How I wasted so much time working out over the years

Time is our greatest asset and it can be pretty painful mentally if you come to a point and realize you wasted a lot of it.. The “what if’s” and the “if I had just’s” can tease you forever. These are the thoughts I’ve had to deal with regarding getting into shape.
Too much fitness information
When it comes to fitness and nutrition, there is a ton of information out there. Multiply that information by personal opinions and you can literally find an argument for and against every kind of diet, workout, supplement, etc. It becomes tough to just simplify the basic things you need to know. I was introduced to the gym by a friend while in college. Since we were broke students, we didn’t have the luxury of learning the correct way to work out. Even today I’m still learning things by trial and error and my own research. If I was able to go back in time and tell my younger self a piece of advice it would be to just focus on making progress.
Yes, doing exercises with correct form is important for not hurting yourself and activating the muscles effectively. Yes, having your diet in order is a large percentage of where you will see change in your body. It took me years to realize that none of those factors matter if I’m not making progress in the gym over time.
These days, I know before I even get to the gym what needs to happen for me to have an effective workout. Being sore or tired are no longer the clues for me to say I had a good workout. The only key that matters is if the weight and reps I lifted for the current workout has progressed from previous workouts.
Anyone new to the gym can make progress very quickly without having to put in a ton of effort. The stimulus of weight training is so new to the body that it adapts much more aggressively by growing and getting stronger compared to someone who is more experienced with weight training. I regret that I didn’t know this when I started working out. I was growing and getting stronger but then I started to see over time that I stopped making improvements. My first thought was maybe my workout just isn’t good anymore. So I would switch workouts every few months to see which magic workout would get me stronger and bigger again. I tried almost every workout format available and I still didn’t make many improvements in the gym. My second thought was maybe I’m not eating enough. So I ate more and I got bigger but not in a good way. I got chubby, looked out of shape, and my cardiovascular health took a toll. It took me a long time to realize the basic key I always heard I should do but was too lazy to actually do it.
Tracking workouts
Every week that goes by I see just how effective tracking everything is. In the past, no matter how much I thought I would remember all my reps and weight from the previous workout, it always turned into a guessing game. I would work out based on how a certain weight felt. If it felt heavy then I would go down in weight which could have meant reversing progress. Sure it might of felt heavy but what if I just didn’t get enough sleep the night before? What if I haven’t been drinking enough water or was working out on an empty stomach? I had no structure or plan and no accurate way to gauge my progress.
I’m at the point now where I will not even start my workout until I have my workout log loaded on my phone. Google sheets is a life saver because I can update everything from my laptop or from my phone. Synced technology is extremely helpful in this case so I can make sure my numbers are always up to date.
So just what do I track? Everything I plan on doing in my workout gets tracked. I have each movement, the amount of weight I did the previous workout, and the number of reps listed for the week that I’m on. Below is a example to show how I do this.

This of course isn’t my full plan but a glimpse of how things look. The next time I have these particular workouts on the schedule I know exactly what I need to try and achieve. Each week the goal is to be able to type “go up next” on my last set. It’s a short reminder for me to increase the weight when I fill out the numbers for my next workout.
As an example, look at Dumbbell Bench Press on Workout 1. The next time I do this workout I need to aim to get at least 6 reps on my last set. The rep range I have listed for the exercise is 6–8. My first two sets were well within the range (8 reps, 7 reps) but my last set did not get in the range. Knowing this before I start this workout again gives me something to focus on and strive for. I’m not going into the gym blindly just doing random exercises like I used to.
Rate of progression
It’s not realistic to think every exercise for every workout you’ll make progress but that’s always the goal to keep in mind. Going back to the example before, my goal isn’t to increase weight on the next workout. My goal is only to increase the reps on my last set. If I can do that cleanly then that lets me know I’m ready to increase the weight. So the next time I will aim to do 90lbs for 6 to 8 reps. I always follow reps first, weight second. I also realized trying to advance before you’re ready does more harm than good which is why I focus on reps first.
Once I focused on tracking every workout I started to see the changes I wanted to see in strength and muscle again. It didn’t have anything to do with the specific workout plan I was doing or some secret workout tip. It had everything to do with structure and a firm plan.
Progression Models
Moving up in weights and reps is the most efficient for me and saves time instead of adding more and more sets or only doing more and more reps with the same weight. Also, progressing by decreasing rest times I don’t like doing because it causes me to feel much weaker from set to set since it’s pretty exhausting.

To expand on the picture above, if I’m lifting 105lbs for 3 sets of 4–6 reps then my goal is to make sure at least one of those sets hits the top of the rep range. In this case, I want to achieve 6 reps on at least one of my sets. If I’m able to achieve anywhere from 4–6 reps on the remaining sets then I’m ready to move up the slightest amount of weight that I can. Depending on the exercise this could be 10lbs or 5lbs. Following the example, I would move up to 110lbs for my next workout and try to complete the progression again.
Everyone is different and has different approaches but one thing remains the same. Progress must be made and just doing things without a plan is a waste of time.
Thanks for reading! :) If you enjoyed this story or found it helpful please share your thoughts in the comments section or just hit the 💚.
Also, you can find me @themacgregory on Instagram.
