7 Mistakes That Kill Your Gains

Let's be honest... the main reason we train is to make progress.

Some of us love the process, and love the headspace and feeling that training gives us... but most of that stems from the fact that it makes us feel like we are getting better and improving ourselves.

So we need to make sure we're avoiding the most common mistakes that people make that kill your gains and prevent you from making the efficient progress that you're really striving for.

So here's my top 7 training mistakes you could be making, and how to avoid them.

1. Too Much Volume

This is by far and away the most common mistake I see people make, either from a lack of knowledge themselves, or from poor programming from coaches and gym owners.

It all stems from the pressure to get results, and the idea that to get better you need to do more, and more, and more...

Makes sense, until you realise that more isn't always better...

You want to pitch your training somewhere between the minimum effective dose (the smallest amount of training that creates adaptations), and your maximum recoverable volume (the most you can do while making a full recovery).

These two are likely closer together than you think, and both lower than you think.

Because the thing that crushes a person more than anything else is too much volume.

So a rule of thumb I work off is most people do best at around 18-24 sets per workout. Lower end if they train frequently (4+p/w), higher end if they train less frequently (3>p/w).

This will allow them to work at a good intensity to create a change, recover well from, and be able to repeat week in week out.

2. Going Too Heavy Too Often

Next up is hitting that red-line of intensity too frequently, which can negatively impact both your training momentum and your recovery.

Lifting heavy puts a big demand on your central nervous system (CNS), which takes a long time to recover. It also puts a lot of strain on your muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints.

If you lift too heavy too often, you just smash all of those component parts over and over, until something gives.

And we really don't want that.

Plus, it's shown that most improvements in strength are made in the 80-85% 1RM range, which is usually somewhere between your 5-8 rep max range.

So you don't HAVE to hit heavy triples, single and doubles very often (and don't even mention 4's, that's a filthy training number that no-one uses).

This is why I like to use the "3 T's Microcycle" or organise phases of training that I program for myself and clients like below: This has a build in lighter week where we "try" new movements and get a feel for the technique and loading, then we "train" at that 8/9 out of 10 intensity level, then we "test" in week three at a 9/10 out of 10 intensity based off two weeks prior experience. It works GREAT and allows people to use intensity/weight wisely, and feel great throughout a training program and not always battered and broken. 3. Not Programming Recovery So based of points one and two, we know now that recovery is important. It's what lets us feel great alongside training, allows us to train hard when needed, and recovery is actually the time where our body adapts and gets better. That's right, you get better sat on your ass on the sofa, not in the gym. The gym acutely makes you worse (try playing your sport immediately after 5x5 back squats, it won't go well). But given time to recovery, when you show up to perform again you'll be better, as you body adapts to the demands you put on it in your last training session. And because recovery is SO important, we can't leave it to chance. We much plan and program it. This is down to the time between each movement pattern is trained (usually 72 hours to allow a pattern to be hit 2x per week), to the time between sets, and the active recovery strategies we may use outside the gym (LISS cardio, movement work, mobility, soft tissue, nutrition etc.). If you want the best progress, you need to plan the recovery. Increased recovery = Increased training potential. Increased training potential = Increased results potential. Do it. 4. Not Timing Your Rest Periods You can do the same exercises through a session, but changing the rest times can hugely change the stimulus and therefore the outcome. For strength and power work you want 3-5 minutes rest between sets as a rough guide to allow for near full recovery between effort. This will allow you to either lift heavier weights, or move at the fastest possible speeds. Too little rest in this regard and the weight or speed will drop as fatigue impacts your set, and that stimulus is weakened. For hypertrophy you want to gradually accumulate fatigue, metabolic waste products, push blood into the muscles and increase time under tension WHILE lifting decent weights. For this outcome you'll be looking at 90s-2 minute rest to keep intensity up and set lengths longer (40-60s) while accumulating those products of fatigue. Too little rest and you'll need to drop your weights or cut your sets short. Too much rest and you'll not accumulate the metabolic waste products, fatigue and blood flow you need. When you dip to 60's and under, fitness really takes over and you're looking more at an muscular endurance or cadiovasular endurance stimulus which will compete with any strength/power/hypertrophy outcomes you may want. Either way, whatever the outcome you want, the rest periods really matter, so if you're not recording them you're not getting everything you can from your workouts. 5. Getting Your Exercise Order Wrong The order in which you do your exercises has a big role in how effective the sessions is. Generally you want to order you exercises as follows. 1. Speed/Power 2. Strength/Compound 3. Hypertrophy/Assistance 4. Isolation/Core So your cleans and jumps will come before your squats and presses, which come before your dumbbell accessories, which come before you mirror muscles. Mess with the order too much and you jumps/cleans will get slower, your heavy compounds will be less heavy, and your assistance and isolation work get overvalued for what it gives you. Your session becomes less effective as a result. 6. Training For Over 60 Minutes Keeping your sessions under 60 minutes helps you with a lot of thing such as:

Staying under your maximum recoverable volume

Keeping an eye on your rest times

Leaving more time for recovery

Keeping training stress low

Being efficient with your training

Leaving more time for the other important things in your life

Not being a loser who lives in the gym and talks about nothing else

There are very, very few people who need to spend more than 60 minutes in the gym for their training sessions. These will mainly be athletes where their sport is very similar to their gym training, like powerlifters, weightlifters and functional fitness athletes. For these athletes physical training and skill training is combined and both take time. If you're an athlete in any other sport, the minimum effective dose of gym is your priority. If you're not an athlete and you just want to make progress, staying under your maximum recoverable volume is your priority. Both will most often be achieved in under 60 minutes. So stop wasting time resting too much or doing excess junk volume that doesn't get you anywhere, and get in and out in 60 minutes or less. 7. Ignoring Your CV Fitness I'm as guilty as anyone of thinking that "cardio ruins your gains bro" when I was young and dumb. Now I'm old and less dumb, and I know how important CV fitness is. Improved cardiovascular fitness improves your health, and improves your training even if strength and hypertrophy are your goals as you'll be able to do more work in less time AND recover faster and better between sessions. All of which amplifies your progress. Which is why I often recommend one session a week minimum of dedicated Zone 2 aerobic work, for as little as 20-30 minutes, and plenty of walking and day to day activity. And think about it... how healthy and strong can you be, feel or look if you genuinely can't run for 20 minutes with a heart rate under 140bpm? You can't hide bad fitness like that. So get big, strong, powerful, healthy AND fit. Thanks, Ian.