Why You Don’t Need More, You Need Better

Many of us fall into the trap of the “more mentality.” We think doing more workouts, trying more extreme diets, or piling on more hours of grind will finally unlock the results we want. It’s an easy assumption: if some exercise or dieting is good, then more must be better, right?

Wrong. In reality, chasing quantity over quality often leads to diminishing returns. Each extra set or mile can give you progressively smaller benefits and eventually even backfire . The same goes for yo-yo dieting – most diets fail most of the time , leaving people stuck in a cycle of restriction and rebound. If you’ve ever felt like you’re working hard but not seeing the progress, this might be why. The answer isn’t to double down on “more” – it’s to start doing better.

In this post, we’ll explore how to train smarter (not harder), to optimize your lifestyle and recovery. It’s time to break free from the inefficient work and embrace a “better, not more” mindset for sustainable fitness success. Let’s dive in.

Training Smarter, Not Harder

Dump the Junk Volume: First, let’s talk about what many fitness pros (like the folks at Barbell Medicine) call “junk volume.” Junk volume refers to excessive, unnecessary exercise that doesn’t meaningfully contribute to your goals . It’s all that extra fluff in your routine – those five different bicep curl variations, or those random high-rep burnouts – that take up time and energy but yield no real gains. In fact, doing too much can hurt your progress by eating into recovery capacity. Ever slog through marathon workouts only to feel sore and weak with little to show for it? That’s the junk volume effect. Instead of more sets on top of sets, you’re better off focusing on the quality of your training. As one coach put it, you might be “putting in the effort, but the returns won’t be as impressive as they could be” if your training is unfocused.

The 80/20 Rule in Training: When it comes to working out, more isn’t always better – better is better. The classic 80/20 principle applies here: roughly 20% of exercises deliver about 80% of your improvements . In other words, a few key movements give you the biggest bang for your buck, and all those extra isolation moves and fancy techniques are minor boosters at best. Science backs this up: studies find there’s a point of rapidly diminishing returns in training volume – beyond a certain number of sets, each additional set yields little benefit . So instead of a laundry list of exercises, streamline your routine around the most effective lifts.

The 5 Essential Movements: Build your workouts around these five pillars of movement:

1. Squats (and variations): Squats work your quads, glutes, hamstrings, core, and more in one motion. They mimic real-life movements (like getting up, lifting things) and give huge overall returns. Squats involve several important muscles, making great use of your training time and even boosting upper-body strength by engaging your core . Front squats, goblet squats – any type can provide serious benefits.

2. Hip hinge movements: Hinge-based movements is one of those patterns that I see butchered the MOST often, and because of that, they get a negative connotation that they may 'hurt your back.' Few exercises stimulate as many muscles simultaneously, from your legs and glutes to your back and even arms . Because deadlifts recruit so much muscle mass, they are incredibly time-efficient for building overall strength. They teach you real-world strength (how to safely pick up heavy objects) and can improve your posture and grip. Variations like Romanian deadlifts or kettlebell swings also fall here.

3. Presses: Upper-body pushing movements like the bench press, shoulder press or push-ups build your chest, shoulders, and triceps. They’re great for developing pushing power (think pushing a door or getting up off the floor). Whichever you choose, a horizontal, and/or vertical press is essential for upper-body development.

4. Pulls: We need pulling strength to balance out pushes. Not only that, the majority of us are anterior dominant, meaning we hold most of muscle tissue in the front of our body.  With that may come a host of issues, one of those being poor postural stability, limited scapular mobility, just to name a few.  All horizontal and vertical pulling motions should be staples in your program.  Including around 2-5 exercises throughout the week will ensure you are sufficient in hitting your upper posterior chain.

5. Unilateral-Based Movements: What I believe is one of the single best variations of exercises to build resiliency, independency, and overall strength.  Not only do they allow us to address weaknesses and imbalances, but it also allows us to allocate more resources to one side, meaning our motor unit recruitment on a set per set basis improves.  

These five variations of movement (squat, hinge/deadlift, push, pull, unilaterals) give huge return on investment. By mastering the overarching goal of these in your program, you cover your bases – everything else is just accessory. Remember, very few exercises will deliver as much “total package” benefit as these basics. For example, Focus on form, tension, control, and progressively adding weight, difficulty, or reps, and you’ll get far more out of 5 solid exercises than 15 half-hearted ones.

Work Hard, Then Back Off

“Training smarter” doesn’t mean “go easy” – you still need to push yourself in those key exercises. But it does mean avoiding burnout. Aim to challenge yourself on those more difficult lifts (with appropriate intensity and progression) and then know when to stop.

Doing 10 sets of heavy squats will likely beat you into the ground; 3–5 quality sets will stimulate growth, and then you can move on.

Let's take 2 people for example: 

Person A does 20+ sets per workout, barely any effort, and wonders why they don't make any progress. 

Person B does 3 sets per workout, absolutely killing themselves, and wonders why they are always tired. 

Now, in the context of the situation, Person B would possibly be doing better, BUT we can optimize both of them.  

Person A can cut those sets per workout in half, while increasing the overall effort of their sets on a per set basis, and will see a TON more gains

Person B can also add a few more sets in from a different exercise or two, while decreasing the effort by a tad on a per set basis, and will notice a LOT more energy & recovery.

This is where listening to your body and an understanding of volume comes in. If you hit your major lifts with good effort, you don’t need endless extra sets of curls and leg raises. Save that energy for recovery.

Recovery is Part of Training

Counterintuitive as it sounds, gains actually happen outside the gym – when you’re resting. Every workout is a stress on your body that requires recovery to spur adaptation.

Overdoing it without ample recovery is like trying to climb a never-ending hill; you’ll eventually burn out or start sliding backward. “Stress causes adaptation but only if you can recover from it,” notes Dr. Andy Galpin.

In fact, muscle grows during rest, not during the workout itself. If you blast your body with more than it can handle, you don’t give it the chance to rebuild stronger. Don’t underestimate recovery – it’s where the real progress and results emerge . That means scheduling rest days, getting quality sleep (more on that later), and not annihilating the same muscle group day after day. By training hard and then adequately recovering, you’ll actually improve faster than if you just keep hammering away. Remember: better results come from optimal stimulus + recovery per individual, not over-maximal stimulus + exhaustion.

We've compiled a video list of our 3 favorite exercises per movement pattern we've listed above, that way you can get the biggest bank for your buck.  This will show you exactly how to perform the movements, and what some of our favorite tips & cues are to complete them. 

It's completely free, just click the link below:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dazgG1XL-ob0L7MlqHvvvtexlrshwbBV?usp=drive_link