11 Warning Signs Your Training is Broken

*If your goal is strength, athleticism, injury resilience, and a body that defies aging.

  1. You don’t lift
  2. You don’t follow a program
  3. You lift every day (unless you understand recovery and periodization)
  4. You don’t count reps
  5. You do too many reps
  6. You don’t vary exercise progressions or increase load
  7. Your injuries don’t get better
  8. You’re missing even one of the essential movement patterns
  9. You don’t move at different speeds and in different directions
  10. No assessments or standards
  11. You plateau

How did you do? Avoiding 80% of these is a passing score. If you’re guilty of any of these, don’t feel bad, my training falls apart sometimes, too. Plus, I don’t expect many to know this. Let’s break it down.

You Don’t Lift

Anything you do for exercise is wonderful, but you need some resistance training in there. Resistance gives you benefits that no other form of exercise can as effectively. If there were, I’d teach that.

You Don’t Follow a Program

You’re winging it every session. I’ll figure it out when I get there” isn’t a strategy. Random workouts produce random results.

You Lift Every Day

(unless you understand recovery and periodization)

Rest days aren’t for the weak, they’re when the body transforms. Those legendary athletes who are pushing far beyond the average career expectancy focus heavily on recovery.

You Don’t Count Reps

If you’re not tracking, you’re just guessing. This can lead to imbalanced muscles or outcomes that don’t align with your goals. Reps determine resistance and physiological adaptations.

You Do Too Many Reps

You’re doing 30+ reps per set or going until you can’t. That’s cardio with weights, not strength training. Some of your workouts can be like this, but not your primary workouts.

You Don’t Vary Exercise Progressions or Increase Load

Same weight, same exercises, forever. Your body adapted to this a year ago. Without progression, time will win this battle.

Your Injuries Don’t Get Better

That shoulder/knee/back thing from 2 years ago? Still there. Training should make you MORE resilient, not more broken.

You’re Missing Even One of the Essential Movement Patterns

Squat, hinge, single leg, push, pull, rotation, jumping, and locomotion. You need to train these patterns weekly to be completely functional.

You Don’t Move at Different Speeds and in Different Directions

You only move forward at one speed. You need power, control, up, down, sideways, and everything between.

No Assessments or Standards

You don’t have a standard to aim for, or no proof that you’re getting better. When’s the last time you tested anything? The numbers don’t lie, and what gets measured gets managed.

You Plateau

You’ve been stuck at the same level for months. Plateaus happen, but they shouldn’t be permanent. My standard: plateaus are a no-no. Again, time will win if you aren’t improving.

What To Do

If you’re guilty of any of these, don’t feel bad, my training falls apart sometimes, too. Plus, I don’t expect many to even know this.

I run this check on every program I build or follow. Now you have the awareness to check your own training. These are all fixable, and nearly every one can be implemented immediately, as in, today. Your body will be so happy with you.

Why This Should Matter to You

If you’re putting in the effort to train, I want you to get the full benefits by training smarter. You’ll even be able to spend less time training and get better results. If I could magically have a high-performance body without any effort, I’d take it. Knowing where to focus and fine-tune my efforts is the next best thing.

Start with Professional Help

If you don’t have a coach or haven’t learned the basics, it is worth hiring someone to teach you. I often take a hybrid approach where I teach people in person, then give them homework to do on their own. Eventually, they go fully online or independent of me.

If you have hired someone before, unfortunately, it is possible that your trainer sucks. They 100% should know this stuff.

What other signs tell you training isn’t working? Share your thoughts and let’s grow together.