training:
1. Progressive overload is taking place. Once technique and rep standardization has been made, you are improving over time in reps, weight, or both.
2. Body Composition
Your body composition is improving by means of adding more muscle tissue and reducing body fat.
3. You achieve 1 and 2 without getting injured or undermining your health in the process.
And yes, body composition IS a measurement of functional fitness, not just aesthetics.
More fat = less mobility.
Improving your body composition will also help prevent metabolic disease and other illness.
As far as progressive overload, yes there is a ceiling. You will not keep getting stronger at every exercise over the course of your entire life. But by that time you understand that even progression is only a means to an end - a means of ensuring you are creating enough mechanical tension in the muscles to stimulate or maintain their size and force capability.
“But isn’t it good to include that exhausting sweaty stuff for mental toughness?”
My answer is a bit nuanced on that.
First, get a session in with me training to true task failure and you will feel deeply fatigued (as a by product, not the objective), and it requires plenty of mental fortitude.
Second, in most cases the mental toughness thing is over hyped and used by a lot of coaches and trainers to hide behind the fact that they don’t know what the hell they are doing.
But third, sometimes, yes, I still like to red line at the end of a workout, but I try to keep it as safe and short as possible with the least amount of orthopedic impact - sled pulls, battle ropes, etc.
In my opinion this should make up less than 5% of total training time which is why I only put them in 1-2x per week.
The truth is there is not much of a physiological effect to these things that you can’t achieve doing standard lifting protocol.
Kind of like sugar free energy drinks or alcohol - zero nutritional value, but probably good for the soul once in a while.
But obviously how difficult something is can’t be a measurement of effectiveness or “mental toughness.”
If I were to hit myself in the head as hard as I can with this lap top over and over, it would take a certain level of toughness I guess you could argue.
But probably a better measurement of stupidity.
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