6 Things That Are Keeping You Out Of Shape

I’ve heard some pretty insane excuses from people over the years as to why they’re not getting the results they want with their fitness program. I could list a whole bunch of these excuses in this post but I’d rather just say that most of them are total BS.

Most people find it easier to blame something for their lack of progress rather than fix the actual problem.

Here is a list of what I believe to be the top 6 things that are preventing most people from getting the results they should be with their fitness program:

1. Too Much ‘Slow Paced’ Cardio – I know you’ve probably heard this a million times but it’s absolutely the truth. If you’re looking to lose body fat, then walking on a treadmill is not going to be the best way to do it.

You need to push yourself if you want to elicit any type of noticeable change. In other words, if it’s too easy it’s not going to give you the type of effect that most people are looking for in an exercise program.

For fat loss I would stick to HIIT (high intensity interval training) or some type of ‘finisher’ at the end of your workouts. Using one of these types of training will burn more body fat and put your body into fat burning mode long after you’re done working out.

2. Not Enough Resistance Training – I don’t care if you’re using body weight, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, or sandbags you need to make sure that resistance training is a major part of the exercise portion of your fitness program.

Resistance training helps you develop lean muscle mass that not only speeds up your metabolism but also helps reshape your body to give it that athletic, healthy appearance.

Resistance training also makes you stronger which is something that everyone should be looking to do .  I don’t care what gender or age you are no one wants to be a skinny, little, weakling.

Being weak is easy… Getting strong and pushing heavy weights with good form is hard and will make you look and feel great.

3. Not Enough Intensity – If you truly want to get into great shape, you really need to amp up the intensity. Taking 10 minute breaks between exercises to talk on your cell phone is not going to cut it.

As I said in #1, In order to get the most out of a program, you need to make sure you’re pushing your body hard enough to solicit an adaptable change. You need to be doing exercises that are challenging enough to force your body to burn body fat and your muscles to get stronger.

In other words, no tricep kickbacks and slow cardio on the treadmill… Stick to mostly compound (multi-joint) exercises and sprint intervals to increase muscle mass and burn fat!

If you’re not pushing yourself, you will never elicit any type of change.

4. Too Much Intensity – I know a lot of ‘training pros’ are going to disagree with this but there is a fine line between training properly and over doing it.

If you’re puking or getting sick after every workout, then chances are you’re pushing yourself a little too hard. Making yourself sick from training can have a negative effect on the outcome.

Warm up, cool downs, and rest periods all have their place in any good training program. If you don’t give your muscles, joints, and CNS time to recover properly, you’re not going to be able to give it your all on every set. In fact, your form will probably break down and you’ll probably end up getting injured.

You need to make sure you’re are giving everything you got during your workouts but not at the expense of your body. Constantly being sick or injured is obviously going to have a negative effect on your training program. Train smart!

5. No Self Motivation – If you’ve been reading my blogs for any amount of time, you know how I feel about this subject. It makes me cringe when I hear someone say that they have no motivation so they’re going to hire a personal trainer.

Listen, if you have no self motivation to at least get your butt to the gym on training days, then hiring a trainer is just going to be a waste of money. You can’t rely 100% on someone or something else to get you motivated. You need to have a certain amount of self motivation to at least get you to start and continue the task at hand.

As I said in my last post… Without self motivation, you will continue to make excuses and continue to just talk about the things you need to do without actually getting anything done. Nuff said!

6. Poor Nutritional Program – There’s a great quote that’s been going around the fitness industry for many years… ” You can’t out train a poor diet!

Although I personally don’t like the word diet because to me it means something that is temporary, this quote holds so true. If you are not eating properly, most of what you’re doing in the gym will be worthless.

You need to continually feed your muscles with lean proteins and keep the metabolism revved up so you are constantly burning body fat.

Eating clean and keeping your calories in check is a necessary, and usually over looked, part of any successful fitness program. Eat like crap… And you’re gonna look like crap! Period!!!

Train Hard… Lift Strong