A good workout starts with one win

A workout doesn’t always have to be perfect from start to finish to deserve a grade of five. Sometimes all it takes is one heavy set, one extra rep or one moment when you feel you’ve made progress today.

Why it can take so little to make a workout a success

Some things feel like you’ve known them all your life without ever consciously acknowledging them. When you finally say them out loud, everyone nods: of course. Yet hardly anyone talks about them.

This idea clicked for me during a leg workout on Wednesday, 15 December 2010. More precisely, it wasn’t just that day that brought it home, but all those years of experience in the gym. For a workout to be good, to feel successful or to earn a grade of five, all you really need is one – two successful sets of one important exercise.

That doesn’t mean the rest of the work is worthless. You don’t go to the gym just for one set. But when the day’s most important exercise goes the way you’d hoped, it gives the whole workout a completely different feel.

How one key exercise can carry an entire workout

Take a typical pressing day. You’ve been following a pyramid for a while, and your numbers have looked like this:

115 kg – 7 x
130 kg – 5 x
140 kg – 3 x
150 kg – 0 x

You’ve already attempted that 150 kg several times. You still can’t get it. Then you head to the gym again, everything feels fairly ordinary, but in the fourth set, what you’ve been waiting for finally happens: you get 1 x 150 kg.

What actually happens at that point? One rep changes the whole day. Even if the exercises that follow don’t go perfectly, the workout is already a success in your eyes. You did what you came to do.

The same logic applies on back day. Suppose pull-ups are the cornerstone of your program. You do 5 x 5 with 25 kg of added weight, followed by one longer set of bodyweight pull-ups. If you complete the 5 x 5 and then manage 13 reps in the final set instead of last time’s 11 reps, that’s a clear success. Especially if your goal was to improve your pull-ups.

When you have a clear priority and achieve it, there’s not much that can go wrong after that. Of course, you still do the other exercises. But you’ve already accomplished the heart of the day’s work.

Training and progress: numbers don’t always tell the whole story

The third example is the squat. You’re doing 5 x 5: five sets of five reps, all with the same weight. Last time, you did 5 x 5 with 172.5 kg. That was a good result, but it matched your personal best rather than setting a new one.

Now the plan is 5 x 5 with 180 kg. You’ve never managed it with that weight before. If you pull it off, it’s honestly hard to imagine how leg extensions, leg curls or leg presses could somehow ruin the workout. Yes… you did it! You pulled it off! Fantastic! A personal best—today’s workout is awesome!

That’s the simple truth: sometimes five good sets are enough. Sometimes you don’t even need five. Just 1 – 2 sets can be plenty, as long as those sets achieve the day’s goal.

Success doesn’t always show up in the weight or the reps, though. Some days you don’t set a new personal best, but you get an incredible pump. You feel the work exactly where you should, in the target muscle. Your mind-muscle connection is better than usual, and the sets work that muscle particularly well. A day like that can be just as valuable as an improvement in the numbers.

What to pay attention to in your workout

Before a workout, it’s worth asking yourself one simple question: what’s today’s most important exercise? It could be a press, a squat, a pull-up or another movement you use to measure your progress.

If that exercise goes well, consciously acknowledge it as a win. Don’t let a less important accessory exercise spoil the whole feeling. Once the day’s main work is done, the workout has already served its purpose.

That’s exactly how it works for me in many workouts. A workout might last 70 – 75 minutes and include 25 solid working sets, but looking back afterward, the sets of that day’s important exercise often determine the grade. And there may well be just 1 – 2 of those sets!

This doesn’t apply 100% to every workout. Some days the whole program demands consistent effort, and one set can’t make up for a sloppy workout overall. But on many gym days, it’s worth asking yourself: did I accomplish my main goal today?

FAQ

Can one good set really save a workout?

Yes, if that set was the day’s main goal. This is especially true if you’ve spent a long time chasing a particular weight, an extra rep or a specific feeling in the muscle.