Not seeing progress? You might be making one (or more!) of these 4 mistakes…
There’s nothing worse than working hard and grinding it out in the gym (or at home!) and not seeing much, if any, progress at all. If you’ve been putting in the work and are feeling frustrated because you’re not reaching your goals, you might be making one of the mistakes below!
1. You’re not tracking your food intake and/or eating for your goals
Nutritional intake is incredibly important in a fitness journey. You could be doing everything right when it comes to your workouts, but if your nutrition isn’t great, it might be challenging to see progress. Why is this such a big deal? Eating enough food, as well as the breakdown of macronutrients such as carbs, fat, and protein, ensures that your body is getting enough energy and nutrients to go through processes such as building lean muscle. For example, let’s say your goal is to build muscle but you are currently eating around 1200 calories a day (but you don’t know this because you aren’t tracking), building muscle will be almost impossible because your body will be utilizing those calories consumed for normal bodily processes and regular activity, rather than focusing on building new tissue. Whatever your goals may be, tracking your intake and setting nutrition will be beneficial in ensuring you are on the right path to success.
2. You’re not following a structured workout plan
First, I want to start this off by saying any movement is better than no movement! If you are getting to the gym three-four times per week and moving your body in any way, that’s great! But, if you are looking to accomplish specific goals related to your physique, then it’s important to follow a structured workout plan specific to you. While fitness influencers may have great workouts to follow along to, it may not be in your best interest to scroll through IG each day to find a new workout. Keep it simple – stick to the basics like squats, deadlifts, bench, rows, curls, and variations of these. Implement progressive overload each week to maximize strength gains and complete the same workouts each week for at least 4-6 weeks.
3. You’re not prioritizing sleep
Believe it or not, sleep plays a major role in your fitness journey. In general, you should be aiming for at least 7 hours of quality sleep each night. The majority of muscle tissue repair and growth occurs during sleep. That’s right – you’re actually building muscle while you are sleeping! Also, hunger hormones, such as leptin and ghrelin, will be regulated (leptin increases and ghrelin decreases). Lastly, hypothalamic-pituitary functions, including those that influence eating, energy balance, and metabolism, are strongly tied to circadian rhythms and sleep regulatory processes, aka disruption of your circadian rhythm can have metabolic effects.
4. You’re not giving it enough time
Building muscle, losing fat, changing your body physique takes TIME. Not days to weeks, but months to years. In our advanced world, we are used to getting things we want very quickly. You can find things on the internet in seconds, packages are delivered to our front doors within a few days, but our fitness goals? Takes a lot of hard work and patience. Dial in on your goals, keep putting in the work, and eventually over time, you’ll see the progress you’ve been working for!
Being a beginner in the field of health & fitness can be frustrating and confusing, especially when people on social media can have differing opinions on “what works”. The key to a successful fitness journey includes: a structured workout plan, a structured nutrition plan, maintenance of biofeedback (stress, sleep, digestion, etc) and accountability/something to keep you going! If you’re struggling with any of these or feel like you need some guidance, apply for 1:1 coaching with Team Revolution here!
