The Reason You Should “Train” Instead of “Working Out”

If you’re serious about building strength and muscle, the worst thing you can do is start a workout without a proper game plan for success.

There was once a time period in my life where I would head into the gym and make up a workout on the fly. Every day was chest and bicep day. Leg days were almost non-existent. I would perform set after set with short rest periods until I could barely move my arms. I considered it a badge of honor to have my shirt soaked through in sweat, on the verge of vomiting.

 

I thought all this “hard work” would translate into results.

After years of torturing myself in this fashion, I looked around the gym. I realized after putting in countless hours of work with the sole purpose of making myself “tired” or “sore”, I had very little to show for it. Lots of other people were leaner, fitter, and more muscular than I was. It was frustrating.

What was I doing wrong?

 

The Greek tale of Milo and his ox

Resistance training is the best way to improve your overall quality of life. Building strength will make tasks easier, strengthen your bones, tendons, and ligaments, boost your metabolism, and protect you from falls as you age. Lifting weights also has neurological benefits and can stave off dementia. Strength training (combined with a healthy diet) should be the cornerstone of everyone’s fitness regimen.

 

But there’s one catch.

In order to benefit from resistance training, you need to actually get stronger over time.

 

This may sound simple and obvious, but for many people, it isn’t. When I think back about my former life in the gym, when I was “just winging it” every session, there was a reason I didn’t have the results I was after.

 

I wasn’t tracking my workouts and using progressive overload.

Progressive overload is a necessary component to gain the benefits of strength training.

Progressive overload means each time you go into the gym, you perform your exercises with the intention of doing a little bit more than you did the last time you did those exercises.

If you’re not adding weight to your exercises over time, and actually getting stronger, there are no physical changes taking place.

 

The concept of progressive overload dates back to Greek mythology and the story of Milo of Croton (and his infamous pet ox).

 

A brief summary of this ancient tale:

• Milo had a pet ox, and he would put the newborn ox on his shoulders, carrying him around all day
• Everyone laughed at him, thinking he was being silly
• As the newborn ox got older, it gained weight
• Milo slowly gained strength as a result of needing to continue to carry his growing ox
• 4 years later, the ox was full grown, and Milo had an extraordinary amount of strength and muscle as a result
• Nobody laughed at Milo any longer…

 

While you won’t be carrying an ox around Southeast Michigan any time soon, the lesson of this story is timeless. If you want to gain strength and muscle, you will need to force your body to adapt to heavier weights over time.

This is also the difference between “working out” and “training”.

 

“Working out” vs “training”

When you go into the gym to “work out”, you don’t have a set game plan. You don’t know what exercises you’ll be doing, or the weights you’ll be using. You just walk around the gym, doing whatever looks good to you at the time. You’ll judge the effectiveness of your workouts based on how sweaty you are, how sore you feel, how nauseous you are, or how hard you’re breathing.

 

Contrast this with “training”. When you perform a training session, you know exactly what exercises you’ll be doing, and the weights that will be used, before you even begin your workout. The exercises you perform will be in a specific sequence for a reason. Your weekly sessions will be designed in a way to train your entire body, so no muscle group is neglected. You will repeat workouts week over week and always try to beat your previous training log.

 

When you “train”, you will know in concrete data whether your training session was effective.

Did you add weight since the last time you did a dumbbell row?

Were you able to add a few reps on your leg press?

Did your bench press go up 5 pounds?

 

Yes? Rock and roll, then you had a successful training session.

Even if you didn’t break a sweat…

 

A simple (and brutally effective) training program for you

I have a gift for you today. I want to give you the exact training program I used to lose 85+ pounds and get into the best shape of my life.

And even better – this program only takes about 30 minutes, 3 times per week to perform.

 

There’s no circuits. No short rest periods. And it builds strength like you wouldn’t believe. There are links to videos showing you how to do each exercise if you’re unsure.

You can combine this training program with a solid diet, and your body will transform quickly (to grab a free nutritional fat loss set up similar to the ones our clients receive, tap here).

 

Day 1 (Monday)

Deadlifts (traditional, sumo, or Romanian) – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
Chin-Ups (regular, assisted, or weighted) – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Dumbbell Bent Over One-Arm Rows – 3 sets of 8-10 reps per arm

 

Day 2 (Wednesday)

Barbell Incline Bench Press (can be dumbbell) – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Dumbbell Flat Bench Press – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
Dumbbell Reverse Lunges – 3 sets of 8-10 reps per leg

 

Day 3 (Friday)

Barbell Back Squats (can be leg presses or dumbbell goblet squats) – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Dumbbell Shoulder Presses – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Dumbbell Lateral Raises – 3 sets of 12-14 reps

 

That’s it. The entire training program.

Notice it hits your full body and works all your muscle groups.

 

There are pushes that strengthen your chest and shoulders (bench and shoulder presses).

There are pulls that strengthen your lats and back (chin ups and one arm rows).

There are hip hinges that strengthen your glutes and hips (deadlifts).

And there are squats that strengthen your hamstrings and quads (lunges and squats/leg presses).

 

But here’s the key… you need to track every workout you do. Every Monday, head into the gym and do your Deadlifts, Chin Ups, and One Arm Rows. You have a rep range to aim for for every exercise (for Deadlifts, that’s 6-8 reps). You want to choose a weight that’s challenging, yet doable. Use the same weight for all 3 sets.

 

If you get 6-8 reps at that weight in all 3 sets, add 5 pounds to the bar the next time you perform that exercise.

 

Use this progression for every single exercise. Each week, you will repeat all 3 training sessions, trying to get a little bit stronger each time. No frills, no fluff, no circuits. Rest at least 3 minutes between each set so you’re fully recovered and ready to give it your all. If you do this, your strength levels will take off, and you’ll see drastic changes in your body composition in no time.

 

The antidote to “boring”

Sometimes, a fat loss client will tell me a simple, straight forward training program like this is “boring”.

 

Fair enough. It’s true, the above program isn’t fancy and full of crazy circus moves like you see on Instagram. Training like this can seem a bit “basic”, especially in the world of social media fitness influencers.

 

But I always tell the client to stick with it, and give me 8 weeks. Let’s see how their body changes. After those 8 weeks, we can make a decision and get a new program together if they wish.

After those 8 weeks, the client has lost fat, their waist is shrinking, they’re stronger than ever before, and they feel amazing. They gladly want to continue with a simple and “basic” set up like this.

 

There’s an antidote to “boring” that will help you stay in the game.

That antidote is called “progress”.

When you see yourself making concrete, bonafide progress, it becomes addicting.

You’ll be hooked – for life.

 

The day “working out” becomes “training” is the day you start making serious gains, perhaps for the first time ever.

 

Jason Helmes is a former Plymouth-Canton teacher who owns and operates Anyman Fitness out of his Canton home. Anyman Fitness is an online fitness coaching service that helps its clients reach their goals in a simple, straightforward manner. You can contact Jason at jason@anymanfitness.com, or visit his site here for more information.