The Training Mistake You're Probably Making with Tom Purvis

Summary

Ben Pakulski introduces Tom Purvis as a longtime mentor whose expertise centers on biomechanics: how the body moves, rather than simply how much weight it can lift. Purvis’s willingness to challenge assumptions has shaped Pakulski’s approach to training and coaching. An Organifi advertisement follows before the discussion turns to exercise mechanics.

Start From What a Person Can Do

Purvis describes working with a client who had survived a severe motorcycle crash. The man had extensive injuries, nerve damage, a frozen shoulder, and had spent months largely confined to bed. Purvis began with what the client could manage: small, supported contractions rather than forceful exercises or aggressive stretching. Over time, the client regained shoulder function and progressed to walking with a one-sided walker.

For Purvis, the case illustrates a central rule: progress from a person’s current abilities, not from a preset plan or a coach’s expectations. Pushing hard enough to cause a setback can cost more than a workout gains.

Control, Technique, and Range of Motion

Purvis argues that lifting more weight is useful only when the lifter can control it appropriately. Throwing a weight may move it, but that does not mean the target muscle produced all the force. He encourages trainees to practice deliberate, controlled repetitions—even a single carefully performed rep can reveal how much effort a movement truly requires.

Technique should be learned before effort or load is increased. Adding weight or speed introduces a new motor-learning challenge.

Purvis also questions the idea that a larger range of motion is always better. Joint structure, past loading, and individual differences matter, so range should be explored gradually through controlled contractions rather than forced to match an ideal or the opposite side of the body. He likewise rejects simple ideas of “muscular balance”: different muscles have different structures and mechanical advantages, so they cannot be judged by whether they lift identical weights.

Exercise Mechanics, Soreness, and Training Volume

Poor control—especially abrupt deceleration and bouncing through the difficult part of a lift—can increase stress on joints and tendons. Purvis suggests that better resistance profiles can challenge muscles more evenly through a repetition and may reduce the need for excessive sets and exercises.

Pakulski adds that this style of training demands sustained attention. When a rep becomes difficult, the instinct is often to “toss” the weight and escape the muscular effort. Purvis advises keeping the movement controlled and not letting the brain abandon the intended challenge.

They caution that soreness is not a single, reliable measure of a good workout. Purvis distinguishes short-lived, diffuse muscular soreness from more severe soreness around the muscle-tendon junction that can last much longer. He associates the latter, in many cases, with poor control and excessive force.

There is no universal number of sets that suits everyone. The response depends on the person, their recovery, and how well they maintain the quality of contraction. More work can reach a point of diminishing returns or interfere with recovery.

Practical Takeaways

Purvis advises trainees to pay close attention, question assumptions, and keep asking, “What am I missing?” He warns against fitness sound bites and absolute claims, arguing that skilled coaching depends on careful observation and adapting to the person in front of you.

His practical starting point is to stop treating a workout as a test of how far a weight travels. Instead, build technique, focus on each part of the repetition, and increase difficulty without sacrificing control or sustainability.

Near the end, Purvis points listeners toward his live practical classes at RTS123.com and his online courses at exerciseprofessional.com. Pakulski endorses Purvis’s training and closes by encouraging listeners to subscribe and share the podcast. The episode ends with a standard disclaimer that the discussion is informational, not medical advice.

Presenters and Sources

• Host: Ben Pakulski
• Guest: Tom Purvis
• Podcast: Muscle Intelligence Podcast
• Sponsor mentioned: Organifi