I’d Rather Be Supervised with Poor Equipment than Unsupervised with Awesome Equipment

Discover Strength has been built on the observation that supervision has a profound impact on the effectiveness of our strength training workouts. Research around the importance of supervision in strength training started to emerge in the 1990s. As an assistant on the Minnesota Vikings Strength and Conditioning Staff in the late ’90s and early 2000s, we applied this research to the training and conditioning of our athletes. Every player was trained 1-on-1 or 1-on-2. We did this not because we were afraid our players would get injured, or because they didn’t know what to do in the weight room, or even because they were unmotivated. We did it because the research was strongly suggesting that every outcome we sought from strength training was amplified if a trainee was directly supervised. These benefits include (but are not limited to) muscle size, muscle strength, reduced abdominal fat, running faster, and jumping higher. Furthermore, this was true for 65-year-old Type 2 diabetics as well as 21-year-old Division I scholarship athletes.

Just a couple of months ago, researcher Dr. James Fisher published a review paper on this topic in the journal Sports Medicine, titled Supervision During Strength Training—the Interplay with Facilitation, Feedback and Attentional Focus: A Narrative Review. As I read this paper, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own training preferences.

I LOVE high-quality strength training equipment. “Obsession” might be the right term. I’m interested in very few material possessions, but someday, I’ll build a home workout facility that has a collection of old strength training machines from every era. A museum. I love the nuances of the biomechanics, engineering, and feel of strength machines. Indeed, our commitment at Discover Strength is to spare no expense in purchasing the Rolls-Royce of strength training machines.

But at the end of the day, if I had a choice between:

Option 1: A set of dumbbells and a chin-up bar, and I would be trained by one of our staff.

Or…

Option 2: Training in a Discover Strength facility, with all the amazing equipment at my disposal, but I would be training by myself (no supervision).

I would choose Option 1 every day of the week (actually, just 2 days per week).

Being coached, receiving both positive and corrective feedback, experiencing advanced overload techniques, and getting pushed 6% harder than I want in that moment trumps the value of sophisticated exercise equipment.

Take-Home Message: If you want to maximize your training, train with supervision.

Final note: To be clear, I want supervision AND awesome equipment.