Day after day people hit the gym, they have goals to achieve, changes to make or even just want to feel like they’ve done something and held themselves accountable that week. But when in the hunt of trying to achieve results in the gym, what matters most? What should people focus on most? Here we rank our order of most important to least important to help you maximise your chances of better results for your hard work.
1. Form
For us, this easily takes the top spot when it comes to ‘what matters most’ in the gym (well probably joint first with nutrition, but we aren’t covering that here). Sometimes simply turning up and doing something might not be enough, especially when it’s so easy to cheat practically any exercise. Isolating your muscles correctly and perfecting your movements will take you way further than any other point. Loading up exercises with too much weight will normally result in poorer form…swaying, swinging, using momentum, using the wrong muscle groups just to move the weight. Lower the weight, focus on how each exercise feels, squeeze, control and watch how quickly your muscles and strength progress.
2. Exercise Selection
To keep this simple, there’s no such thing as the ‘perfect exercise‘, but there is such a thing as exercises that are better for YOU. Not everyone connects with each exercise like some others do. Different heights, weights, widths, arm lengths, leg length etc. there’s so many variables as to why certain exercises may be better for you than others. Not just this, but form once again plays a part. Take squats for example, some may be able to perform them so well that they feel their quads more…great! While others may only feel it in their glutes so prefer to do leg press. Do what works for you, what you feel most, what you can perform best and you’ll be golden.
3. Increasing The Weights You Use
Commonly referred to as progressive overload, which is simply increasing the weight you use gradually over time in order to work your muscles harder, become stronger and gain more muscle. The reason adding weight is lower down the list is that it’s only one stimuli that can help you progress faster. Yes you can build muscle with light weights, yes you’ll build more muscle with better form at a moderate weight than poor form with heavier weights. If your sole goal is strength then this is probably a more important point, but again exercise selection (compounds kick ass for strength i.e. squats, deadlifts, bench etc.) matters as does performing them correctly. Poor form at heavy weights can also increase the chance of injury. Referring back to point 1…dial your form in and you strength will grow quicker regardless.
4. Workout Duration
It’s such a misconception that you have to be in the gym for hours on end in order to see any results. Quality will always beat quantity when it comes to results. A 30 minute dialled in, form on point, intense workout will always beat a 60 minute half-assed one. A 45-60 minute workout is more than sufficient to do what you need to do and still have time for the rest of your activities during any given day.
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