Throughout my years in the fitness industry, I’ve seen many things both good and bad. Working at a commercial gym for two years, I tend to see more bad than good.
Below is a checklist I came up with to help you determine whether you’re truly training or just wasting your time.
#1 Are you squatting or deadlifting regularly?
Hitting 3–4 sets of 135 lbs for 10 reps doesn’t count. You should be performing heavy deadlifts or squats at least one time per week. I’ve found that a heavy deadlift day and a squat day in the same week generally doesn’t work because it’s way too taxing on the body. Unless you’re doing these two exercises regularly, don’t come to me asking how to put on more muscle.
#2 Do you perform body weight movements?
My number one upper body movement is pull-ups, either body weight or weighted. If you don’t perform pull-ups regularly, get out of my gym. You’re wasting space. On top of pull-ups, there are hundreds of body weight movements that should be utilized in any training program. If you can’t move your body weight fluently, what good are you? And no, I don’t care if you bench press 500 lbs or more.
#3 Does your warm up last more than ten minutes?
If you don’t warm up prior to working out and have yet to get injured, chances are you aren’t training hard enough. I love the looks I get at the gym while performing my warm up. Just because you don’t sweat during your workout doesn’t mean you get to look at me like I have two heads because I’m dripping after a nice warm up. This is generally when I will perform my body weight movements as well as a nice dynamic warm up, some joint mobility, and of course, foam roller work.
#4 Do you perform hill sprints or regular sprints?
I always get a kick out of seeing people walk backward on the treadmill at 2.0 mph. “I’m tricking my body to raise my heart rate though.” Oh really…to me you’re just making a fool out of yourself. Try running sprints or hill sprints a couple days a week for an extended period of time and then tell me that you need to trick your body into burning fat.
#5 Are you incorporating complexes into your weekly routine?
These are a great tool that very few people use. Not only will they shed fat and increase your metabolism, but they also build mental toughness. Barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and sandbags are my four favorite tools for complexes.
#6 After the workout, do you look like you worked out?
Day in and day out, I see people walk into the gym and leave 1–2 hours later looking no different than they did when they entered the facility. Personally, when I leave the gym I look like hell. Between the sweat and chalk all over me, it looks like I’ve been through battle, which is exactly what just happened.
#7 Is jumping rope part of your cardio routine?
It’s amazing how few people still jump rope. Not only will jumping rope burn a lot of calories in a short period of time, but it will also improve your foot speed, which can’t hurt anyone.
#8 Do you take your nutrition seriously?
Anyone serious about weight training knows that a great deal of your results come from your nutrition. Not only does your food fuel you through your workouts, but it will also help with the recovery process. Anyone eating fast food and junk regularly isn’t serious about training. “You can’t outwork a bad diet.”
#9 Is going out to drink your major source of entertainment?
Great idea—lets bust our butt all week long at the gym so we can suck down thousands of dead calories and poison our bodies over the weekend (or worse yet during the week). If you’re serious about your training, lay off the drinking. This will benefit you in all aspects of your life (other than your sex life).
#10 Are you getting results?
If you’ve been spending a great deal of time at the gym without any results, chances are you aren’t training with the proper intensity. Give your program a couple months to work and if you see nothing, reevaluate what you’re doing. Do not jump from program to program. Give each particular program the adequate amount of time to work before reevaluating.
Chances are it isn’t the program—it’s your lack of intensity!
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Adam Spizman is a performance enhancement specialist who runs his warehouse gym, Spizman’s Strength Systems, in Oswego, New York. He specializes in training high school, college, and professional level athletes. For more information on his methods, visit 
Refreshing article that everyone should live by. I love jumping rope.
All great points. Nice article Adam!
I’m currently doing Heavy Squats on Monday and Heavy Deadlifts on Thursday. Should I stop doing this? Should I chose one or the other? I’ve only been doing it for about 3 weeks now.
Great article.
Good checklist Adam. How many exercises would you recommend for a typical complex?
@ Dustin: How heavy? I could basically do that for my first year (until I broke 300 on the deadlift/squat). Then that started breaking me down too fast so I cut back on them to only one heavy lower body session a week. But hey, if you’re a mutant then go ahead.
great article, would you write one on the warming up you described. so that all of us who have seen the light can join in the training.
I might be the perfect trainer – I do all of that stuff with myself and my clients. Jump rope and hill sprints are about the only cardio I do (barefoot prowler work in summer).
“YOU CAN’T OUTWORK A BAD DIET” …This is pricless and (for me) a quote I will remember forever! Great article!
Great article…so true about the warm-up period.
I agree with most of these points but really who cares if someone can do 50 chins, I understand how this type of athletic ability translates to some sports but nobody ever asks Ed Coan or Ronnie Coleman how many chins they can do. I find that the chin heroes are most often the ones that weight 185lbs and are intimidated by the the guys that do bench 500 (Wendler and Kroc are the exception of course).
I don’t agree with some of these points. It seems like you just want everyone to train your way. Bodyweight movements other than chins and dips, doing complexes, and excessively long warm-ups all scream “I train fighters and no one else.” I don’t do any of that, but I sure as shit “train.” Oh, and don’t tell people to eat better when you are posting a “healthy” waffle recipe on your blog.
I also change my training program every 3rd workout (2 weeks), does that make me a bad person?
What are complex’s
@Dustin – sounds like your rest periods between squats and deadlifts adhere to Wendler’s 5-3-1 program. I’ve trained with the same rest period (following 5-3-1) for 15 months with no problems and continued to make gains. One evaluation point – as Wendler suggests – do not do any conditioning the day before lower body work. As long as you follow the rest periods, condition properly, and deload, you shouldn’t have any problems.
