Making Progress. Part 1

"I've been working out for ___ months but I haven't seen any results". Do you ever feel like you are working hard but still haven't seen any changes? I know that this can be frustrating and it can even make some people stop exercising all together. Today I'll try and explain why some people do not see any progress no matter how hard they work.

Train Smarter, Not Harder.

The purpose of my blogs are to give you all the knowledge to train smarter and explain things in a way that is understandable. I will now explain how to train smarter and avoid training harder than you have to.

Once you have established a goal it is important to understand how this goal can be achieved. Understanding how to stimulate your body to achieve specific results is key and this will ultimately determine if you will reach your goal. 

You may remember one of my earlier blogs titled, What are you doing? I went over the proper rep ranges for various types of resistance training.For example, if you are looking to get bigger it is important that you work within the specific rep ranges (8-12) and sets (3-4). For someone who did not have this knowledge, it is possible that they would be lifting all kinds of different weight using very different rep ranges, causing them to work harder (or even not enough) and therefore not reaching their goal. Train smarter, not harder.

Along with understanding rep ranges we should understand that if you want to increase the size of certain muscles or muscle groups, we must specifically work those muscles or muscle groups. Your calves will not get bigger by working your shoulders. You must specifically target the area in which you want to see improvement.

Next, it is extremely important that you understand that muscle must continually be stimulated and overloaded in order to grow. If you are lifting the same amount of weight all the time, chances are you will not grow and you will stay the same because you have not changed the stress to your muscle. Our muscles adapt to the stress we put them under and this allows for change. Along with increasing the weight we use, it is also a good idea to change the way we stimulate the muscle by changing the exercises we use. Again, our body adapts fairly quickly so we do not want it to become accustomed to the same stimulation

Another important factor is that we must progressively overload the muscle. This means that we must continue to add weight (weekly, bi-weekly) to the given exercise. When we continue adding weight, we keep our body in a state of change.

NOTE: The increase in weight is not meant to be a large increase. It is much better to increase the weight by smaller increments so that we can continue to progress this overload.

I should also mention that if someone is looking to gain some size, they must also increase their caloric intake (they must eat more food). NO THIS DOES NOT MEAN STUFF YOURSELF WITH JUNK! 

I will go over how nutrition plays a role in progress for both fat loss and muscle gain in Making Progress Part 2.

This does not apply to me because I don't lift weights....

This actually does apply to everyone who performs some type of exercise. If you are trying to improve something specific you must continue to stimulate and put the body under greater stress so that it may overcome new adaptations.

Let's say you are interested in improving your mile time, you must also follow these principles. In order to run a faster mile, you must continue to vary the distance you are running as well as the pace in which you are running it. By running longer distances, you are telling your body that it needs to run further and that it must adapt. This adaptation will then allow you to run farther and fatigue less quickly because your body has now become accustomed to running longer distances. This allows you to be more efficient when it comes to running a shorter distance again (the 1 mile run).

Along with this, it is a good idea to run shorter distances at faster paces so that your body can get used to pushing harder and running faster for a longer period of time. By doing this your body will be able to better control your heart rate, rate of fatigue, etc. 

So we see that to improve our Cardio, we must be specific, overload, and progress our training. 

Again it is important that we progress at a steady pace and not make huge leaps. We can only improve so much at a time. Trying to dramatically increase your distances or pace can cause injury and therefore it is recommended that we progress with small increments.

Limiting Factors.

It is very important to understand that if we want to improve it goes beyond just exercising.

So many people do not understand the importance of nutrition and rest. If someone was exercising properly but not eating or sleeping right, 2/3's of the training factors would be missing. If 2/3's of what is necessary is missing, chances are you won't see great results. 

When it comes to nutrition it is important that we understand that food is simply energy for our body. Without food we will not have the proper fuel to energize us for exercise or replenish us when we are done. Muscles need food to recover, and i'm not just talking about protein. Many people do not understand the importance of carbohydrates because our society has basically made everyone think that carbs are monsters that deposit fat into our belly's. If you would like a recap on the basics of nutrition check out my earlier blog The Basics. 

Along with nutrition, sleep and rest are when our muscles are able to repair themselves and recover from the training. 

Key Points

If we want to improve and see progress, we must:

• Be specific with our training
• Continually overload our muscles and cardiovascular system
• Progressively overload our muscles and cardiovascular system
• Rest and recover
• Ensure that our meals are balanced and that we eat natural foods that have not been processed 

Stay tuned for Progress Part 2!

Train the way you want to perform.

Many athletes try to improve their game by spending hours in the gym. It is very important that athletes give 100% during their training and not just in games. Today we see plenty of athletes who feel that they don't need to practice, lift weights, or train hard and that the only thing that matters is how they play during the game. This type of decision can greatly hinder you from achieving optimal results and reaching your full potential.

Training
Whether it be weight lifting or actual practice (sport/skill), how you train can directly affect how you will perform. In order to become fast and agile, one must practice being fast and agile. Specificity is key to improving and developing strength, power, speed, agility, and balance.

It is very important to put in 100% effort during training. If speed is what you are trying to develop, you would  achieve much better results by doing 5 sprints concentrating on perfect form and fluidity than doing 10 sprints where good form has gone out the window and fatigue has set in.

The same can be said about weight lifting. If someone is attempting to get bigger arms and they are doing bicep curls, the focus should be on each individual contraction while maintaining good form. The focus SHOULD NOT be on how much weight you can move or on pushing past fatigue. When we place the focus on simply moving the weight, momentum becomes a major player and therefore the effort is not concentrated on the biceps, but rather on the shoulders or back. Don't let your pride get in the way of developing maximal results.

Again, when we focus on giving our best effort, it is best to go to the point where form is still good. Once we begin to see bad form, we are no longer able to give 100% effort and fatigue sets in (this is also the point at which injury usually occurs).

Key Points

• Work specifically to your goal: If you want to be quicker, all of your movements should be performed quickly.
• Quality is better than Quantity: Focus on each individual contraction/movement and give it your best effort. 5 good reps are better than 10 poor reps.
• Once form has gone, it is best to stop the exercise to ensure that injury does not take place.
• Leave your ego at home!