When it comes to training, there are approaches that are focused only on now, and there are approaches that are focused on now as it relates to later. Those who are obsessed with their current workout without considering how it will affect their future workouts are prone to indulge in a form of training that is based on instant gratification. Those who have a long term approach are much more concerned about how their current workout is going to affect their future workouts. The training that is done next week, next month, and next year matter just as much to them as training that is done today.
Instant Gratification
Eagerness and enthusiasm to make training progress can often create a mindset of instant gratification. I spent years training with this mindset. I was looking for some sign that my training was working in every workout. I wanted to get the biggest pump possible because it would make my muscles look bigger. If I pushed hard enough, I would get sore the next day and my muscles would look bigger. I didn’t know that soreness is often caused by muscle inflammation that makes your muscles look bigger after a workout. When the soreness goes away, the muscle inflammation goes down, and your muscles go back to the same size again. But getting a pump and getting sore were the instant reactions that I was looking for as an indicator that my training must be effective. This strategy did work for a while, but after that, it became a temporary fix devoid of any long term benefit.
Better Training Performance in Every Workout? Really?
Another form of instant gratification that I was stuck on was to focus on better training performance in every workout. The goal was to constantly outdo my previous best in order to have some evidence that my training was working. I had to keep trying to push harder in order to eek more reps than I had done in the previous workout. If I couldn’t get the extra rep, I would reason that I needed to do more sets to force my body to get stronger. I found that this form of training can be effective, but not for long. It’s another short term strategy for quick gains, not a long term strategy for consistent gains over a long period of time.
I shouldn’t be surprised that there are authorities in weight training that indicate that a lifter should try to use more reps or more weight in every workout. As an example, see the first 30 seconds of the video posted below:
I had this mindset for a long, long time. But if you do the math, it works out to be impossible. Even if you only work out twice per week and only gain a pound of strength in each workout, you’ll gain over one hundred pounds of strength for every year that you work out. At that rate, if you start training at the age of 15, by the time your 35, you’ll be more than 2,000 pounds stronger in all your lifts. This would far surpass any feat of strength by any human being to date. Trying to outperform yourself in every workout is an instant gratification strategy that eventually quits working.
Today’s Workout Should be Designed to Help you Progress with Future Workouts
If you want to make progress today without regard for tomorrow, then keep trying to outperform yourself in every workout. If you want to use today’s workouts to help yourself improve next week, next month, and next year, then do workouts that take you right up to the limit of a positive training state and keep hitting that positive limit until it gets easier over time. You can do this by stopping a set of an exercise when you reach the initial rep where rep speed starts to slow down. Keep hitting that same rep number in future workouts until it becomes easy enough to do the last rep of a set without slowing your rep speed down. This is a sign that you’ve increased strength and you can increase the weight. Also, keep your muscles fresh during your workouts. When you’ve repeated enough sets so that your strength starts to decrease, stop doing sets for that body part.
The bottom line is that I recommend the principles listed in the basics of PPT along with the other information on this website if your main concern is to achieve long term training results. This training method is not designed for a quick fix or instant gratification. The idea is for today’s training to set your body up so that you’ll still be able to progress with future training; and to do so week after week, month after month, and year after year. It takes patience to train this way, but it will work if you are faithful to do it right. Best of training to you.