7 Reasons Why Your Not Reaching Your Fitness Goals

1. You Don't Have A Set Why

WHY are you doing what your doing? you should be able to answer that without thinking. Why do you want to get abs? Why do you want to squat 500 pounds? Why do you want to loose weight or gain muscle? You need to have a SET WHY. Having a why allows yourself to stay accountable on those days that you really don't feel like doing it. Lets take 2 examples the first one is someone who has no why;

{they have a goal of getting abs and leaning down, they are killing there workouts but one day this person feels like they just don't want to workout, This person then says oh well I'm just not going to train then, no big deal.} ok so that person decides to skip a training session because they did not feel like it. They had NO WHY to keep them in place. Lets take the same example and add a why;

{this person when he did not feel like training he thought back to his why and in this case his why was he had a contest that he could win some decent money on. That re motivated him and he ended up pushing through.} Now money does not have to be a motivation but that is a pretty strong one. The why that you choose is completely up to you, you just have to have a why that you are truly passionate about. Pick something that is near and dear to you and you will find that you are able to stay motivated a lot easier. For fun post what your WHY is in the comments below! Post your goal too! for me my current why and goal that keeps me pushing heavy weights is that i want to Squat 300lbs, Bench 200lbs, and Deadlift 400lbs. Thats what is keeping me motivated right now. My why is a simple one but it works for me "I just want to get strong and concur weights i never dreamed of lifting before. Also i just want to be the best and strongest version of myself in all areas of life and the squat bench and deadlift are key to that mindset. Possibly in the future i might want to compete in a powerlifting meet too, not sure yet but a possibility for sure.

 

2. Your Program Sucks

If your trying to get stronger and your program has you training way to often and not getting enough recovery then thats a terrible program for you. Same goes for if your trying to train for a marathon and you only have 2 days of running a week. Simply put your program has to be structured for your current goal. People who create programs that try to accomplish everything fail in everything. I was guilty of this for the longest time. I wanted to be everything, i wanted strength, speed, gymnast, martial arts, yoga, endurance, all while being a certain body fat percentage. The result? I failed and went nowhere!!! i stayed the same strength, same speed, same endurance, and i did not improve and i actually got worse and less motivated. Once i started programming for only one or 2 at the max goals at a time was finally when i started to make progress. When I'm trying to get stronger then i put my focus on that. Once you understand that your never going to have it all then your training becomes a lot easier and your motivation will soar because guess what? you actually start seeing progress! A program that promises you can have it all is complete bull, don't spend time and money like i did just spinning your wheels. Figure out your goal and then get a program to go with that goal and then the most important part FOLLOW THROUGH TILL YOU REACH YOUR DESIRED GOAL. Then and only then you can switch things up. Trying to multi task goals is a terrible idea specially when it comes to fitness goals. Need a program that is structured properly and you can gear it to your goals? Check out my 12 week program SHDUPA.

 

3. Your Not Following Through With Your Nutrition

When it comes to results, there are 3 factors that must be meant; Training, Nutrition and Recovery. Nutrition is a huge factor especially when you are trying to loose fat or build muscle. If your goal is to build muscle you must be eating in a caloric surplus and if your trying to lose fat then you need to be eating in a deficit thats it! no buts about it. A common problem i find when i see someone trying to gain muscle and every year they are the same size its mostly because they are just not eating enough and not staying in a surplus for long enough. If you have followed me for some time then you might know that i used to be a huge fan of the bulking and cutting cycles and switching every 6 weeks... well i no longer recommend that and i no longer do it myself. I have found if you want to gain muscle you have to be in a surplus and be in a surplus for a long enough time to actually make gains. I recommend  at least 1-2 full years per bulking cycle before switching to a cutting plan. and a cutting plan should only last at most 3-4 months. If your doing everything else on this list and your still struggling with reaching your goals make sure and come back to this one as it is one of the most important but often forgotten.

