THE ONLY 3 THINGS YOU NEED TO MAKE GAINS

THE ONLY 3 THINGS YOU NEED TO MAKE GAINS

By Shane Robert

There is such an abundance of training information available to us that it can be quite easy to get bogged down in the “ideal” of every category, from exercises to programs, frequency to volume, and every other variable that can be manipulated. For many people, this can lead to the dreaded “paralysis by analysis” and hold them back from making as much progress as they should. Fortunately, there are three, and only three, principles that matter when it comes to making the most progress possible.

With all due respect to the gym bros and their hallowed beliefs passed down from bro to bro since time immemorial and to the exercise scientists who study the trivialist of details to see who can gain half an ounce more muscle, most of what we do in the gym simply doesn’t matter that much. Sure, full ranges of motion are somewhat better for you than shorter ranges of motion; lengthened partials, perhaps, eek out a fraction more muscle than not doing them; incline benching likely builds a bit more “upper pec” than flat, and turning your toes out on the leg extension might very well bias the vastus medialis more than straight toes. In the end, none of that makes more of a difference than following three principles.

The only 3 things you need to make gains are:

1. Consistency 
2. Overload/Progression
3. Effort

CONSISTENCY

As with most things related to success in training, this rule absolutely applies to life. It is essentially impossible to make any meaningful progress if you are not consistent in what you do. In this case, consistency means not missing workouts. It means not changing your exercises or ranges of motion haphazardly or simply when you feel like it. It means sticking to good eating 80-90% of the time, whatever that means for your particular goals. You can feel like the biggest, baddest barbarian that ever touched a barbell, but if you only manage to stick with training for three months a year, no matter how hard you might be training, you aren’t going to make much progress.

OVERLOAD/PROGRESSION

There is nothing else more powerful for gains than some kind of overload. There have been many articles written about the different ways to overload, including on this blog, and all of them are relevant. The more important idea to focus on is that some kind of overload, also known as doing more over time,  is present in your training. This concept is so powerful, in fact, that it trumps everything else, except consistency.

Take exercise selection, for instance. A full range of motion in squats is wonderful. People should mostly strive for that ideal. However, if someone were to only do quarter squats, but progress them over time to the point that they are doing 500, 600 or 700+ pounds, that person is going to build a lot more muscle and be quite a bit stronger than the person who never uses over 185 pounds in their full range of motion squats.

As long as you are consistent with the range of motion that you are using, you WILL build muscle and strength if you always strive to do more, in some way, over time.

EFFORT

At some point, you have to work hard. There are no two ways around it. Even if each set is relatively easy, as might be the case sometimes, the cumulative work done adds up to quite hard work. No matter where you start, if you adhere to the need for overload, you will reach a point where the effort required to do the lift is quite high. 

Look at a lift like the clean & jerk. For someone who has gotten quite advanced, using 180kg is going to be tough, even if it is for one rep, even if your max is 225kg. The sheer weight makes it that way. You need to be willing to put out a high level of effort.

Don’t get overwhelmed by all of the information out there. Even if you aren’t doing everything perfectly, as long as you follow these three rules, you can be sure to find success.