how does an ADC cope with a varying analogue voltage?

6v6gt:
That device SparkFun Load Cell Amplifier - HX711 claims this:

I guess you are using at 10 Samples per Second from the information given.

I assume that the variable sample rate give me the choice of 10 sps that are slow but accurate, or 80 sps that a are fast but not-so-accurate.

Because I know the input values are continuously variable, I guess I would be better off with taking lots of high speed samples and then averaging them up?