Watching a man walk around the gym working out can be very entertaining. Skip your favorite television show one night and go to the gym and notice what the men in the gym do to get in shape. The one difference between men and women is that most women will admit they don’t have a clue what they are doing and will be open to suggestions and advice. Men on the other hand will act like they are professional bodybuilders or powerlifters when you try to offer some help. But I guarantee they will be watching the exercises you do to get some new ideas.

Even though men are supposedly so knowledgeable about lifting weights it’s interesting to monitor the progress they make in the gym. Do a little experiment. Go to the gym and find one guy to keep track of. Go back three months later and I would be willing to bet he will look the same, no more muscle and no less body fat, and will be lifting the same weights, not any heavier. Why is it that three months later nothing has changed? Is it that this particular person doesn’t have the right genes, or is there something else going on?

To be blunt the average male weight-lifter doesn’t have a clue when it comes to working out. They think that since they read “Muscle and Fitness” or “Men’s Health” they are masters of their own bodies. You will also have the guys whose friends are really strong and really fit, so that’s all they need. I will never fault a lack of knowledge, but to be unwilling to entertain the possibility that you don’t know as much as you could is unacceptable. You have nothing to lose from learning a little more.

As with every person in the world, the average male gym-goer will perform the exercises that they like and avoid the exercises that they don’t like. This is the biggest problem men have when working out. Men love working out their chest and their biceps, but hate working out their legs. Why do you think so many men wear pants in the gym? It could be 90 degrees in the gym and men will still be wearing their baggy bodybuilders pants. They don’t want you to see their under-developed legs. Training this way will not only cause injuries but it will also slow and ultimately halt any progress made in the gym.

The typical man will walk into a gym with the intent of working on a particular muscle, maybe today is chest day. They will then walk around the gym performing various kinds of chest presses and chest flies whatever way necessary to get the weight up. Men like to try to show off so they generally put 10-25 more pounds on the bar than they can lift with proper technique, just in case any women are watching. They will spend around an hour doing a mediocre job of effectively working the muscle. Generally there is too much talking and really bad technique on the lifts.

Then the next day might be back day, which isn’t nearly as enjoyable to train. It’s hard to watch yourself flex your back in the mirror. So, even though the chest day was mediocre, the back exercises will be non-existent. The typical man will perform a few lat pulldowns and some seated rows, with poor technique, and call it a day.

Next may be leg day, and nobody likes leg day. Why would anyone want to have strong legs, you only walk on them all day long? The typical man’s leg workout will consist of a few leg presses, some leg extensions, leg curls, and a few calf raises. Any other exercise is too much work, so why bother.

Lastly, the typical man will focus on their arms. Men love the idea of having big biceps and will work them to death. The average man will perform at least nine sets of bicep work on a given day. A lot of men will also neglect their triceps, doing a much smaller number of exercises and sets. Lastly, there are the shoulders. I think there are two kinds of men when it comes to shoulders, men who want massive shoulders and men who don’t care. The men who want “boulders for shoulders” will do front raises, lateral raises, upright rows, and military presses all in an attempt to build big shoulders. The men who don’t care will generally do a lateral raise or two with a few front raises and call it a day. But man do they love their biceps.

If the average man decides not to do a split routine and opts to train their total body you still end up with the same outcome. In some instances it may be even worse. Since men love to train their chest and their biceps they may walk around and perform a bunch of exercises for those muscles while performing one exercise for their back and maybe one for their triceps or legs, but nothing is guaranteed. As long as the average man gets a good chest and bicep workout in they are happy.

The problem with this is that you are neglecting the majority of your muscles. There are approximately 650 skeletal muscles in the human body, but the average man only enjoys working out three to four of those, choosing to neglect the other 645 muscles. Now it would be extremely hard to consciously train all 650 muscles, but the average man needs to develop a more balanced approach to lifting.

It is extremely important to maintain balance within the body. Our biceps should be almost as strong as our triceps, our quads should be almost as strong as our hamstrings and glutes, and our chest should be almost as strong as our back. The problem is that for most people the exact opposite is true. When you have a huge discrepancy between antagonistic muscle groups you are extremely prone to injury. Back pain, knee pain, and shoulder pain are all very common signs that you have a major muscle imbalance.

Not only does an imbalance lead to pain, it also prevents further strength gains. Your body will do whatever it can to prevent serious injury. In a lot of cases it won’t allow a muscle to work any harder because it knows an injury would occur.

So what is the average man to do? First off, be open to suggestion. Secondly, this one may be hard to take, stop training the muscles that you love to train and start working on the under-appreciated muscles. One way to do this is to stop doing splits and start training your entire body. In my opinion few people will benefit from splits over total body training. I know a lot of people may get upset at this idea and I know science supports the idea of splits. But my opinion is that when there are so many muscles imbalances present you can make quicker corrections through total body training. Not to mention that few people train intensely enough to warrant training splits.

The rule needs to be, if you do three sets for your chest you have to do three sets for you back. The same goes for the rest of your body. There needs to be a balance among all the antagonistic muscles in your body and the work they perform. That is the simplest way to feel better, perform better, and ultimately look better.

The key to all of this is to develop an actual program. Spend some time developing an exercise program that focuses on the different exercises for the different muscle groups. Make sure the number of sets and repetitions are fairly similar across the board. Stop performing the exercises you love and start working on the other muscles in your body. You may be surprised and realize that you can learn to enjoy training your legs, even though it may be hard to believe now.

Take some time, try to learn a little bit more than you know now, and apply the information to make you happier and healthier. Lifting heavier weights and looking better isn’t too bad either. I would be willing to bet that if you developed a well balanced program with the right intensity all of your goals will be achievable. Don’t waste money on a gym membership because you never get results. Do something about it.

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