With 2019 quickly approaching midway our thoughts revert back to how are we doing on those 2019 Resolutions? Did we accomplish them or were they lost in the shuffle of everyday life?
Generally those goals include some aspect of fitness, losing weight, eating better, reducing stress, moving more, sitting less, etc. Often we chalk up our unmet goals to “not enough time to get to the gym,” when in reality there are probably a multitude of factors that are holding us back. Below are a just a handful of ways we can sabotage our results. Which ones are you guilty of?
7 Ways your Sabotaging your workout
- Not enough sleep or quality of your sleep
- Not giving your nutrition the attention that it deserves
- Not dealing with Stress
- Not taking a rest day(s)
- Not having a plan
- Not giving your workout a full effort
- Not varying your workout
Sleep there is a strong correlation between sleep or lack thereof and weight. In fact the quality and quantity of your sleep is one of the strongest predictors of obesity. Sleep allows for restoration, repair and rejuvenation. Without adequate sleep we lack the motivation to watch what/how we eat as well as the drive to move to offset what we eat. Sleep is also crucial in repairing the body after exercise and the daily functions of the human body.
Nutrition is more important than exercise, but put the two together and you have a winning combination. It’s impossible to out workout a bad diet, and you are what you eat are two very true slogans. Eating quality food to fuel your body is necessary in order to perform at the desired level of intensity within sport.
Stress is toxic…it affects your sleep, home, and body. Everyone deals with stress differently, but you must deal with it. Take a walk, Breath deeply for :30seconds, throw the ball for your dog, workout. Whatever your stress relief is do it and do it often.
Rest days are as important as workout days. Depending on the intensity of your workout rest days are perhaps more important than workout days. Without rest days your metabolic systems (energy supplies) don’t have the opportunity to refuel depleted stores. Not to mention the toll it takes on your muscles, immune system and motivation. If you are lacking the motivation to workout following an extremely busy day or hard workout, do your body a favor and take the day off.
Planning is succeeding. You wouldn’t build a house without plans so why come to the gym without one? Pretty hard to know if you are progressing if you don’t record where you came from. Take 10 minutes to write down your plan of attack before coming to the gym if you don’t know what to do find a trainer, join CrossFit or take a group fitness class. A well executed plan is one way to accomplish your goals.
Intensity is not spending 5 mins after every set to check your social media accounts. Intensity needs to be a part of at least 10-20mins of your workout. At a bare minimum you should at least be timing your rest breaks. 5 mins goes by fast especially if you are on your phone or chatting with a fellow gym member.
Variety is key to ensuring that you are always challenging new muscle groups as well as taxing the metabolic systems. The body is extremely efficient and has the capacity to adapt every 8 days. Without new stimuli the need for adaption ceases and you no longer have a need for change. As I mentioned before, writing down and tracking what you do at the gym will help to ensure some variety if nothing else at least you can change the reps/weight scheme.
Still not sure where to go? Shoot me an email happy to help in any way possible josh@oldtown-athleticclub.com
Until next time
Cheers-