Why am I not seeing results?
The fundamentals of exercise and your progress.
By Mark Gallagher 16/03/2016
Last time out we discussed weights and if lifting heavy will make you bulky. Now that we have covered that it’s time to look at progress and results. The two topics are closely related and you don’t get one without the other. The most important factor of getting results and making progress in the gym is the human body. Obviously we are trying to change our bodyweight or shapes to be something more like our idea of ‘Perfect’ (we will talk more about that another time). However the human body itself is the key to success, as well as a good mindset. If we use these two effectively them we are on to a winner.
Why do we not see results in the gym?
Basically it’s because we keep doing the same things over and over again. The body is a very smart piece of kit and will adapt to most things you put it through. That includes exercise! As soon as you do a workout your body is looking for the easiest and most efficient way to do that workout. So next time you do it the body will adapt to the stimulus. So if you do the same workout 6 times in 6 weeks your body will have adapted so much that you will potentially plateau and stop making progress.
This is frustrating and annoying as you feel like you are working hard and getting yourself to the gym multiple times per week.
So how do we combat this and keep pushing forward to reach our goals?
- We need to increase or change the variables in any given workout. This could be through increasing the weight or the amount of reps you do on an exercise. Maybe even the type of equipment you use for that exercise like kettlebell or dumbbell. If we keep changing these variables and essentially making it harder as the weeks go by, because we mentioned before the body is always trying to make it easier.
- The other thing we could do is change the workout complete and do something totally different. If you attend fitness classes this will generally be the case unless all classes are the same. If you following a training program changing every 4 – 6 weeks can be beneficial to seeing changes and making progress. It needs to be applicable to you and your goals, also to what you enjoy. Otherwise what’s the point.
What’s next?
It’s as simple as this. If it’s working keep doing it.
If you stop making progress then lets look to change it up. Add some weight or some extra reps to challenge yourself and ensure we aren’t standing still or maybe even going backwards in terms of moving towards our goals.
Don’t go through the motions, you won’t get very far.
Mark
Synergy Performance
