Qualitative vs Quantitative Training

We’ve all seen it so many times.  The guy or the gal doing their reps for what looks to be a butt-kicker of a set and you see their lips moving as they count 10…11…12.  They stop lifting and set the weight down, getting up grabbing their elbows or knees in pain and working themselves up to do another set.  Obviously there are alignment issues and/or arthritis, tissue inflammation issues happening here.  This is most commonly due to incorrect positioning, misalignment, and postural issues.  The focus here is not on what type of motion they are doing, but rather on how many reps they did and if it felt hard when they got done.  This is a very quantitative approach that will cause frustration and most likely injuries and lack of progress.  I address this because it is so common among the gym mentalities today and it needs to change toward a more qualitative approach.  This will create better progress, more strength, more flexibility, less injuries, and a more positive feedback loop for better overall results.

Now I understand that counting to a certain number of reps in your set is important, however the purpose of a workout is supposed to be to move with quality of motion while encountering resistance and pushing yourself safely toward fatigue.  Every workout being different.  Don’t misunderstand, not every set should be pushed to exhaustion.  Often times we get so mixed up with why we are doing our workout routine, we get sidetracked with some magazine workout that says “do 12 reps of this…”  So we do 12 with a weight we should have only done 8 with and we throw our backs or shoulders out trying to achieve this.  We need to focus our attention to quality of motion instead of quantity of motion.  Quantity of motion is only important if you are moving with quality first!

The person who is counting to a certain number just to be done, and is obviously using too light of weight, usually has elbows and knees that aren’t tracking with their joints properly and their hips that are out of alignment.  They, like most in the gym, will get done and be all sweaty from moving around a lot, “aka their workout” and be under the impression that they accomplished something worthwhile.   In fact, what they potentially did was create more misalignment and muscular imbalances then they had in the first place and are hurting themselves in the short and long term in their joints and surrounding soft tissue.  Quality of motion needs to be the most important focus in the gym and workout facilities!!  This is going to be done by understanding what the proper range of motions and limitations there are with each part of the body and how to stabilize the joints properly.  We need to work more off what feeling do we have in our muscles, joints and spine while we are performing our movements.  This is the root of establishing qualitative movement!

Get a qualified person who knows and understands the body and how the joints are lined up and how the body is supposed to work together.  Remember: Just cause a person has a piece of paper that says their certified doesn’t mean they are qualified to understand movement and quality of motion.  Then you can begin to add a load and create more challenge because you have a strong foundation to build yourself on!!  This i why I am so passionate about kettlebells.  They compliment the body so well and when trained with properly they will help you gain overall body strength, flexibility and endurance and promote proper alignment that I don’t believe you can get doing anything else.

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