The Rule of 5: Why Not Every Workout Will Be Exceptional (And That's OK)

Monday Morning: Full of Enthusiasm... Until It Happens

You turn up to the gym on a Monday morning, fresh and full of enthusiasm. You grab your notebook—or, in this day and age, fire up your training app—and check last week’s numbers: five sets of five at 180kg. The plan for this week? Five sets of five at 185kg. Feeling confident, you warm up properly, building up to your top set. The bar is loaded—185kg—and you step up for your first rep.

Boom. It doesn’t budge. You think..... or more realistically say our loud WTF!

The bar is absolutely welded to the floor. For a moment, you do a double take, convinced you’ve misloaded the plates. You check the math—nope, it’s correct. You even roll the bar forward, just to make sure there’s not some stray bit of chewing gum sticking it down. But no, everything looks fine—yet you still can’t move the bloody thing.

Panic starts creeping in: Have I lost all the strength I’ve worked so hard to build? Or, maybe... maybe this is just one of those days. You know the ones—the days that every lifter, no matter how experienced, can relate to.

When we think about fitness and training, it’s easy to imagine that every workout should feel amazing—like you're consistently breaking personal records or leaving the gym feeling unstoppable. Social media often portrays this illusion of back-to-back "PB days," flawless sessions, and continuous progress. But let’s be honest: for most of us, this isn’t the reality. In fact, it’s perfectly normal for the majority of your workouts to feel average or and for some to be just down right disappointing. This is an important truth to embrace if you’re serious about improving your strength and fitness in the long term.

The Rule of 5: A Realistic Perspective

Here’s a simple way to view your training sessions—the "Rule of 5":

One workout will feel exceptionally good. Everything clicks: you feel strong, energised, focused, and might even hit new PBs.

Three workouts will be average. They’re decent, you put in the effort, but nothing groundbreaking happens—and that’s perfectly fine.

One workout will feel just plain rubbish. Your energy’s off, the weights somehow feel heavier, and your motivation might be nowhere to be found.

This pattern is entirely normal. Training isn’t about excelling every single time; it’s about remaining consistent over time. Even elite athletes don’t have perfect sessions day in, day out.

What Affects Your Workouts?

It’s important to remember that countless factors influence the quality of your training sessions, and most of them are out of your control:

Life stress: Work pressure, family troubles, or emotional overwhelm can drain you mentally and physically before you even step in the gym.

Sleep: A lack of proper rest, broken sleep, or inconsistent sleeping patterns can significantly affect your recovery and ability to train hard.

Nutrition: What you eat—or don’t eat—has an incredible influence on your energy levels. Whether you’ve under-eaten, over-eaten, or made poor food choices, your body will feel the difference during a session.

Lifestyle demands: Whether it’s balancing a busy schedule, physical exhaustion from daily activities, or pressing commitments, these external demands can take a toll on your performance.

You’re not a machine; you can’t always run at 100% efficiency. Some days, you’ll feel unbeatable. Other days, you’ll feel sluggish. Both are equally valid parts of the process.

The Importance of "Punch-the-Clock" Training

There’s something to be said for simply showing up—even when the session feels uninspiring. "Punch-the-clock" workouts—those average (or even poor) sessions where you simply put in the effort—are the backbone of your progress. They might not seem special, but here’s why they matter:

Consistency is key: Whether it feels good or bad, training regularly builds momentum towards your goals. Fitness improvement is not about singular outstanding sessions—it’s about gradual progress fuelled by consistency.

Small wins add up: Incremental improvements—one more rep, slight increases in weight, or even just maintaining your overall volume—will compound over time and lead to big gains.

Habits matter: When you show up, even on the tough days, you strengthen the habit of discipline. You make training a non-negotiable part of your life, even when it feels difficult to stay motivated.

The Law of Diminishing Returns

Sorry to the bearer of bad news but as you become more advanced in your training, progress inevitably slows down. Early in your fitness journey, every workout feels productive—new PBs, increased intensity, faster recovery, and noticeable changes. It’s exciting. But inevitably, as you progress:

Gains slow down. Your strength, muscle growth, or endurance improvements require increasingly targeted methods, higher effort, and longer recovery periods.

Exceptional workouts become less frequent. You can’t constantly perform at your peak; sometimes the focus will simply be on maintaining your fundamentals and honing your consistency.

This is just how the process works. The "Rule of 5" can stretch even further for advanced lifters and athletes: perhaps 1 in 15 workouts feels "exceptional," yet every other session still contributes to meaningful progress.

Ignore the Social Media Illusion

Social media is often a highlight reel. People showcase their best workouts, their biggest PBs, and their most exciting training moments. But what you don’t see are the mediocre or frustrating sessions where they struggled just like anyone else.

This curated—and often misleading—view of training can make you feel as though your "average" workouts mean you’re failing. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Your fitness journey belongs to you, and comparison is the thief of progress. Learn to block out the noise and focus on what matters: showing up and putting in the work.

Key Takeaways - Not Every Workout is Exceptional

Not every workout will be exceptional—and that’s OK. Embrace the Rule of 5 and understand that amazing, average, and poor sessions are part of a normal routine.

Consistency beats perfection. Showing up regularly and staying committed outweighs the need for every workout to feel extraordinary.

Focus on fundamentals. Progress doesn’t always come in leaps—it’s just as valuable to see small improvements in reps, weights, or total training volume over time.

Tune out the comparison trap. Social media offers an incomplete picture of training. Don’t compare your grind to someone else’s highlights.

So, if you walk out of the gym after a lacklustre session, let go of the frustration. Remember the Rule of 5, trust the process, and keep training hard with patience and persistence. You’re doing brilliantly—don’t forget that.

Strength doesn’t come from shortcuts

Jordan