Six Fitness “Rules” That Don’t Actually Matter
I’ve learned a lot over the years of training at the gym, and as a beginner, I would have been shocked and horrified by what I’m doing now. Thanks to experience, I now do exercises I once thought I “never” should do , and I’ve broken almost every other rule.
I’ve already explained a lot of things that beginners can stop worrying about , but I’d like to add a few more rules to this list that even people with an average level of training can abandon without any consequences.
“In every approach you need to take things to the point of failure.”
If you can theoretically do 13 bicep curls with a certain weight, how many should you actually do? A common misconception is that if you don’t do all 13, you’ll miss out on an opportunity to improve. This rule makes some sense if you genuinely don’t know where to start; if you keep going until you can’t do a single more rep, at least you’ll know you’re not being lazy.
The downside is that taking every set to failure on every exercise will simply exhaust you. Perhaps not so much for biceps, but when you’re squatting with fairly heavy weights, you’ll feel exhausted if you take every set to failure, and this fatigue will prevent you from consistently performing a quality workout. It’s better to follow a program that tells you when to stop and when to really push yourself. You’ll find that most of the time, you’ll stop a set at least 2-3 reps short of failure, and sometimes more.
“Muscles need at least one day of rest before resuming strength training.”
Rest days are a convenient tool for avoiding overtraining, but that’s about it. Organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommend a 48-hour break between intense strength training sessions for a given muscle , but if you look at where they get that number, it’s just a general guideline for beginners and those simply training for health. For athletes or recreational athletes, the ACSM acknowledges that training most days of the week is acceptable as long as your program effectively manages fatigue. This may mean alternating between more intense and easier workouts, rather than complete rest days.
“Increase your running mileage by no more than 10% each week.”
The “10% rule” is a good guideline for determining how quickly to increase your training pace. But like many other such myths, it’s merely a recommendation, not a commandment to be strictly followed.
As running coach Jason Fitzgerald told Lifehacker , “While the general rule is to increase your weekly mileage by only 10%, this may be either too conservative or even too aggressive, depending on your starting point.” After a short break, you’ll likely be able to increase your mileage much more quickly. The same applies to beginners with very low total mileage; if you take this rule literally, you won’t be able to increase your mileage from zero to any other amount.
Meanwhile, serious running training programs—and, as mentioned, programs are a wonderful thing—may provide you with significant increases in intensity for several weeks in a row, then temporarily taper off and reduce mileage before increasing it again. Or they may maintain the same mileage for several weeks before significantly increasing it. If you stuck to the 10% rule, you’d miss out on the benefits of programs that operate on this principle.
“You need to do strength training first, then cardio.”
There are pros and cons to using weights before cardio and using cardio before weights. It’s more of a “depends on the circumstances” question than a rule. So here are a few ways to decide what makes sense.
Do strength training before your cardio workout if:
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Lifting weights is your top priority.
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When you’re tired, your performance in strength training tends to decline, so it’s important to perform the exercises without losing energy.
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You just like it this way better.
If you do cardio before strength training, do cardio.
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Cardio is your top priority and you need more energy for it.
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Lifting weights is something you can do even when you are tired.
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You just like it this way better.
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Or you only plan to do a small amount of cardio before strength training.
So, a cyclist might prefer strength training after getting off the bike, while a powerlifter might prefer to improve their endurance after doing squats. Both options are fine if you don’t care or if you prefer to add variety to your workouts.
“You need to take supplements.”
There are several supplements that can help you on your fitness journey, but none are essential. Creatine is one of the most well-known muscle-building supplements. Its effectiveness is well-known, but here’s the thing: just because it helps most people doesn’t mean it has a significant impact . If you decide it’s too expensive or simply don’t want to take another supplement every day, you won’t be missing out on anything significant.
Similarly, protein powder is a useful way to increase the amount of protein in your diet , but you don’t necessarily need to use supplements; you can simply eat more protein-rich foods.
Finally, pre-workout drinks can give you more energy at the gym (mostly due to caffeine), but the idea that you need them is fairly recent. Even ten years ago, it wasn’t a big deal. People would show up at the gym with coffee or cola, or even caffeine-free drinks, and have a great workout.
“Nothing matters unless you track it.”
Look, people have been successfully exercising for millennia, but all these apps and devices only appeared in the 2000s. Tracking every minute, every step, or every mile of your workout isn’t really necessary. You’re still a runner even if you don’t have an app that tracks how many miles you’ve run . You don’t even need to record your sets and reps in a training log if you don’t want to. Your body already knows how much effort you put in, even if the data is deleted from your phone overnight.