It’s all too common to hear people who are frustrated with their inability to successfully reach their goals. When it comes to a transformation that means: They aren’t losing the fat. They aren’t gaining the muscle. Or they aren’t getting any stronger. I’ve been asked many times, “What’s it take to reach your goals”. My answer usually starts with, “the right mindset”. “You have to be able to take control of your own mind”.
Obviously, most people know that it comes down to proper nutrition and a consistent exercise program. But where most people fail is not being able to follow through with one or both of these. People will lie to themselves to make themselves feel better. I’ve done it myself. I’ve told myself that I was going to stick with a strict diet, which I did. Or at least claimed I did. I would just ignore the box of cookies that I stuffed in my face on a Saturday afternoon. There isn’t really a problem if there is a cheat meal once a week or whatever. The problem comes in when there are cheats that you are not self reporting.
There is also a difference in putting together what might be more of maintenance than anything. Someone is setting high goals, but when they get to the gym they go through the motions. If I’m not killing it in the gym, then I am not making the gains that I expect to make. The way I see it, is that if I get through a workout and don’t feel muscle exhaustion and don’t feel like I just got my ass kicked, than I didn’t put the work in during my workout.
In my workout today we did a couple of circuits. Each circuit had 5 rounds of 8 to 15 reps with 3 exercises. We do increase the number of exercises based on workout. Our rest period was 1 minute in between rounds. The weights weren’t real heavy but our legs were on fire by the time we were done. We finished up with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) on a rowing machine. We went hard for 15 seconds with 10 seconds of rest and repeated it over and over and over again.
If you aren’t stressing your body than your body isn’t going to change. If you are just going through the motions don’t expect your muscles to be getting what they need in order to grow. If you were to go hard for 3 weeks, your body will change in order to accommodate the workouts that you are putting it through. At that point what was hard 3 weeks ago isn’t so hard anymore. If someone is lifting for strength, it’s going to be a different workout with heavy weight. However, they still have to stress their body, so that it reacts and they make their gains.
Stay after it.