You are motivated, and you now go to sport almost every day. You spend your energy, you come out sweating & feeling like you’ve done a good job. And yet… no results on your physique. You don’t lose weight, or gain muscle (depending on your goals). And it is very disheartening . That said, there is necessarily a reason behind, and identifying it will allow you to implement the necessary means to go beyond it and finally obtain the results you want.
What are the different reasons why Can’t see results in training? What can you do to make your body change faster? We take stock immediately.
1. I don’t push myself enough during workouts
It is quite possible to go to the gym every day … without really doing any sport . There, you will have to be very frank with yourself: do you load enough if you do weight lifting? Or do the sessions seem easy to you? Do you feel like you are pushing your limits with each session, or do you feel comfortable in your workout? Are you short of breath? Do you have muscle aches? (not always proof of efficient work, but it is often an indicator in new programs) If you are 100% honest you would say that Do you give your best every time you exercise? If the answer is no, then here is the problem: you are not making enough effort to bring about physical changes. You maintain, at most.
How to fix it? To bring about changes, you have to force yourself to do intense sessions: that does not necessarily mean longer! (1h15 total, that’s a good workout, for example), but get MORE out of your comfort zone.
Before loading more, be sure to do the movements well – check with a coach if necessary. You can also slow down the movements to work the muscles more deeply.
If you are running, force yourself to do interval workouts, instead of just cruising at your cruising speed.
The goal: to stimulate your body, which will want to respond with mass gain or increased energy consumption.
2. I haven’t changed my routine for a long time
The body is fucked up in a way: it gets used to what you put it through. This is the case for the diet (as discussed in the article on diet plateaus and reverse dieting) but it is just as true for training! If you follow the same routine, and do the same exercises, day in and day out, for months, your body has become accustomed to it and no longer has any interest in building muscle or shedding fat.
How to fix it? Change your sport routine! Make yourself a new routine – which is definitely going to have to include exercises that you don’t like, and so much the better! The goal is to prevent your body from resting on its laurels, and still working the same muscles and at the same heart rate. It could be adding strength to your cardio, interval training to your strength, new moves, or a whole new discipline.
3. I train too much
We forget it quite often, but training too much, too intensively or too often is to risk limiting your progress by directly impacting recovery and muscle building.
If you exercise too often, or target the same areas at too short intervals , you risk penalizing muscle recovery and reconstruction – a muscle takes about 36 hours to repair, so you need to alternate muscle groups at least every other day if you want to train every day – although a full rest day is very, very advisable to allow the body to rest, repair and to create new muscles.
If you train too hard, increasing the loads each time, you will reach a period of “overreaching” during which your body will severely limit performance, always with the goal of adapting and recovering. Not optimal gift.
How to fix it? I advise you to go read this article on the right training rhythm, which can guide you on the number of sessions and their duration to adopt according to your level and your constraints. Whatever happens, listen to your body and rest when you feel it is necessary, your muscles will thank you for it (if not absolutely every day for 2 weeks, for example. There, it is no longer rest , it’s just “don’t play sports at all”, eh.)
4. I am not eating enough / not properly
We are going to lay a fairly clear foundation to begin with.
Not enough calories = lack of energy
Not enough protein = no muscle building
Too much sugar (among other things) = fat mass creation that can hide your progress
If we are realistic for a few seconds, we realize that the body just can’t build muscle if you don’t give it fuel for it – you can try to make a fire without wood or anything flammable, but it seems like a lot of effort to get nowhere. It is therefore necessary to feed it sufficiently.
Eating badly (not enough protein / too much sugar) or in excess can have the opposite effect: you will produce mass, but probably mainly fat, since your body will try to destroy the proteins in your muscles to feed and / or hide your new muscles under a layer of fat.
How to fix it? Take stock, being 100% honest with yourself, and agree to change your diet to achieve your goals, even if it means eating less, or more, or differently. Excuses don’t get results, and trying things out allows you to see what works and doesn’t work for you, so it’s always good to take!
Personally, I use the MyFitnessPal app to check from time to time that my diet meets my nutritional needs (not just in calories, but especially in protein and fat).
I hope you found in this article the reason why you are not seeing the results you hope for in sport. If you are not, you can write to me on thefitnesstheoryso that we can discuss it together or write me a comment! All problems have a solution, when you know where to take them. ?