Important principles all lifters should know

If you care about your performance in the gym, and want to build a body that’s strong, health and injury resilient, there are a couple of guiding principles that should be the north star of your training.

I’ll keep them short and sweet:

1) Be accurate in your movement

It’s crucial that the exercises prescribed in your program are executed with as much attention to detail is possible. It’s important the target tissues are worked, and you’re not just going through the motions.

2) Build strength

You should aim to progress your lifts week-to-week by adding load/reps/tempo where possible.

Refer to the article Smart Loading 101 for more details.

3) Progress is not linear

Some days you’ll feel great, other days you won’t. Don’t worry about it, it’s just part of the process. Show up anyway and keep chipping away. Towards the early stages of a training block, you can expect to make progress pretty quickly. But, according to the laws of diminishing returns, those results will naturally slow as you approach the later stages of that same training block. Then, it’s about finding new ways to encourage adaptation through modifying the program.

4) Enjoy the journey

At times, things will become repetitive. It might be the 12th week of you doing the same exercise. It can suck I know. But try to enjoy the process as opposed to viewing it as a chore. After all, every time you show up, you’re taking one active step towards the outcome you seek.

Remind yourself of these priciples often, and it’ll save you a lot of second-guessing down the line.

Michael