3 Reasons You’re Not Progressing In Your Training (Caution, Contains Truth Bombs)
We live in a world of social media fitness gurus. All of a sudden, everyone is a philosopher with endless fitness cliches and telling us all to "Don't stop when you're tired, stop when you're done!"
What does this actually mean though? What is it we have to 'do' before we know it's actually been 'done'? Sure, we can all get tired, but what if we're getting tired doing the wrong thing? What if we're doing something that is actually taking us away from our goal? If it's a training/fitness goal, simply getting tired isn't enough.
Do you think Usain Bolt is constantly running 100m sprints after 100m sprints, day in day out so that’s why he’s the fastest man on the planet?
That Connor McGregor's training schedule is just day after day of Rocky montages?
'Train smart' is a great principle to follow, 'Train with knowledge' is even better.
If you walk into a gym not knowing what you're going to do that day, how will you track progression? Equally as important, how will you decide what to change when something isn't working?
If you have someone guiding you in your training, whether a personal trainer or coach of a team, ask why you're training is designed the way it is. This isn't challenging the coach's knowledge, it's simply wanting to understand how you are improving, this WILL improve your training goal results.
If you don't have guidance then this is what I want you to do:
1. Make a fitness goal and make it specific.
'Losing weight' isn't enough, losing 10lbs is more specific. Instead of 'get strong', state how strong.
Don't be a pussy, make a commitment!
Solidify that commitment by telling someone...that will spur you on like nothing else.
2. Make a plan
Every journey needs a route. By doing this you need to ask someone who has experience or by researching experienced people....REAL people.
If you want to run a marathon, learn from sources who specialise in endurance training; if you want to get strong, likewise. Don't just randomly follow a workout that's been shared on instagram because it looks cool. It probably is, but will it make you stronger? Short term, maybe, but you're not in it for the short term so a much more in depth strategy is needed.
Learn from people who have done what you're trying to do!
3. Don't make excuses, create solutions!
"I haven't got time" is not a valid excuse any more. There is no such thing as down time, work time, play time.....it's just time and you prioritise things to make it fit.
If you can't fit in 30 minutes of exercise most days and 60-90 minutes in every 2-3 days, then please don't tell me that your fitness is a priority.
Especially if you're up to date on 3 or 4 TV series.
Training is awesome and I promise you will learn a lot about perspective by making it a part of your life.
Wandering from workout to workout is like knocking on every apartment door looking for the 'Hot Girl', when just writing down the damn address in the first place would've stopped you constantly finding Ross!
Track progression. If you hit a PB one month, what did you do to make that happen? It's a case of finding out what works as opposed to what doesn't. Without a structured programme, this is nearly impossible.
*As a side note, PBs shouldn’t be chased every session. Save that for the Instagram lifters.
No more excuses.....no further explanation needed
