Unfortunately there’s a lot of false information spread in the average gym. Usually by people who talk too much and don’t know enough.

When you hear advice being thrown around in the gym (even by qualified PTs) it’s a good idea to follow the Pareto Principle. This is also known as the 80:20 rule.

You can find the 80:20 rule everywhere in life, not just in the gym. It usually means that 80% of the outputs come from 20% of the inputs. You find this often in business, where 20% of customers may account for 80% of revenue. Another example is where 80% of the complaints come from 20% of customers.

Sometimes it is more of a 90:10 relationship, or even a 99:1 relationship. This is definitely the case with results from the gym and your diet.

90% of the results you’ll get on your fitness journey will come from 10% of the different things you could focus on.

Focusing on increasing volume over time and being in either a calorie deficit or surplus depending on your goal will get you 90% of the results. Everything else will either do extremely little, or absolutely nothing.

Casual advice offered by other gym goers is AT LEAST 80% bullshit

That’s regardless of whether it relates to gaining muscle or strength, or losing fat/getting more defined.

I think the reason for this, is that those most excited to give advice are those who have only been pursuing their fitness/aesthetic goals for a short period of time. They are in the early stages of the journey. They are still ignoring the methods that will really work because those methods take too much time (years, for the kind of results that they want). They are trying all of the “magic bullets”, in the hope of finding a shortcut to success.

In their 3 months to one year of pursuing a goal, they’ve tried a few things and had some results. However, they think the results they are getting are due to the “egg diet” or 6am lemon water. The real reason they’ve seen results is because they’re beginners who’ve never forced their bodies to adapt to weight training before. They’re also now eating fewer calories because they restrict certain types of foods.

So, next time you’re in the gym and you hear some advice, take it with a huge pinch of salt.

If you want to build muscle, follow these principles.

If you want to lose fat, follow these principles.

Remember that results take years and the magic shortcuts don’t exist. You need to work hard and be consistent for YEARS to build a head-turning physique. However, you can make some serious progress (especially fat loss) in shorter periods. Just remember it’s down to diet, training and consistency. Not magic.