Stick To The Basics

“Creativity is over-rated. Most business success comes from doing boring, diligent work. From developing a system that produces consistent results and sticking to it.”

Ray Croc - Founder of McDonalds

Perhaps you’re wondering what this has to do with exercise, working out, training, or whatever it is that you call it. If you do it for a living like I do, it means everything.

I train a lot of athletes, especially young ones. Ranging anywhere from 10 years old all the up to the professional level. I often have parents say to me something like this, “We’ll have little Johnny try it out and see if he likes it.” I then explain to them that little Johnny might not like it…BUT DO YOU WANT HIM TO BECOME FASTER, STRONGER, AND BIGGER FOR HIS SPORT? That is the question they should be asking, not if he’ll like it.

I’m not in the entertainment business. If I was here for that I’d put on a clown suit and run around squirting water out of a flower on you or your kids. Maybe even kick you in the balls with an over-sized clown shoe (hey, I’d find it funny). I’m here to produce results in the fastest, yet safest way possible. I do this by picking the correct loading parameters, exercises, rest intervals, and frequency and it more often than not, involves your basic, complex exercises. These almost always produce the most bang for your buck. I say always because there’s always exceptions.

The majority of people I see training in gyms or talk to about training, confuse trendy with cutting edge. Perhaps they’re more entertained and have more fun balancing on a bosu ball or doing a bunch of unstable exercises thinking that it’s more “functional”. If you are just trying to have fun and this floats your boat, I ain’t mad at ya. But if you actually want results from your training, you’re wasting your time.

Here’s a few quick tips on how to design an effective results-based workout.

1. If you’re exercising with weights 3 times a week or less, do full body workouts.

2. Balance your body by training both sides of your joints.

3. Pick the exercises that are going to give you the biggest ROI (Return On Investment)

4. Choose the right loading parameters based off your goals.

5. Pick the correct rest intervals based off your goals.

6. Measure your workouts effectiveness by writing down what you do (keep a training log).

7. Make sure your workouts are progressive.

8. Stay laser focused on your goals.

One of my clients, and close friend, got caught up in training with all the fancy equipment at his gym. He started training with me and all I did was return him to the basics. The exercises that produce results. Here's what he had to say:

Before training with Chris:

250 lb bench press
305 lb dead lift
6 body weight pull-ups
305 lb squat
18% body fat

After training with Chris for four months:

285 lb bench press
425 lb dead lift
8 pull-ups with body weight plus 30 lbs hanging from me
360 lb squat
12% body fat

Enough said!”

Ryan Serge - Film Productions Assistant Manager


In the next post, I’ll go into detail on all 8 tips.

In the meantime, stay focused

Chris Grayson