Ask the average trainee a list of exercises they do (or for those starting out, a list of exercises they plan on getting after), and you'll likely get a long list - most likely put together with input from the "experts" that swear by doing thousands of reps and a ton of different exercises on a daily basis.

One such routine I read on a forum was (this was a bodyweight routine) went thus: - 500 bodyweight squats, 50 pistols (one legged squats), 200 pushups, 100 pull-ups, 10 sets of 1 minute handstands, 25 burpees, and - to "finish" things off, 10 minutes of jumping rope.

This routine was apparently meant to be followed daily, and one is expected to increase the number of reps on all exercises except the bodyweight squats, which was already the mind boggling number of 500 per day. YIKES!

Now, this may sound good in theory (apparently it does to a lot of folks), but for the average person, it means one thing and one alone - OVERTRAINING, and therefore a complete lack of progress; in many cases, a reversal of any progress made, which is even worse. It may work for professional athletes whose JOB is to exercise 8 hours day - but these folks have little else to do other than exercise, and practice their chosen sport - which is NOT the case for the average person.

I mean any ONE of the movements described is enough for an entire workout, if done correctly. 500 squats?? Do those right, and you'll likely have very little left in you after that. 100 pull-ups? Impossible for most folks to do. 100 pushups? Pretty tough workout by itself, without adding a ton of stuff in. You get the picture - these type of training "programs" (and I use that word with caution) are found plastered all over the Internet, but are to avoided at all costs.

And whats even sadder is that this particular routine was being recommended by some folks to others - ignorance is bliss, it would seem.

My own routine consists of a variety of movements, but I definitely do NOT go over the top on any of them. And truth be told, you'll make FAR greater gains working on a few movements, and working those movements HARD. For instance, my upper body routine this morning consisted of a 100 pushups, 25 handstand pushups and 25 pull-ups, followed by a bridge, but I was hammered at the end of it. The key is to focus on each rep - get the MOST out of every rep - and you'll see you don't need super-high reps to make progress. Neither do you need to do every exercise under the sun in a workout - concentrate on a few hard movements, and work those like you mean it.

Emblazon this into your mind - LESS is MORE, provided you do things correctly. Quality over quantity wins out every time - this cannot be emphasized enough.

And last, but not least, please don't think I'm against anyone working up to super high reps in a movement. On the contrary, I think those are great goals to shoot for - but add in a bit of common sense as well. Doing a 100 pullups is fantastic, but a hundred of them daily along with other things might just be over loading your system a wee bit too much. Do 100 one day, 25 the next, 70 the next, and so forth. You'll also find that you'll progress, and roar past "sticking points" much faster this way.

OK, my friend, thats the wisdom for the day. If your looking for training programs that allow you to blast every part of your body without overtraining, you can find them right here: - http://rahulmookerjee.com/index.php/articles/83-fast-and-furious-fitness-the-book.

All for now!

Rahul