The Economics of Training

by Mark Rippetoe | November 29, 2023

Time is money, as they say. Training takes time, so there is an element of economy to be considered. If you are training for a purpose, e.g. strength – as opposed to social exposure, looking at the girls, talking to your rat-fuck buddies, etc. – the most efficient use of time is a concern, since time is money. For essentially everybody, a barbell strength training program is the most efficient use of time for accomplishing an increase in strength. As opposed to playing around on the machines in front of the dumbbell rack with no particular objective in mind, a 3-exercise barbell workout is actually productive.

The fitness industry is predicated on multi-station machine-based circuit training. It's very easy to teach to the minimum-wage floor staff, it creates an organized flow through the club, it fosters a sense of starting and then stopping that is not dependent on any quantifiable values other than “the pump,” and most importantly it gets you on and off the exercise floor without tying up an exercise station for more than a few minutes. It's a business model, not a training model.

And that's fine; everybody's gotta eat. But if getting stronger is your objective, it doesn't work – at all. If you cannot drive up your numbers on the exercises that comprise your time in the gym, you are not increasing your strength. Because strength is measured by the amount of force you can apply to an external resistance, and strength is therefore quantifiable in good old-fashioned numbers. If the numbers don't go up, you haven't gotten stronger.

The squat is a very good example of a barbell exercise that can produce a strength increase immediately upon its incorporation into your workout. You come to the weight room, you learn how to do the squat correctly, you go up to a weight you can do for 5 reps, you do that weight for 3 sets of 5, and then next workout you go up 10 pounds heavier on the last 3 sets. And suddenly, you're involved in the process of getting stronger.

You do the same thing for the bench press and the press, alternating these 2 exercises every other workout, and then you do the deadlift, working up to 1 heavy set which will almost always be heavier than the weight you squatted (1 set works better for deadlifts than 3). This whole process has taken about an hour, has consisted of 3 exercises, works all the muscles in your body, and can be progressed up through heavier weights for 6-8 months without getting any more complicated than that.

In contrast, your machine-based workout consists of situps, leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises, back extensions, machine bench presses, machine overhead presses, the pec deck, lat pulldowns, lat rows, dumbbell curls, dumbbell tricep kickbacks, cable tricep pushdowns, and a new machine that works your glutes. And the primary features of this workout are that 1.) it takes longer, and 2.) the weights don't go up after about 3-4 weeks.

In other words, if a strength increase is your objective, the barbell training workout actually makes you stronger while taking less time, and the machine-based workout doesn't accomplish a goddamn thing except the part about the girls. As it turns out, your body – just like your car – is a system, and all the components of the system work at the same time. Working them all together makes them better than separating them into tires, radiator, transmission, engine, and brakes, and using each component separately. The first way you actually get somewhere, the second way you stay in the garage. A faster car requires upgrades in all the components – at the same time, since they are interdependent. It's a good thing we are alive, with genes and proteins and nerves and shit like that, so we can be our own mechanics.

So, it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish with your time. Most people do not have a defined goal other than getting some exercise on the way home from the office, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's better than not getting some exercise, and you still have the girls. But if you have thought about this and come to the conclusion that you really honestly want to be stronger than you are now, for your health, bragging rights, or for the girls, barbell training is your most efficient option. Time is money, and this becomes a simple economic calculation if you think about it for a few minutes.