Hi guys, Justin from Custom Fitness here, your personal trainer in Amarillo. Today we are looking at what happens when your progress seems to have stopped. Where do you do when you have slow results? If you have any questions about this or are ready to push past your interrupted progress, please call the studio. Our trainers would love to talk with you: 806-322-3188.
Slow results can be very discouraging, if not frustrating. You’ve been working out like crazy and in the beginning it was almost like the jiggle was melting off of you. Now, you do the same thing, eat the same type of nutrients, but the scale says the same thing. Hmm.
I’d like to break it down into something easier to think about than just your end goal. Whenever someone approaches a new task there is always a learning curve required. Some people may seem to pick up things naturally. From zero to master in no time flat. Don’t let that fool you. While this person may excel in one area they are almost always lacking in another. People tend to believe that because the outward appearance is confident and successful it must be true for the entirety of that individual. Rarely is that the case. Often times the successful results in one area comes at the sacrifice of others. Take for example, a strength athlete. Said athlete trains for strength. They may do things that seem superhuman to any outsider looking in but it is what they eat, train, rest, and focus on so of course they would perform phenomenally in that one area. If that same athlete were to compete in an endurance race across desert terrain, they would become much more human and may perform much poorer than imagined. They don’t train for those type of events. They don’t supply their body with the necessary tools to compete or excel at an endurance race. This quote comes to mind when people tell me their progress isn’t happening as quick as it should be, “don’t compare your behind the scenes with someone else’s highlight reel”.
If you are training to lose weight or put on muscle why would you assume that your progress will be any faster than that of elite athletes? The first few weeks of any program feels like we take leaps and bounds towards achieving our goals. We see tons of progress and lose inches and weight with ease! The the inevitable plateau rears its ugly head for a nice bout of discouragement. Don’t let that stop you. I’m serious. As personal trainers in Amarillo it is our job to help push past those periods where change is lacking into a new round of progress and achieved goals. Although the progress isn’t as fast as the first few weeks, it is still there. WE take new steps towards our goals by using new ways to move our bodies. We make strength progress and our endurance increases. Were you on a running routine where you lifted weights after? Maybe try yoga and some TRX. Changing up your routine and cross training your muscles will help your body from having slow results and get the jolt to start changing again. After we reach our initial goals, we can then challenge our bodies to lose more weight and gain more muscle with a variety of exercises and motions. These are not always the goals that we are setting out to attain but they help to reach our ultimate end goals.
So just an example to help our psychological well being. When I started working out to lose weight three years ago, I was sure with my knowledge and previous track record I’d lose weight in no time. This was not the case. Have you ever set out on a plan you knew would just work, but it backfired and made you do a double take? My progress actually seemed to take longer than when I had tried to lose weight previously. This didn’t make any sense to my naive self. I worked just as hard and just as long, if not longer, than when I was 22 years old! At the ripe age of 29 my body had changed for the worse.
My habits and job had taken a toll on me that I had not taken into account. I started to develop my new healthy lifestyle: looking at my eating habits, controlling my stress levels, getting up and moving more. I lost the quick weight at the beginning that naturally occurs when you stop treating your body poorly. Imagine that! After a while, though, it slowed and eventually stopped due to my same ol’, same ol’ routine. I became discouraged. Despite my knowledge and training I couldn’t convince myself to keep going. I almost quit going to workout and just let myself go again, but that’s when I decided to really do something different. I refocused my nutrition and slowed down a bit on my workouts. This seemed counterintuitive but my logic so far wasn’t working so I had to make a change somehow. After considering all my options and reading about different nutrition plans, I finally decided to try a Vegan Diet. I will be honest, I hated it at first. I felt like all the best stuff had meat or dairy in it. Steak and eggs are delicious. After the first couple of weeks though I realized that I was no longer tired when waking up or sluggish in the middle of the day. I realized my body was getting more vitamins and nutrients from my new colorful, varied diet. I realized if my body was going to change it had to do it from the inside out. This change provided me with a new perspective on my healthy lifestyle plan and my progress was rebooted. It’s hard to feel accomplished when the evidence of change is minimal. Keep in mind, though, progress in any area is still progress. Keeping at it will eventually translate to your goals.
Take the next step and talk to one of our trainers about our many programs: nutrition, personal training, group fitness and more. We are ready to get you on your way to your goals, help you to stop experiencing slow results, and jumpstart your progress again . You can contact us at 806-322-3188 or info@customfitness.biz. We look forward to working with you. Have a great day.