Are you frustrated with your progress or rather lack of it? There could be a number of reasons why you are not seeing the measurements move in the right direction and I will go through them below. But first, it’s important to realise once you start an exercise program from scratch you can see dramatic changes in the first 4-6 weeks, however, it is not realistic to expect to keep progressing at this rate. It will slow down, but if you stick to your plan you will reach your goal eventually.
- Your diet & goals do not align
This is one of the most common mistakes people make that halts their progress. It is where the phrase “you can’t out train a bad diet” comes from. If your goal is to lower your body fat but you are eating fast food, sweets and drinking fizzy drinks everyday, it does not matter how much you train. You need to know how much you should be eating and monitor your food intake. You can calculate your recommended daily intake for your goal here. Once you do use an app like MyFitnessPal to track your food. This will show you if your diet is the reason for your lack of progress.
2. You are not recording
If you don’t take measurements, photos, weights and compare how will you know if you have progressed or not? You should measure your chest, arm, thigh, waist and hip, weigh yourself and take a photo from front, side and back. Compare these every 4 weeks and make adjustments to your training and nutrition accordingly.
3. Your training is sh*t
Do you have enough intensity in your training sessions or are you playing on your phone for 5 minutes between sets? Are you consistently training or missing every other session? Are you following the correct program for your goal or worse no program at all? Do you track your workouts and progress them every session or have you being doing the same workout for the past year? If you follow the correct program, train 2-5 times a week (depending on your goal, training status, age etc) for 40-60 mins with good intensity, utilise progressive overload and are consistent you will progress smoothly.
4. You don’t recover
You need to recover fully in order to maximise the benefit of the training. This is especially important if your goal is to build muscle. You should leave 48 hours between training the same body part, try to get 7-9 hours sleep a night, stretch or foam roll if tight or sore and get enough protein to help repair the muscles.
If you think one of these is the reason your progress has stalled, you need help finding out why it has or have a question leave a message below and I will be happy to help.
Shane