Progress. Something we are all chasing, but something many of us my feel we are not achieving despite our best efforts.
And it is not necessarily something you are doing wrong, sometimes it can be the things you don’t know you need to be doing.
When it comes to progress there are four crucial factors that I believe limits people’s progress, without them, they find themselves back to square one on Monday ready to ‘start again’.
The last point is the most important – so read through till the end!
Structure and routine in your training
In any gym journey, some form of structure or routine is integral.
Not just training what you feel like when you feel like it, but having a program you follow weekly which suits your level of ability and availability is one of the best tools you can use to ensure you are using your time wisely and effectively.
This can be scaled to you, whether you’re training for 30 minutes once a week, or
60 minutes 5 times a week, it does not matter.
Whether you’re a high-performance athlete, or just an everyday person trying to improve your health, it does not matter.
Structure and routine is your best friend
when it comes to making progress.
It does not have to be perfect.
You just need to make sure you’re hitting all body parts 1-2 times per week.
Training once? Cool, 1 x full body session
Training 4 times? Cool, 2 x Upper/Lower sessions
Progressive Overload
This works in conjunction with the first point. Once you have a bit of a routine set up, it is
essential to make sure over a period of time you’re progressively overloading on all of your exercises.
This may sound big and scary, but is as simple as making sure you are
slowly increasing the weight and or reps you are performing each week.
How do you know when you can go up in weight?
Generally speaking, if you finish a set with four or more reps in the tank, you can increase the weight to make it more challenging.
If you are stuck on a weight and not comfortable increasing, can you increase your reps? E.g. go from 10 reps to 12.
Unfortunately, your body will only change and adapt if it needs too, sitting in cruise control and not challenging yourself will result in no change at all.
Nutrition
The dreaded word…nutrition.
Yes unfortunately, there is no ying without yang. Even with perfect training, without proper nutrition, you are leaving so much on the table (vice versa).
Let’s start with protein, a word everyone has heard of in the gym but what does it actually do?
Protein is the building nutrient. Integral for muscular repair, adaptation and growth. Without adequate protein we don’t grow.
Aiming for 1.5-1.8g/kg of bodyweight is a great starting point.
The next talking point..calories. It scares a lot of people, but I like to have the view of seeing it for what it is, which is the energy content in foods.
Some foods have high energy contents,
some have less.
If you want to see some real change in your body composition, this is a
catalyst that needs to be factored in.
If you want to build muscle; either eating at maintenance or in a slight 200-300 calories surplus for extra energy is recommended.
If you want to cut fat; eating in a deficit of around 500 calories, will likely be the most sustainable.
Nutrition is not a one size fits all and seeking further advice can be very beneficial. But it is
something that must be addressed.
Patience
The final point on this topic, and in my view the most important…Is patience.
Yes, patience.
Progress takes time. Weeks, months, years. You can tick every box listed above, but you need to stick at it and give it time.
It cannot be a one-week committment.
Be patient and keep a long term
focus.
This is not to say there are no short-term gains to be made, but to set yourself up for true success you need to be in it for the long haul.
Change can be slow but it is happening. This is also why building strong habits is important, habits that last a lifetime and set you up for success long term.
In summary, nail the basics.
Structure your training to suit your goals and availability, train hard and progressively over time, get your nutrition habits in check and keep at it for time.
Change does not occur without change – someone smarter then me
