5 Ways You’re Wasting Your Time in the Gym

Charles Staley — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 09:00:00 +0000

Charles is here on a weekly basis to help you cut through the B.S. and get some real perspective regarding health and training. Please post feedback or questions to Charles directly in the comments below this article.

Trigger Warning: I’m feeling cranky today. Below are my five favorite wastes of time in the gym. Mistaking pain for progress is the common cognitive error behind all five of these unfortunate exercise choices.

If you currently use any of these questionable moves, don’t close the page. Instead, let me know why I’m wrong in the comments section below. Hey, you might change my mind, but I doubt it.

Planks are really good for making you better at… planks.

1. Planks

If your primary goal is improved strength or body composition, almost anything else you do in the gym, including the remaining four exercises on this list, would better serve you than planks. The main problem with planks is that they are a static exercise. The absence of movement means you’ll experience dismal payoff for getting stronger, leaner, or more muscular. Basically, you’ll just get better at doing planks.

Try This Instead: To train your abs and improve your core stability, focus on exercises like stir the pot, Pallof presses, one-arm farmer’s carries, and toes to bar. These drills are more dynamic and have greater carryover into real life.

2. Anything Done on a BOSU or Other Unstable Surface

Training on unstable surfaces may be hard, but that doesn’t mean it’s productive.

To develop significant muscular tension for building muscle and strength, you must push (or pull) from a stable platform. The more stable your working surface, the more weight you can lift, which equals more muscular tension and better results. You will develop more leg strength from heavy back squats than you would squatting while standing on a stability ball, which is incredibly dangerous while under load.

Try This Instead: Forget the circus-trick exercises and stick to the classics. The most muscular men and women throughout history achieved their strength through the tried-and-true standards: presses, rows, dips, pull ups, squats, and deadlifts.

3. Flipping Tires

Unless you’re a strongman competitor, stop flipping tires. Flipping tires might feel badass, but most people inevitably pick the wrong size tire. They either pick one that is too light to force any significant adaptation, or one that is too heavy and beyond their ability. If you flip an appropriately-weighted tire with skill, you’ll get a reasonable conditioning effect, but it’s not a great move to build muscle or strength.

Try This Instead: Pushing sleds are safe and effective conditioning tools. Lifting weights is king for building strength and mass, but if you want anaerobic conditioning that won’t beat you up, choose a sled over a tire every time.

4. Box Jumps

Box jumps are fun, and if that’s all you’re looking to get out of them, don’t let me spoil the party. But box jumps are only useful as a power test, not an exercise. And they are a less effective way to test power than standing long jumps. Box jumps inevitably evolve into a test of hip mobility rather than jumping power.

Try This Instead: A better way to box jump is to purposefully limit the depth of your landing squat to no more than a 90-degree angle. Strive to land softly and quietly, and of course, don’t miss. The skin on your shins will thank you.

High box jumps inevitably devolve into a test of hip mobility, rather than power. Standing broad jumps are a better test.

5. Ropes

I’m not against rope drills in general. John Brookfield’s Battling Ropes> certification course was one of the most grueling things I’ve ever done, and I came out of that weekend with a healthy respect for the ropes.

However, whenever you see anyone using the ropes, they never use remotely enough intensity to make the exercise productive. Slamming the ropes with half-ass intensity could be a decent warm up, but why settle for decent when you could be doing something that’s actually useful?

Try This Instead: Unless you’re going to attack the ropes with maximum intensity for one-minute rounds, skip them altogether. There are many better options for conditioning like sled drags, heavy swings, rowing, and barbell circuits.

Are All These Exercises Really That Bad?

I can think of even worse exercises, but I’m giving you enough credit to assume you’re not doing them. If you do any or all of these drills on occasion for a change of pace, that’s totally fine. But if any of these moves are staples in your training, I’d urge you to reconsider.

This Week’s Training:

Volume: 96,988lb (Last Week: 96,892lb)

Significant Lifts:

High bar squat: 225lbx8
Bench press: 205lbx8
4″ block pull: 405lbx7

This week, I managed to exceed my recent bests on my key lifts and stayed injury-free throughout the process. One issue I ran into was pectoral cramps during deadlifts. That makes no sense at all, except that I’ve been benching heavy on Wednesdays, and then pulling heavy the following day. This is the second week that I had to stop my pulls due to cramping, so I’ve decided to place my light upper body day with my heavy day.

