Quality vs. Quanity

Tommy Kono says it best when it comes to Quality vs. Quanity and that is, “Making one incorrect lift requires three correct ones in a row to erase the memory pattern that was set up. Make 3 incorrect lifts in a row and you have to perform 27 correct lifts to erase the memory pattern that was set up.”

The reason it goes to 27 correct lifts needed instead of 9 is because when you have that many incorrect lifts in a row it compounds.  So in other words you must multiply each rep 3x3x3=27.  So you can see it will quickly add up and could take years to correct a lift you thought you were doing correctly for a long time.  Always keep the reps low to 5 or fewer and use a weight that is challenging but at the same time you can still perform with perfect form.  What I mean by this is, let’s say you are doing the classic Reg Park 5x5 workout and the exercise you are doing it with is the one arm kettlebell clean and press the weight you are using is 24kg.  For the first 3 sets you get all 5 reps but on the last 2 sets you can only get 3 reps.  Now you could have easily done a push press on those last 2 sets and got all 5 reps and sacrificed form but instead you didn’t and stop short of failure.  So obviously the weight is challenging since you cannot perform all of the 5x5, but the key is form was not sacrificed and once you can perform 5x5 at 24kg then you would go up to the next weight.  Take little progressions every time you train and they will add up quick over time.  For example let’s say you added just 1lb to your squat every week (I know what you’re thinking who uses 1lb plates, but just bear with me) for a whole year, that is 52 weeks of adding just one pound which would now have you squatting 52lbs more than what you were a year ago.  So you see how quickly these little progressions can add up.  Don’t try and jump up 25-50lbs instead master the weight you are at and then add on 5 or 10lbs depending on the exercise.  This can be applied to bodyweight exercises as well there is always a way to make a bodyweight exercise more challenging.  

On to my next point always train for strength, when you becoming stronger everything else becomes easier.  Get strong at the weight you are at unless you are overweight then you will need to address that first. Kettlebells and a healthy diet can take of that weight problem for you.  You are an athlete it does you no good to bulk up and become slow, in-mobile, and in-flexible.  Yes in contact you want some mass on you, but that will come by training for strength and you will be lean, strong, and fast.  Athletes need to be the strongest they can be at the current weight they are at.  Don’t think you can be strong at 150lb?  Think again ever watch Olympic Lifting and Gymnastics?  Watch the Olympic lifts and you will see people 150lb and less putting 300+lbs over there head, and if you ever watched gymnasts and the way they can control their bodies and perform what they do is amazing if you don’t think so try doing a tiger bend out of a free handstand position and let me know how that goes for you.  One of the greats Authur Saxon weighed 200lb and could bent press with one arm 370lb.  That is just one arm not two and he did this with a barbell.  If you do not know what a bent press is look it up because there is no one out there today that is capable of this feat and this was done back in 1905.  So I rambling on here, but I am trying to stress the importance of training for strength and how much it will benefit you.

Another great quote from Bradley Steiner is “doing high reps with low weights will give you the same benefit as lifting a ping pong ball.”  Doing high reps not only does nothing for you other than make you sweat, but at the same you cannot keep correct form on all those reps especially when it comes to your Olympic lifts, powerlifting lifts, and bodyweight exercises.  Doing high reps of any of those is a sure case of an injury waiting to happen.  So if you like being injured all the time and don’t ever want to make progress then by all means keep countless high reps, I just hope you have some good insurance.  Which leads into the next point never train to failure all you are doing is teaching yourself how to fail.  Always stop short of failure which means you still have about 1 or 2 reps left in the tank.  When you always succeed at your lifts your mental aspect towards training will greatly increase and you will be craving towards your next training session like a 30 year old single woman looking for Mr. Right.  Another thing high reps will bring is soreness this is not a sign of that you had a great workout but instead a sign that you went beyond what your body is capable of doing and you have not fully recovered from the previous workout.  You should never be sore the next day after your workout; soreness will just make you stiff and slow.  This is a common misconception we have especially when most of us grew up training this way.  When it comes to training remember this phrase and say it over and over again in your head until it sticks (LESS IS MORE).  It took me a long time to realize this, but once I started training with a minimalist approach my numbers started to increase, I was not sore all the time, and I had a lot more energy.  Keep your workouts short to an hour or less, make small progressions, and keep the number of exercises to 5 of fewer.  If you cannot get what you need done in one hour then you will never get it done.  All that is a sign that you are doing too much and your body is paying for it by never being able to fully recover.  This is a one way ticket to burnout and being over trained in which you will constantly be getting sick because your body’s immune system is shut down all the time.  You know when you had a great workout is when you are done you feel energized and as if you could do it again.   

So always train for Quality and not Quantity.  A real world example would be going to the grocery store to buy fresh organic meats and veggies for a meal vs. going to McDonalds and buying 10 double cheeseburgers off the dollar menu.  Would you rather being putting quality nutrient dense food into body so you can fully recharge and feel energized or would you rather put a bunch of chemicals into your body making you feel slow and sluggish?  This is the same thing that happens to your body when decide between a quality vs. quantity workout.  So one more time in case I did not make myself clear and for my fellow meatheads out there:

 Quality = GOOD   Quantity = BAD