Why Harder Is Not Always Better in Fitness

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In the world of fitness, there are tons of misinformation and fads out there.

With extremely well done marketing, even the most gimmicky sounding “get abs in 60 seconds” protocol can deceive the lay person.

On the other hand, there are fads or trends that are a little more subtle. Not screaming letters in bold, they can confuse even the most avid fitness junkie and create misconceptions that many will think of as gospel.

Being a coach and having the opportunity to train a large number of different clients daily, I’ve observed a general misconception that plagues the regular weekend warrior.

“Harder is always better”

With the amount of images with motivational quotes  floating on the internet, I’m actually not surprised why everyone thinks that doing the hardest form of training will bring you the best results.

The hardest exercise will challenge me and bring me the most gainz.

The longest and most puke inducing workout is the one that will bring me the most results.

You know, because no pain, no gain.

I’m here to tell you that this is far from the truth, in fact most of the time; puke inducing workouts are usually the type that will detract you from your goals.

Let’s put this into perspective.

Client A, like most client, main goal is to lose fat and gain strength. Because of that he has been following a well-planned training routine.

One fine day, Client A stumbles upon a crazy workout online that requires him to perform crazy amount of repetitions of multiple different exercises, probably something close to 1000 repetitions.

Because it sounds extremely difficult, Client A decides to take on the challenge. Without a doubt, the words “do not quit” & “go hard or go home” rings through his head throughout the entire workout.

He finishes it after an hour and half.

Well done.

Now there are two possible scenarios:

Scenario 1: Client A finishes it and feels accomplished but find himself sore for the next few days. Because of that, his movement is restricted and his training suffers greatly.

Regular activity suffers which causes a drop in energy expenditure. Not to mention that, he or she starts consuming more food as reward.

There is research showing that hunger levels and subsequent food intake is correlated to exercise intensity.

A study done by Deighton Et al in the Journal of Applied Physiology showed that endurance exercise resulted in lower perception of hunger compared to sprint intervals(1).

So the higher the intensity of an exercise, the more someone would eat after completion of exercise.

With the decrease level of energy expenditure and increase consumption of food, doesn’t exactly sound like a plan for fat loss to me.

Scenario 2: Client A finishes it, but because of the difficulty of the workout, injures himself in the process.

Due to the injury, training takes a stop for a few weeks. During the few weeks of recovery, consumption of food remains the same which results in weight gained.

Not to mention after a few weeks of detraining, strength levels can drop and this would sidetrack Client A from his goal(2).

Scenario 1 would be the best case scenario and yet it still can bring some not so favorable “side effects”.

Another method that supposedly will bring better training results is training on unstable surfaces such as bosu balls, balance boards or even standing on top of a kettlebell.

While this might look extremely cool, there is no evidence that proves that training on an unstable surface brings superior results.

In fact,  a study done in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning showed that unstable surface training is less effective for gaining strength compared to normal strength training. (3)

Besides that, training on unstable surface with an external load increases the risk of potential injuries.

So unless you’re training to be in a circus or are undergoing some form of rehab, please ditch the unstable surface training.

Now do you see why harder is not always better?

There will be times when implementing harder variations would bring additional benefits.

Increasing range of motion by performing deficit deadlifts can help improve strength from the floor.

Doing pause squats can help build power out from the hole.

Training when glycogen depleted can help improve aerobic performance (3).

Those are certain training methods that by increasing level of difficulty can bring better results.

However it’s not as simple as performing all of them at once thinking you’ll be able to reap all their benefits.

Having difficult training methods can be tools in your toolbox. The key here is knowing when to use the right tools for the right goal.

I’m not saying training should be easy and a walk in the park.

I’m trying to point out the fact that staying on track with your goals is the most important factor when it comes to training, not how hard an exercise protocol is.

So instead of thinking harder is always better, think of the things that would bring you closer to your goal, that’s definitely better.

Stop thinking harder is better, start thinking what would bring you to your goals, that’s definitely better.  <—– Click to tweet this!!!

 

 

 

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