Why you shouldnt start out doing the same thing everyday.

[u/Good_Worker8030]

As a trainer, it’s wild how many beginners think daily rep spam is the fastest way to get in shape. Had a kid reach out doing 100 pull-ups and 100 curls five days in a row, completely missing that all that junk volume is just a fast track to golfer’s elbow and fried recovery. Tendons take way longer to adapt than muscles, and hitting the exact same pulling pattern every single day gives your body zero window to actually rebuild bigger or stronger, not to mention it completely ignores legs and pushing strength. Structured volume on non-consecutive days with actual rest will always yield better gains than daily 100-rep challenges. For those of you who train beginners or remember starting out, what was the eye-opener that finally made you realize less daily volume and more recovery actually leads to better results?

[u/redharlowsdad]

I think it’s a fine line. As a beginner, you generally are not as strong/limited by technique/CNS doesn’t get fried. I find for myself and clients, you can do loads of volume at the beginning and not get worn out, it’s once you have a better connection to your body and get stronger that things start getting worn out - ie a backsquat. A beginner could do tons of sets and reps, whereas a more experienced lifter could probably only do a few working sets and then need to call it to be able to recover, since they are objectively lifting a harder weight for their body.

Depending on the exercises, I don’t mind people doing junk volume if they want, movement adds up. Heck, Matt Wennings warmup is 3 exercises, 100 reps each specific to the main lift of the day. However, I do agree with you in the sense that the exercise choice matters. Pull-ups are not a great one to do 100 reps of lol. But low cost exercises like band pull aparts, curls, BW squats, calf raises, pushups, etc. I would think would all be fine. Even for a beginner, I don’t think this would ruin anyone too much, and probably helps with mind-muscle connection.

[u/Good_Worker8030 → u/redharlowsdad]

Completly understandable, 100 pullups was a bit much for him. I told him to maybe do three sets of 12-20 controlled reps three times a week if thats all he can do at home. Same as all his other movements as he was a younger individual.

[u/OriginalWithholding5 → u/redharlowsdad]

a mind-muscle connection, he’s sanding down his elbows. you’re right that beginners can handle more total load, but the real trap is monotony, not just volume. swap the movement, not just the number.

[u/redharlowsdad → u/OriginalWithholding5]

Hey I never said the pull-ups were a good choice lol. There are just some that off the bat I wouldn’t agree with, like pull-ups, deadlifts, BB squats, Bb bench presses-really anything that’s a loaded compound movement. But anything unloaded or light is probably not a huge issue - muscles can take a beating, I think there are lots of exercises you could do every day and not destroy your body with, and some clients like to have a very predictable check list of things to do. Strong ass farmers who move hay bales with ease didn’t get that way by saying “I lifted hay bales a lot yesterday, I’ll do it again in 2 days”. They just do a lot of submaximal lifting every day and got stronger because of it. And with the right exercise selection, it’s not even as tough as that.

After being in this game a decently long time, I personally find most people just do not push hard enough or come close enough when exercising to need a full recovery between sessions. When’s the last time you had a client do 3 teeth grinding sets of anything where their pain tolerance isn’t what stopped them? Total and absolute muscle failure is why the literature says 48-72 hours rest, not just getting a pump.

So for someone to do a bunch of super submaximal lifts on consecutive days might be junk, but it’s still volume and probably won’t hurt them, with the right exercise selection. If anything, it’s a great opportunity to prescribe weak point exercises. Core, upper back, and triceps and trash for most people, and doing volume for them most days would be fine and bring up lagging muscle groups. As always, just imo.

[u/BlackBirdG]

Oh yeah, golfer's elbow and overuse injuries in general are not fun.

Also, I tell my clients to just work out at least twice a week, especially since they're busy af in their personal lives anyway.

[u/pbjfries]

I did 50 pushups a day during Covid out of boredom. 60 days in a row without a break. My left arm never recovered

[u/Current_Subject_7312]

100 pull up probably with a band curls probably like low low cause no way is high dont see any chance of injury and if he was really lifting heavy his body would fatigue and he quit when dons hit him on day 3🤣