Quality Wins- A Case for Lower Reps

“A few well designed movements, properly performed in a balance sequence are worth hours of sloppy calisthenics or forced contortion.” - Joseph Pilates

Here is a scenario- You are on the treadmill at the gym and across the room you see a very determined woman holding a plank for what seems like an eternity. As the time goes by you start to watch her hips drop towards the floor, her wrists bend , and abdominals distend. She looks uncomfortable. Despite this she keeps going. If she doesn’t make it a full 5 minutes she will not burn off that extra slice of pizza she ate last night. You run across the room to correct her form but it’s too late. She has already tweaked her lower back and strained her wrists. Her shoulder hurts too. Even though her intentions were to be strong and healthy, her desire to focus on quantity of movement over quality caused more harm than good.

Form Fix

Joseph Pilates, a boxer, a gymnast, and a weight lifter, spent his life studying how humans and animals move. He knew that the purpose of exercise was not to strain or fatigue the body but rather preserve and energize it. Quality of movement is more significant than the quantity of reps and doing too many repetitions of an exercise and fatiguing muscles can end up in injury or just being plain exhausted. He believed it was much more efficient to do 3-8 repetitions really well, move on with your day, and go live your life.

You are probably thinking WHAT?!! 3 -8 reps? How can that be effective? That is not enough torture for me to call that a workout! Well, if you are tuned into your body, scooping your abdominals, stabilizing your spine and joints, maintaining alignment, and moving from one exercise to the next that is actually a lot of work and certainly more effort than doing 100 mindless bicep curls while watching Judge Judy. Connecting to your body and enjoying movement will also make exercise more desirable. You may even want to do it more frequently.

Staying fit doesn’t have to be an unpleasant chore or a punishment. Do as many reps that you can do properly and when your threshold is met move on. You have a life to live.