No results?

A lot of people complain on why their workout regime is not bringing results. The following points are made to help you determine why:

• Do you allow sufficient recovery time? For weight training, you need to rest every body part for at least 24 hours. This is so the muscle fibres repair and come back even stronger and bigger!
• Are you putting your mind into the muscles you are working? The brain-muscle connection is key to really target a specific body part and for quicker results.
• Do you create a challenge? Each time you do the workout, add extra reps or weights. This is absolutely crucial to getting results.
• Do you change your workouts every 4-6 weeks? Muscles get bored too (just like us!) and do not respond efficiently if they are used to the routine. You must surprise your muscles and hit them at different angles.
• Concentrate on good form. It’s not about the time you take, the amount you can lift or the number of sets you do. Focus on quality, not quantity.
• Do not be afraid to lift heavy. If you think that the heaviest thing you can lift is a handbag, time will prove you wrong. You can carry beyond what you think if you give it time. In addition, lifting heavy is what really makes a difference to your physique.
• Do you get at least 7 hours of sleep each night? Sleep is the time when your body starts recovering, building muscle mass and releasing growth hormones.
• Remember that it’s 80% diet and 20% exercise. Food is what makes the exercise sculpt you in a specific way. You need to provide enough energy for your muscles by eating healthy carbs, plenty of protein and healthy fats. In addition, eating every 2-3 hours.
• I recommend that after your workout, you take a good quality protein shake and 1 or 2 bananas so you have quick proteins and quick carbs.

Challenge: How about you don’t ‘check yourself out’ in the mirror for another week or two? Just do what you got to do, and don’t worry about the results yet! It’s a psychological thing, as when you look at yourself everyday, your eyes will try and look for little details and you feel like you’re not getting anywhere. If you completely forgot the mirror for another month, and you finally look in it, you will be surprised. Your eyes will notice the real new changes because you haven’t refreshed your memory for a long time.

Remember: Muscle fibres are like jigsaws. Every workout you do, inserts a new jigsaw over your existing muscles, to form a bigger picture. You don’t form a jigsaw in one second, but you gradually do it by time, adding more and more muscles to your body. So every little helps!