3 simple questions to know if you're wasting your time with "fad workouts"

Knowing what to do in the gym is confusing

Whether you’re an overly-calloused pro, or it’s your first time training, it can still be a daunting prospect to know what workout programme to follow, class to join, or personal trainer to hire

it’s somewhat similar to the feeling I get when something goes wrong with my car- I tend to just pick the closest garage that doesn’t have an awful star rating (or ask my mates where they go), then I’m entirely at the mercy of the mechanic’s knowledge when I rock up (maybe I just need oil, maybe I’ve been driving Flintstone-style without an engine for the last few months, I’m really none-the-wiser)

​so whether you pluck a training session from men’s health, ask your mate to show you the ropes, join a class or bootcamp, or take the plunge and hire a Personal Trainer? Trust me when I say, I understand that cautious feeling you’ll get from the outset- hoping you’ve made the right choice

and the frustration of hearing that same car-clunk, or not being any closer to your ideal waist size or physique after 3 months? Is something we all deserve to avoid

So to make that decision a little easier (and confirm you’ve done the right thing if you’ve already taken the plunge (& help you get outta there if you haven’t!)), we’ve created a list of the 3 questions you need to ask to know whether what you’re doing is a fad workout, or a legit solution to your problem

Because no one wants to pay for a completely new motor, when all they needed to do was refill their wiper fluid

“Is this a fad workout” question one:

am I hitting my key movement patterns?

The human body, whilst it does vary from person to person- tends to function in the same way

and it makes adjustments (good or bad) according the the positions it’s most often placed into, and the movements it most often repeats

it’s how we can so easily predict in our Milton Keynes Personal Training Studio, that if we have a new client comes in that’s desk-bound for 8 hours a day? They’ll have tight hip-flexors, hamstrings, upper traps & pecs (which often means lower back pain and a slightly forward leaning posture)

because our bodies adjust to the stimulus it’s exposed to most frequently. Therefore an effective training programme? Must take a balanced approach to movement patterns

These are:

1. a squat (think sitting down and standing up)
2. a hip hinge (think picking up something from the floor with straight/nearly straight legs and a flat back)
3. a lunge / single leg movement (think stepping up onto a box around knee height)
4. an upper body press (think bench press, or pushing something over your head)
5. an upper body pull (think the opposite of a bench press, or pulling something towards you)
6. a variety of core exercises (not only your classic flexion (sit ups), but also anti-extensions, rotations, anti-rotations etc - there’s enough there for a whole separate blog)

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​Is your programming addressing each movement pattern for multiple sets?

or are you doing 4 times as much bench pressing than anything else? or spending all your time jumping and jogging rather than lifting and pulling?

Following an imbalanced programme will cause muscular imbalances (often extenuating those caused by everyday life (eg working at a desk), which prompts the argument for an increase in upper body pulling and upper back volume for those that work in office

but we’ll get into the individuality shortly

For now, just ask yourself- are you training in a balanced way, or a way that’ll come back and bite you in the ass in a few months / years time?

“Is this a fad workout” question two:

are you progressing?

When you first begin a training plan, your progress is quick

the majority of the increases in strength for the first few cycles on an exercise is triggered not by muscular increases, but by improved body mechanics and efficiency in the lift

you can see people jump from a 30kg bench press to 60kg within a couple of months- but they haven’t doubled their strength from a muscle growth perspective- sure they’re stronger, but also they’re simply more skilled at the exercise

It’s after that learning phase that real body adaptations are made

Coming in week after week and slowly adding weight to the bar, or increasing the total reps via more sets or increased set volume, is how you force adaptations (which means building broader shoulders, a plumper back side or a stronger core (or all three) depending on your goal)

It’s the steady increase in total load (sets x reps x weight) in your core movement patterns that cause these changes to happen

and yet after 10 years as a personal trainer? I’m always amazed when I leave our studio to train in a commercial gym, and I see coaches working with clients without any method of recording their weights lifted or reps completed. Members of the gym I can understand (although hopefully after reading this that won’t be you!) but for a coach to not be recording the training of their client is a severely limiting progress.

the same can be said for bootcamps, and the majority of small group PT models (I’ve yet to see any outside of ours that take the time to write down the progress of every client within the sessions (although I’m sure they’re out there))

this “never do the same workout again” model that’s been popularised by crossfits & bootcamps as a positive might be a good way to keep your more easily distracted members entertained. However if we ask ourselves whether we’re training for constantly changing stimulus, or results? I’m hoping we’d get a 99% response rate in favour of the latter (which does actually make it more fun long term, as you see your strength and performance increase)

if you’re training alone? Hit your movement patterns and aim to progress what you’re lifting. If you’ve got a personal trainer or joined a bootcamp / coaching centre? Keep an eye on them to see if they’re putting pen to paper between your sets (or fingers to keyboard, that just doesn’t sound as cool)

“Is this a fad workout” question three:

is your personal structure considered?

We touched upon this in point one, but it’s a very important question to ask

are your current muscular imbalances (we all have them to varying degrees), fitness and strength levels, goals and injuries being taken into account?

If you’ve come in with body fat to lose, sore knees and struggle to climb the stairs, and you’re being asked to do box jumps? Run (or walk) away. If you’re picking a programme for yourself and you know you have ankles that ache after a day out in London, maybe don’t chose the “boxer body” session that has you skipping 3 times a week

and if you’re sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day, and then going to bench press a bar for multiple sets, without taking the time to get greater volume on your upper back to offset the cashew nut posture you’re slowly developing? You need to change that up 

you don’t need some unfounded DNA testing to figure out the most “optimal” way to train, or any other fancy fads that shiny Facebook ads might be pushing upon you

what you need is a training programme that considers your needs, and doesn’t instead push you into a cookie-cutter system that works “perfectly”… for the completely generic man/woman that comes in with zero issues (which from experience, is 1/100 people)

because that cookie cutter approach? Is exactly why so many people “fall off the wagon” after they take action in January, and find by March they have bad knees, a sore back, and don’t feel any closer to their physique and health goals 

You deserve results if you’re willing to put in the time

but just like the mechanic that might overcharge me for what they portray as a time-intensive job, but actually took them 5 minutes in the morning after I left it overnight- it’s easy to get tricked into a non-ideal solution

except your health and fitness? Is a lot more important than getting ripped off for a car

so if you’re getting all “yes”s for the top three questions? If you’re hitting your key movements, progressing session to session and the programming has been adjusted for your needs?

keep going- it sounds like you might be onto a winner

if not? Feel free to drop us a message- we’re here to help

Whether that means getting you into the studio for a trial session (both our 1-2-1 & Small Group Personal Training options get all ticks for the questions above) or just having a chat and pointing you in a more suitable direction?

we’ll be happy to help

Because the fitness industry is confusing enough, the least we can do is provide a helping hand (and hell, if you’re a mechanic reach out and introduce yourself, maybe you can do the same for me before I get conned into paying for four new tyres when I just needed an oil change)