Don’t Prioritise Training Efficiency Over Effectiveness

The big mistake intermediate-level trainees make in their programming

The biggest mistake I see with intermediate-level trainees managing their training programs is focusing on placing too much emphasis on being efficient and it comes at the cost of being effective.

They plan their training by working out the maximum time they can allocate to exercise each week and then filling these slots with a challenging session. To minimise fatigue, they avoid duplicating training over successive days, typically shown by alternating strength and cardio training or upper body and lower body strength training (which is a good idea).

Then goals are developed for the training program to align with, usually linearly. This might be adding 2.5kg of weight to weekly strength lifts and reducing 15 seconds from the running sessions.

There is no question about this being an efficient way to train. A significant amount of work is being completed for the time spent training. However, it’s not always an effective way to achieve their big-picture goals.

Most general population clients have time constraints on their training. Some would like to train more, but generally speaking, most people can commit to 30–60 minutes…