my problem with hypertrophy

Hypertophy training is a type of training that focuses on building muscle size and aesthetics by ‘progressive overload’ - increasing how challenging an exercise is over time. This is usually done by adding weight, reps, resistance, or time under tension.

where chasing gains got me

8ish years ago, I hurt my shoulder when wrestling with a friend. Not knowing what I know now, I didn’t bother to rehabilitate and I went straight back to the gym.

At the time, I was solely focused on how I looked and so I wasn’t moving intuitively, my mobility routine was nonexistent, and I didn’t rehab or rest. I was not listening to the messages my body was screaming at me. I would go into weights sessions with my body completely cold, unprepared to lift heavy things, and trying to follow what everyone said – lift as heavy as possible. So, when I went back to the gym I made things a lot worse for myself.

The result was dystrophy in my shoulder, which is still weaker than the other side to this day. At its worst, I couldn't type or move a mouse around for work.

Shoulder injuries are amongst the most common, along with knees, backs, and hips. Most of my clients have something they need to work around or work with, and because I know what I know now, we do this safely, effectively, and intuitively. We prioritise mobility and strength, and my clients know to stop if they feel pain.

Here's what was really going on for me 8ish years ago: I was obsessed with hypertrophy at the expense of absolutely everything else. No mobility work. No proper warm-up. No rest. And as one of the only women in the gym, I was trying to hold my own, lifting as heavy as possible because that's what the gym girlies on the gram were doing.

The stupidity continued

A few years later, I set myself a goal of a 200kg hip thrust for 12 reps. Have you ever heard the saying that “the universe will keep giving you lessons until you learn them”? Well, I certainly hadn’t learned the first time.

That number came from someone else's personal best, someone who was considerably bigger than me. I'm under five feet tall — 200kg would have been four times my own bodyweight. But I'd decided it was impressive, so it was my goal, and I was going for it.

I got very close - around 170 kilograms -  then started getting back problems. And bruises (despite using a pad). And after a while I experienced some gynaecological symptoms my doctor attributed to me thrusting almost four times by bodyweight twice a week.

Could better programming have helped? Yes, probably. A bench at the right height, a proper mobility routine, exercises to balance the movement. But the real issue was that I was aiming for a goal that was someone else’s. It just sounded impressive. I thought about how much I could brag to people that as a 4”11 woman, I was lifting that heavy. It was pure ego lifting — I wanted big glutes, I wanted the clout of lifting heavy — that I completely ignored what my body was telling me.

I couldn't actually progress because I was in pain all the time. And a body that is constantly trying to recover won't act or look the way you want it to.

What I know now

Exercise shouldn't hurt like that. Pain is your body trying to tell you something is wrong, and it kept giving me that message until I finally had to stop.

These days I don't expect to progress every single week. I deload when my body tells me to, not just when the internet says I should. I still love making things harder over time — for myself and for my clients. But not at the expense of my health or my happiness.

If you're training right now and something hurts, ask yourself: is this productive discomfort, or is this actually pain? Whose goal are you chasing? And why?

Learning to listen to your body isn't a woo-woo gimmick. It's the thing that will actually get you the results you're after — because your body cannot perform the way you want it to when it's constantly in survival mode.

You'll get better results, you'll enjoy it more, and you'll become truly powerful - mentally and physically - in the process.

This is exactly the kind of work I do with my clients — building something ambitious and joyful that's actually built around you and your body. If any of this resonated, I'd love to hear from you.