Quality is more important than quantity – Courtney Werner

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles” – Steve Jobs

As many of you know, quality would typically be the preference to quantity, be it purchases, relationships, or- you guessed it- your workouts! There are a few varieties in which quality will always outweigh quantity when you are getting your daily wod in!

First, quality versus quantity of days you are in the gym. In your opinion, which makes more sense? 7 days a week working out, 5 of which are slow moving days that you count as “bad days” but still try and RX the workout, OR, 5 days of good, QUALITY fitness, with 2 days of recovery to finish off the week? Remember that your body NEEDS to recover. It NEEDS days off which are complete rest days, not a 5 mile walk/ run as a “recovery”. According to Women’s Health, “​‘Strength, power, speed, and muscle mass actually increase during resting periods. Technically it’s known as “specific adaptations to imposed demands,” explains Silverman. “So, if you go hard the entire time and don’t allow your body to “catch up” you could find you don’t progress as quickly as those who are savvy enough to incorporate rest days.’” You may think that you are helping yourself by working out 7 days a week, but really you are hindering yourself from reaching those goals. Remember, QUALITY over QUANTITY.

Secondly, quality reps versus quantity of reps. Envision yourself walking into the gym, and completing the reps at half the expected ​amount​? It may not be intentional, but hey- whatever needs to be done in order to beat the person next to you, RIGHT? Believe it or not, the most important thing is not the number of reps on the board, or the fastest time- although we do all love a little bit of competition. But, would you consider it a win if you squatted to partial depth and finished 2 minutes faster than a person who did every rep correctly? QUALITY reps are more important than the AMOUNT you do.

Thirdly, QUALITY will get you results, QUANTITY will not. Sometimes we think that working through the workout FAST will allow us to get better at movements. Again, quality wins on this one. Completing 100 single unders as opposed to 15 double unders will never help you improve your double unders. The effort is where the success comes from. You are not able to achieve the goals you want by skipping over quality movements.

LASTLY, remember that it is important to have good quality movements to ensure you are being safe and healthy while working out! As coaches, our primary goal is to have you working out in an environment that allows for maximum ability to improve your functional lifestyle, while adding in a competitive edge. This makes going to the gym enjoyable and yet pushes you every day. Just remember that how you do it is more important than how fast you do it!

Quality is more important than quantity – Courtney Werner