By Greg Brookes
Hi guys,
Feel like you're working hard but not getting the results you want. Here are 7 possible reasons why not.
1. Not Creating a Stress Response
Do you just go through the motions? or do you really push yourself?
The body adapts when it is put under stress but the stress has to be
great enough to warrant an adaptation. Whenever the stress is great
enough the body adapts in order to economise movement for future
episodes of the same stimulus. Most people do not push themselves
enough, resulting in no stress response and no adaptation. A very simple
method to ensure that the stress response is high enough is to push
yourself just past the point where you want to stop (within reason of
course). Another more scientific way is to use a heart rate monitor and
work on percentages of your maximum heart rate.
2. Too Much Stress
Big gains aren’t made in the gym they’re made when you rest and
recover. As we train we go through the ”Supercompensation Cycle” which
involves fatigue during the session and then compensation as the body
returns to homeostasis and then finally supercompensation as the body
surpasses its original status. If you train during the fatigue or
compensation stage, before the body has fully recovered, then you risk
overtraining, plateaus and a decrease in your gains. The trick is to hit
the body again at the peak of supercompensation, this varies depending
on the intensity of the session and the individual. If you find you are
not making gains in the gym then add an extra rest day to your schedule.
3. Not Creating the Correct Stress
There are some simple rules to follow when it comes to exercise
selection. Magazines and websites try to make this more complicated than
it is and to be honest if you stick to these rules you can’t go far
wrong. If you want to build muscle and strength then centre your
workouts around heavy Squats and Deadlifts. If you want to blow torch
fat than work on short intense interval sessions and monitor your rest
periods with a heart rate monitor. Focus on the stuff that really makes a
difference and worry about the smaller stuff later.
4. No Workout Consistency
Imagine if you had done some good quality exercise twice per week for
the last 12 months? Where would you be now? Just think of those
changes. For most people consistency is the number 1 reason why they
lack results. It’s time to build habits. Habits take time to install but
also time to uninstall. So work through the hard part of habit building
now and it does get easier. My advice is to just do something 2-3 times
per week. You can work on refining things later but just start building
an exercise habit now.
5. Bad Nutrition Strategy
In my mind nutrition always comes first. If I am eating and drinking
well everything else falls into place. You cannot out exercise your
nutrition so if you think an extra session at the gym means more pizza
or ice cream then you are badly mistaken. The nauseating statement of
”Calories in versus calories out” is so badly misguided. 10 calories of
carbs has a totally different impact on the body than 10 calories of
protein or 10 calories of fat. This statement is like comparing apples
with oranges. A good nutritional clean up will not only be your biggest
ally against fat but it will also help build solid muscle too.
6. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
As I mentioned in point 1 adaptation is due to major stress placed on
the body but as the body adapts the stress levels required to cause
adaption also increase. In other words we get better at whatever used to
cause us stress. So in order to continue making adaptations you need to
alter the stresses placed upon the body by changing your exercises
every 4-6 weeks. This keeps the body guessing and changes coming.
7. No Progression Plan
Ensuring that you progress your exercises either by increasing the
resistance by 10 % or time by 5 % or reducing the rest periods by 10
secs are all vital ways to keep the results coming in.
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