The Benefits of Filming Your Sets: Better Workouts, Better Results

1.) Check form & technique

The way the movement feels and how we think we’re moving, is sometimes very different than what’s actually happening.

I’ve even done this myself. I thought I was doing an exercise a certain way, it felt right, and I thought I was doing the exercise the way I meant to.

When I watched the set I had just filmed, I realized I was not doing the exercise the way I thought I was. I needed to make some adjustments to improve my form.

When your form and technique improve, you get more out of each rep of each exercise, which can mean greater strength and muscle gains, and you reduce the risk of injury.

When you film sets, you can get angles that you can’t see in mirrors either. You can also save videos and compare older ones to more recent ones to see progress.

Noticing progress is motivating. I also do this with clients. I have a folder for each person, and any progress photos or lifting video go there to document their progress.

I’d definitely suggest doing this to make comparisons and see progress. You can keep a folder on your phone, computer, or both and date them.

2.) You might find you weren’t training as hard as you thought

I’ve also had this happen to me. I completed a set, it felt pretty challenging, and I took a video of it. I watched the video and noticed that the speed of the barbell or dumbbells hardly slowed down from the first rep to the last.

The speed of the weights you’re moving matters, because as you reach closer to failure, the weights should move (most of the time, can depend on the exercise and person) slower and slower.

So if you complete a set, the acceleration and speed of the weights hardly changes each rep, and you can tell you’re not struggling much, then you probably didn’t push yourself hard enough on that set.

Sometimes what we feel like we’re doing isn’t what’s actually happening.

I have this happen with clients as well. I ask them to get a video of the last set of an exercise. They tell me they believe they only had 2 reps left, but by the video I can tell they probably had more like 5-6 reps left in them.

So next time I tell them to do as many reps as they can on their last set, and they do end up getting another 5-6 reps, more than they thought they could do.

3.) For motivation and encouragement

Are you really excited and proud of yourself for lifting the most you ever have, doing the most reps you ever have with a certain weight, or improving your form on an exercise?

That’s awesome. Post it, share it, tell people.

That can be motivating, it can keep your training fun and exciting, and you might start looking forward to going back to the gym each day, and each week.

If you’re motivated, having fun, and looking forward to each workout, you’re also much more likely to push yourself harder during those workouts, and if you do that, you see better results (assuming everything else is in order – nutrition, sleep, recovery, form).

Don’t be afraid of what others think of you for filming your set.

You’re lifting and getting better for you, not them.

Don’t let their opinions prevent you from doing something you want to do and will help you see better progress.

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