Why You Don't Look Like Someone Who Trains

Exercising and Training are Not the Same Thing

Having sustainable habits lead to long term success overall for people who incorporate daily exercise into their lives. You will increase your cardiovascular fitness, strength, and have better outcomes as you age. Exercise reduces the risk of all cause mortality by 21-23%. 

However, you might be frustrated by the fact you have a friend who only works out 3-4 times a week and is totally shredded. What gives? 

The difference with someone who trains with a structured program is that they have a goal in mind. With that goal, that person will pivot their nutrition, sleep, exercise routine and overall effort to achieve it. Meanwhile, people who are just doing cardio daily will see results initially, but never develop the muscle tone of someone who strength trains 3 to 4 times a week with progressive overload.

Do Random Workouts, Expect Random (or No) Results

If you are still scrolling through youtube trying to find workouts and mixing up formats and instructors, you will never achieve a specific esthetic. You will be fit, but random workouts will not yield you the results you seek.

When you have a structured program that is built by a personal training professional, they will ensure that you progress your workouts over 4-6 weeks so that your body never stagnates or becomes too efficient. As you get stronger, if you continue to lift the same weights or do the same cardio classes, you will start to sweat less and notice that you are requiring less effort to complete the same exercises. This is your body becoming more efficient and your sign to increase intensity.

Increasing Intensity the Right Way

There are so many ways to increase intensity. You need to always be adding weights, increasing reps and decreasing weights, decreasing reps but increasing weights, and change things like supersets to dropsets to pyramid sets to giant sets! These training variations are the key to keeping your body guessing without deviating from your primary goal.

If you haven't explored variations within your training that still target your goal but prevent your gains from slowing down, it's time to find a coach who can correct this before you start cutting calories.

Do Not Cut Your Calorie Intake

Many people will try to eat less in order to see the same results in the gym they were getting when they first started. This is a mistake. In order to increase the intensity of your workouts, you still need to fuel your body. Decreasing calories may work temporarily but it's unsustainable long term and most people will quit within 2-3 months only to regain the fat they worked so hard to lose.

If you only do fasted cardio, sometimes eating a small snack before your workout can be the key to see better results because you'll have to energy to push harder through your next set.

It's Ok to Exercise Without a Plan

Does everyone who exercises need a plan? Absolutely not. If you enjoy mixing it up and don't care what the end result is, you can be more relaxed in your approach to training. But for some people this is not helpful if they are putting in the time but feel like they are getting nowhere. Some people exercise to maintain their mobility, strength, and athletic conditioning to be ready for anything life throws at them.

Group Fitness enthusiasts love trying new workouts and challenging their bodies in totally different ways from day to day. That's completely acceptable as a strategy to find movement that you enjoy. The key thing to sustaining a workout plan long term is enjoyment. 

Training with a Goal and Plan is the Best Way to See Your Body Composition Change

If your primary goal is fat loss so that you can see that visible 6-pack, then you need a plan. Believe it or not, but the most successful people are the ones who don't change their program day to day or week to week. Bodybuilders and athletes generally do the same workouts day in and day out, but change their reps and number of sets every few weeks to get those gains. If the most knowledgeable people in a gym need a coach, maybe it's time to consider one for yourself!

Tired of getting nowhere with your exercise routine? 

Having a coach can speed up your time to results significantly. So when you continue to find random free workouts that have no customization for your lifestyle needs, nutrition needs, or fitness goals, you will find you are getting nowhere fast. Doing new workouts daily is not going to achieve any sort of esthetic. If you want to be more toned and defined, a structured program is the best way to achieve your goals.

Remember, your first training session is free at Rage Fitness! Contact our personal trainers at 1-825-945-7733 or fill out the online contact form to come up with a program that will have you looking like you actually train!