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No progress for all your efforts? Here's why
Have you been exercising religiously for the
past 6 months and not having a noticeable change in bodyshape or improvement in fitness?
Have people been telling you that your training is not working? This is dreadful for all
the exercisers who have put in all their time and efforts yet no result to show for. To
get out of this rut is quite simple, first you must know the reason(s) for your lacking of
progress and then troubleshoot it:
Lack of progression. Progression is one of the fundamental principal
of exercise. This should be core of most exercise program. Our body is resistant to make
any changes physiologically unless it is being forced to. By using the progression
principle, you are forcing the body to work harder than before, hence getting results.
Unfortunately, many people use the exact same weight for the all weight lifting exercises
for the same no. of repetitions and sets, or do the same duration, intensity and frequency
for their cardio routine, how do you expect to see any improvement at all? To seek
improvement you need to progress in one of the following manners:
If you are seeking for muscular gains,
increase the poundage used in selected exercises every 3-4 weight training sessions (e.g.
adding 1 more kilo) OR perform a couple more repetitions using the same previous weight.
If you are seeking for fat loss, try to
extend your cardio workout a little longer (e.g. 5 mins more) or do 1 additional session
of cardio per week or try accomplish more within the same time frame. (E.g. finish the
same amount of work in shorter time).
Lack of variety. Akin to the above reason,
this is one of the most committed mistake in a gym. If you have been using the exact same
routine and exercise, even if you have incorporated progression principle in it, you might
still not progress smoothly. In fact, you might even overtrain from the constant abuse.
You want to keep your body guessing so it'll not adapt to any fixed routine. And you find
exercising a lot more interesting because of the variety. Make subtle changes to the
routine by changing exercises occasionally and you will see an improvement almost
immediately. Here are some examples:
Instead of doing standing barbell curls day
in day out, try doing dumbbell curls or seated barbell curls.
Instead of running on the treadmil every
time, try running outdoors or use other cardio machines like the Stepper.
Poor nutritional intake. Never ever make
this dreadful mistake. Some eat more than they ought to, thinking that by exercising more,
they can 'burn it off' or those trying to become more muscular think that this will help
to build muscles faster. Some eat so little thinking that it will hasten the fat loss
process. Not so. Balancing your exercise levels with the right amount of food intake, not
more not less, is instrumental to your success. Pick up a good nutritional book for
guidelines or sign up below for our future weekly tips focusing on this issue.
Lack of rest/recovery. If you have been not
sleeping well or not totally recovered from your previous exercise session, your
metabolism declines and also lose your strength and vest for your next training. How do
you expect to have any progress from this? Have at least 7-8 hours of undisturbed sleep
everyday and perhaps, a cat-nap in between, and at least 48 hours of rest before training
the same muscle group. Doing these would ensure that this area is not neglected and thus
not hinder your progress.
Of course there are other factors that might
contribute to one's lack of progress, but these are the main ones you should pay attention
to.
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