8 Top Reasons You Are Not Getting Results in The Gym

According to the survey, around 36 percent of the participants do not want to consume calories after a workout, 50 percent avoids carbohydrates, and 53 percent avoids protein for some strange reasons.

If you are putting your best efforts at the gym, but still not getting the desired results, the above study could be an eye-opener for you. And not having a proper post-workout nutritional plan is just reason why people often fail to make the most out of their workout regimen. There are many other factors to blame.

#1 You are not pushing yourself beyond your limit

If you have been doing the same exercises for months, it is time to boost your workout intensity. Remember that your body quickly becomes accustomed to a fitness regimen. So you need to modify your fitness program regularly to make yourself work hard enough every time. And the modification could be as simple as using a slightly heavier dumbbell, running an extra mile, increasing the number of pushups, and adding some extra minutes to your daily cardio schedule. The idea is to challenge your muscles, pushing them constantly towards the next level. For instance, if you can comfortably complete 15 reps with a certain weight, consider using a heavier weight next time. When it comes to weight lifting, you may get hurt if you lose focus. If that is not the case with you, perhaps you are not lifting hard enough.

#2 You are working too hard

There is a fine line between working hard enough and working too hard. While pushing yourself beyond your limit is a good idea, be sure to avoid overtraining. Some signs that you are overtraining may include a constant feeling of tiredness, insomnia, headache, and lack of energy. If you notice any such signs, immediately take a call to modify your workout routine. When people start a new, more challenging fitness routine, they often work too hard, without taking adequate rest to help the muscles repair. This could lead to serious muscle injury. If you want to make the most out of your fitness regimen, allow your muscles enough time to replenish. Consider taking rest every other day, or you can choose to train two opposing muscle groups on alternate days. It is also important to have enough sleep and drink a lot of water.

#3 You don’t have a proper nutritional plan

As already discussed, eating right helps maximize your post workout recovery. In fact, experts recommend that you should be careful about what you eat before, during, and after a workout. The basic idea is to neither eat too much nor eat too little, because you neither want to gain weight nor to hamper your body’s post-workout recovery. Working out on an empty stomach is never a good idea. Since digestion is a lengthy process, it is advisable that you should take your food at least two hours before you start training. A pre-workout diet would ideally contain easily digestible carbohydrates, such as, oats, and sweet potatoes, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), and creatine monohydrate. For post-workout recovery, you can consider taking whey protein, fast-absorbing carbohydrates, potassium-rich foods, such as, bananas and mashed potatoes. It is always a good idea to consult a professional dietician and have her create a diet chart for you.

#4 You are confused between cardio and strength training

Maybe you are a big cardio fan, or perhaps you focus most of your time and effort on strength training. In either case, you are actually doing it wrong. If you want to get the best results from your fitness program, you need to maintain a balance between cardio and weight training. Cardio helps to burn calories, while strength training helps to build muscles. What you need to do first is to identify your fitness goal. If your primary goal is to lose fat, you should do more cardio exercises, such as, running, walking, and, swimming. On the other hand, if you are training to build muscles, consider putting a focus on weight lifting. However, in either case, the balance should be maintained. For instance, just because you want to lose weight does not mean you should avoid resistance training completely. If you want to get the best of both worlds, consider trying circuit training or kettlebell training.

#5 You sit too much

Studies show that too much sitting increases the risk of health hazards, even if you exercise regularly. Think about it. If you exercise for one hour and then sit all day at a desk, you may, in the end, fail to obtain any benefit from the hard work you put at the gym. Moreover, excessive sitting triggers several health problems, including chronic back pain, obesity, high blood pressure, and heart diseases. What you should do is to find ways to keep yourself active throughout the day. If you spend most part of the day with a computer at your office, consider taking short coffee breaks (not necessary to actually have coffee every time) at frequent intervals, and use that as an excuse to roam around for five minutes. Also, look for any opportunity for physical activity in your everyday life. For instance, you can choose to take the stairs instead of the elevator, clean and maintain your car on your own, visit the local park or market whenever possible, and participate in outdoor sports with your friends.

#5 You are compromising your sleep

Perhaps you are too busy to take time out for the gym during the day. You even work till late night. So the only time you can exercise is in the early morning. But is it really a good idea to compromise your sleep? Of course not! Experts say that an adult person needs to sleep at least seven hours a day. When you exercise regularly, quality sleep becomes even more important. Lack of sleep may lower your energy level and your ability to concentrate. As a result, you may end up hurting yourself while working out at the gym. Moreover, sleep deficiency triggers the release of huger hormone Ghrelin. This means that you may feel hungry, if you don’t sleep enough, which may eventually cause you to eat more and gain weight. In the end, the hard work you put at the gym does not deliver the results you want to see.

#6 You are overeating after a workout

Chances are that you use a heart rate monitor to calculate your calorie burn after every workout session. Every time you burn a few hundreds, you feel so relieved that you almost immediately reward yourself with a hamburger or a pizza. If you are doing so, you may be depriving yourself of the benefits of your workout. A standard-size burger contains more than 500 calories. If you want to burn the same amount of calories, you need to run more than two hours. There is no point working hard at the gym unless you grow a healthy food habit. Remember you need to consume foods that would help your body recover from a workout. So choose your food carefully. If you think it would help, you can seek advice of a professional nutritionist.

#7 You are targeting your favorite muscle groups

Many fitness enthusiasts put maximum efforts on some selected muscles, while completely ignoring the others. In most cases, lower body parts are ignored. You may be doing the same mistake. For best results, you need to do full-body muscle workout. Just training your favorite muscle group would not help you see an overall improvement.

#8 You don’t calculate the time between sets 

If you want to get the best benefits of weight training; you need to time yourself between sets. Maybe you are not strict about your minimum and maximum rest period. Or perhaps you are not even calculating your rest period between two sets. This defeats the basic purpose of a fitness program. If you don’t challenge your muscles, how can you expect results from your workout? Ideally, the rest period between sets should be between 60 and 90 seconds. However, depending on the amount of weight you are lifting, you may take up to three minutes of rest between sets.

Another reason why your workout is not working could be because you normally don’t change the order of your exercises. If you are a beginner, do not expect too much too soon. Remember that bodybuilding is a time taking process. You should not expect anything overnight. If you do it in the right process, you may begin feeling healthier within a few weeks, but you have to wait a few months to see the real results. When it comes to body building, slow and steady wins the race.