Aside from that, I’ve tightened up my nutrition quite a bit after several weeks of sloppy macros. I tend to overeat carbs and fats, and undereat protein. However, for the past two weeks, I’ve been hitting 1g/lb bodyweight protein, and have been keeping fats at about 75g/day. I already notice a difference in my physique, and my food cravings have dissipated quite a bit. If you’re trying to lose unwanted body fat and struggle with food cravings, up your protein and watch what happens.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Bodyweight: 199lb

Volume: 31,250lb

Goblet Squat

Set 1: 10lb × 10
Set 2: 32lb × 10
Set 3: 53lb × 10

High Bar Squat

Set 1: 45lb × 10
Set 2: 95lb × 8
Set 3: 135lb × 6
Set 4: 185lb × 3
Set 5: 215lb × 8
Set 6: 225lb × 8
Set 7: 225lb × 8
Set 8: 225lb × 8

Leg Press

Set 1: 180lb × 8
Set 2: 270lb × 8
Set 3: 360lb × 8
Set 4: 360lb × 8
Set 5: 90lb × 8

4″ Block Pull

Set 1: 135lb × 10
Set 2: 225lb × 5
Set 3: 315lb × 5
Set 4: 335lb × 5

Standing Calf Raise

Set 1: 200lb × 8
Set 2: 200lb × 8
Set 3: 200lb × 8

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Bodyweight: 198.4lb

Volume: 22,320lb

Bench Press

Set 1: 45lb × 10
Set 2: 95lb × 8
Set 3: 135lb × 6
Set 4: 175lb × 4
Set 5: 195lb × 8
Set 6: 205lb × 8
Set 7: 205lb × 7
Set 8: 195lb × 8

Close Grip Bench Press (Pinkies On Rings)

Set 1: 155lb × 8
Set 2: 165lb × 6
Set 3: 165lb × 8

Chin Up

Set 1: 1 reps
Set 2: 2 reps
Set 3: 3 reps
Set 4: 4 reps
Set 5: 5 reps
Set 6: 6 reps
Set 7: 7 reps

Incline Dumbbell Press

Set 1: 100lb × 8
Set 2: 130lb × 8
Set 3: 140lb × 7

EZ Bar Curl

Set 1: 45lb × 8
Set 2: 65lb × 8
Set 3: 75lb × 8

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Bodyweight: 198.8lb

Volume: 33,516lb

4″ Block Pull

Set 1: 135lb × 8
Set 2: 185lb × 8
Set 3: 225lb × 8
Set 4: 315lb × 8
Set 5: 365lb × 8
Set 6: 405lb × 6
Set 7: 405lb × 7

Hack Squat

Set 1: 90lb × 8
Set 2: 140lb × 8
Set 3: 180lb × 8
Set 4: 200lb × 8
Set 5: 200lb × 8

Back Extension

Set 1: +150lb × 8
Set 2: +150lb × 8
Set 3: +150lb × 8

Seated Calf Raise

Set 1: 90lb × 8
Set 2: 90lb × 8
Set 3: 90lb × 8
Set 4: 90lb × 8
Set 5: 90lb × 8

Friday, April 15, 2016

Bodyweight: 198.8lb

Volume: 9,902lb

Slingshot Bench

Set 1: 45lb × 8
Set 2: 95lb × 8
Set 3: 135lb × 8
Set 4: 185lb × 8
Set 5: 205lb × 2

Military Press

Set 1: 45lb × 10
Set 2: 65lb × 10
Set 3: 85lb × 10

Chin Up

Set 1: 1 reps
Set 2: 2 reps
Set 3: 3 reps
Set 4: 4 reps
Set 5: 5 reps

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)

Set 1: 50lb × 8
Set 2: 60lb × 8

More Ways to Avoid Wasted Gym Time:

The Truth About Abdominal Training and Body Fat
How to Trim the Fat Off Your Warm Up Routine
The Real Way to Train Your Stabilizers (NOT 3 Sets of 10)
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Teaser photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 1 courtesy of Brandon Hofer / Breaking Muscle.

Photo 2 courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.

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