 

4. Your Comparing Yourself To Others

Are you guilty of getting on social media and comparing your strength and results to others? If so STOP IT! I drove myself crazy for the longest time asking myself why i was not as strong as some of the people similar to my body stats on Instagram. Whenever i had a bad workout and i would see that the people who i was comparing myself to had crushed there workout i was always down on myself. Using social media for motivation and comparing are two totally different things. Motivation should make you get fired up and feel good. Comparing yourself tho is a slippery slope and can really take you away from your progress.

 

5. Your Rushing Your Training

For the longest time i thought i could only train 45 min to an hour or i thought i would over train so i was talking short rest periods and trying to get all my heavy lifts done in 10-15 minutes and i never got stronger. Finally when i realised that i can train as long as i want i started increasing my rest times on my big lifts from anywhere from 3-5 to even 8 minutes some days and my strength then started to sky rocket! I used to always be afraid of long rest times but when i finally started doing it i was finally able to lift more and also finally grow! Your rest times should depend on how much time you feel you need. For me on strength movements like the squat, bench and deadlift i take anywhere from 3-8 minutes rest between sets so i can regain complete focus and give the same amount of energy and focus to each set. For assistance and hypertrophy stuff i keep my rest times to 1-2 minutes. Again this will depend on what you personally need. the point on this tip though was to cover the fact that resting enough between sets is not a bad thing and in fact encouraged. 

 

6. Your Not Recovering

The other part of resting your not getting is just not generally enough recovery. The amount of days a week you train, the amount or rest days a week, the amount of sleep you get, those are all important things to remember when designing a program. For most people a 4-5 day training split is a good method to try as i find it has a great balance of enough time in the gym and enough time out of the gym so you can recover. I for the longest time trained 6 days a week and occasionally i go back to that every now and then when i feel like it but its not where you should start. I would recommend starting with a 4 day split something like;

Monday- Upper Strength

Tuesday - Lower Strength

Wednesday- Rest

Thursday- Upper Hypertrophy

Friday- Lower Hypertrophy

Sat- Rest

Sun- Rest

 

Once you make gains on that for a while and feel like adding more frequency volume then you can progress to a 5 day split, something maybe like;

 

Monday- Upper Strength

Tuesday- Lower Strength

Wednesday- Rest

Thursday- Back/Shoulders Hypertrophy

Friday- Lower Hypertrophy

Saturday- Chest/Arms Hypertrophy

Sunday- Rest

 

Then occasionally if you want to go to 6 days a week you can try something like this;

 

Monday- Upper Strength

Tuesday- Lower Strength

Wednesday- Shoulders/Arms

Thursday- Chest/Back

Friday- Lower Hypertrophy

Saturday- Shoulders/Arms

Sunday- Rest

 

As you can see the 6 days a week is a lot of frequency and its very taxing mentally and physically so if your lifestyle does not allow for it then don't worry about it just go with the lesser day options. If you want to see a great split to start with that has exercises and sets/reps already programmed check out the FREE Quick Start Guide.

So Once you get the amount of days your going to train down then you need to make sure your sleep is at an optimal level. I'm guilty of not getting enough sleep all too often and its something I'm still working on myself. Studies have shown that for optimal recovery you should shoot for 6 at the very least to 9 hours of sleep a night to allow yourself to get in enough REM sleep for recovery. Most nights i fall in the six and half to 7 hour club and i found over time my body has adapted pretty well to it. Experiment with what works for you and if your like me and during the week don't get enough sleep don't be afraid to sleep in on the weekend. I know some people say thats bad for you but i count on catching up on sleep on the weekends because i know my body needs it. A good rule to remember is sleep is never a bad thing.

 

7. Understand This Takes Years

Last but not least you need to realize that this stuff takes years! I have been training for over 8 years now and powerlifting for about 4 years now and to some people i still don't look like i even lift LOL. Understand that results take a long time to get and you just have to stick with it. Enjoy the journey because the fitness journey is one of the most life changing journeys you will ever go through. You will get to see your body at the best of times and the worst of times. You get to know what your really capable of and how far you can really push it and you understand when you need to slow things down. The journey is long but its a worthwhile one that you can learn a lot from, stick with it and you will progress. If you find yourself struggling still maybe you need to hire a coach (click here for a super affordable one ;) as a coach can help you stay on track and advise you when your not sure on things. Stay patient and results will come.

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