@Gerry – I was about to say, “Wendler and Kroc both…” haha
@ Diego – Do you think 10mins is “excessively long?” I powerlift and between some jumping rope, stretching, foam rolling, bar-only movements, etc., that could easily be done in 10 minutes. Is that excessive? I agree, complexes are kinda iffy.
i have tried pullups/chins in the past, and still rotate them into training for variety, but in my experience thus far the only thing pullups/chins have helped me improve at is pullups/chins. they do nothing for my strength on the big three. they give me a good break from rowing, but other than that, they have been utterly useless to me. other than that, great article bud!
Dave and Jim ate fast food, and were/are strong as hell…lol
Spot on Diego. Spot on.
Yeah I’m gonna agree with most of the posters.
Since I’ve gotten more and more into training, and read what other successful people do, I’ve come to one conclusion that holds fast for EVERYONE. And that is that every single person is different.
I love to foam roll, do a good thorough warm-up, eat clean and healthy, and train hard. But there are a LOT of big dudes out there (bodybuilders and powerlifters) that have never even seen a foam roller, couldn’t tell you what a Y-T-W-L is, or eat anything even close to healthy.
To me, the only requirement for training, is that when you step in the gym, you bust your ass. That doesn’t mean it has to be deadlifts, or bench, or prowler work. You can bust your ass doing wrist curls if you really put your mind to it.
Thats my 2 cents…
Solid-thanks.
sounds like he ripped off wendler, repackaged it and stamped his name on it, good points but come on be original
Great post…the only thing I would add is, “Are you getting out of the gym and using all this stuff to be better at what ever sport you love, be it mt. biking, rock climbing, adventure racing, kayaking, canyoneering…this list goes on!”
EXCELLENT article! My personal fav is #1 but spot on with these.
I generally do a small warmup before going into my main lifts. I’m currently doing 5×5 and always start with a squat so i warmup doing low weight squats.
Could anyone recommend some good articles/tutorials on foam roalling? I’m interested in incorporating these before/after my workouts.
I should say that my initial warmup is basically mobility with a focus on my legs and hips — this usually lasts from 5-10 minutes and THEN i do a ‘warmup’ while squatting. I think of it as revving up my squat engine — however that sounds…
I agree that everyone is different, but there are some similarities when training right. Intensity and recovery are two of them in my book. If it works for you then continue to do what you do in my opinion.
Yep, yep, yep!
Good article.
I think I might print this off and hang it in our camp’s gym.
I am going to print this up and put it in my gym. I tell trainners all the time about the squat and the deadlift but nobody ever listens to me. I was able to check everything on the list except jumping rope which I hate but am trying. Thanks for the great article.
#1 Are you squatting or deadlifting regularly?
No, No, and No benching. I do a little board pressing, (4 boards), maybe 2-3 times per month.
I do use the supercat machine, water work and Plyometrics for legs.
#2 Do you perform body weight movements?
Yes.
#3 Does your warm up last more than ten minutes?
Yes.
#4 Do you perform hill sprints or regular sprints?
Yes.
#5 Are you incorporating complexes into your weekly routine?
Yes, but different type of complexes. Not much barbell, dumbells, or kettlebells.
#6 After the workout, do you look like you worked out?
Yes.
#7 Is jumping rope part of your cardio routine?
Yes.
#8 Do you take your nutrition seriously?
Yes.
#9 Is going out to drink your major source of entertainment?
I drink 2 or 3 times a year.
#10 Are you getting results?
Yes. 6 ft. 195 6-10% body fat fluctuation throughout the year for the past 10 years.
cool article, good idea.
Amen, brother.
Awesome article! Many powerlifters prefer to hammer back junk food than trying to eat clean. You can be big, strong and super unhealthy. Personally I would prefer to be a beast AND live a long healthy life AND be able to move my ass around without having a heart attack. Once again, wicked article.
@Dustin: Many people get away with heavy deads and squats in a single week. Most my training is geared around athletes putting in many hours of additional training each week so hitting heavy days on both movements is way to taxing on the bodies and typically leads to overtraining. You must ask yourself what is your particular goals, if you wanna get strong and pack on serious muscle two heavy days may be a good idea and if your an athlete trying to improve performance not so much
@Jason: I will generally do 4-6 movements per complex depending on experience and fitness levels. The more taxing the movements the less exercises I will do for the most part(Cleans,frontsquat, snatch vs. press, row, curls). I will perform these either counting reps or doing timed sets. Also try picking movements that flow into one another such as a deadlift to upright row or hang clean to front squat.
@Caleb: I will right an article on warm ups this coming week and will post it for you.
@cicso: Check out my blog in the next 3-4 days and I will post a full foam roll tutorials for you
The guys who are badmouthing the bodywight exercises aren’t doin them. There is a world of progress to be made in your bench by adding chins, dips and bodyweight rows in a rack to your list. try this for a month, just squats, chins and dips. Not a easy workout, but it works. 20 rep squats twice a week, at least 50 chins and dips three times a week, if you need to add weight or reps to 100 in however many sets it takes. Its a nice change every six months or so and hard as hell.
Creat article!True- Correct warm up, rest and recovery are also very important !
I use body weight exercises extensively. Pull ups are an awesome exercise. I also do what I call semi-handstand pushups for my shoulders. I can’t do full handstand pushups yet. haha! You basically place your hands on the floor as if you’re going to do a handstand, but instead of kicking up you just start doing pushups. In other words, your body looks like an upside down V when you do them. Great workout for the shoulders.
Damn right for every one of these points. My favorite days are the deadlift days. Squats are just part of the routine and I can’t imagine myself not doing them. I find LSD cardio boring, but I still do it occasionally. The bulk of my cardio comes from sprints, jump rope, and complexes. I rarely drink, though when it comes to nutrition, it could be a bit better.