Average Joes and Janes

Smack-dab in the middle of the bell curve, we have our typical gym enthusiast. They are an intermediate, relatively physically healthy, natty af, train ~4 days/week, and are clueless as to the differences between Men’s Physique and Classic Physique. They just love training hard, eating healthy, and feeling good.

Does this person need to train to failure? Fuck no.

They need a balanced program that allows them to hit all muscle groups at least once per week, with a variety of movement patterns and variations to test their technique/skill, and a sufficient intensity to make them work hard without subjecting them unnecessary risk. This trainee should leave the gym feeling better than when they went in. They shouldn’t be worried about building their day around the gym. And they definitely shouldn’t be in training-induced pain.

Despite the narratives we tell ourselves about our abilities and goals and dedication, most people (including me right now) are going to fall in this bucket. Sure, they would probably make faster progress with a more aggressive approach. And I’ll concede that a more aggressive approach would also be more engaging and fun for the trainee as well (remember our friend, dopamine). But expeditious excitations are only optimal when the real goals actually align (emphasis on real and not the stories we’re telling ourselves). In other cases like this one, forsaking risk-management, practicality, and sustainability in search of a shortcut or adrenaline-boost is a game of Russian Roulette that you don’t want to be playing.

Ok so now that you’ve read through the above section and convinced yourself that everything I said doesn’t apply to you because you and your goals can’t be lumped in with the average, I guess it’s a good time to talk about how to apply failure training to the outliers (still mostly likely not you but we’ll go with it for now)…