When you work hard you expect to be rewarded.  In terms of exercise the reward is looking better and feeling better.  But there are many cases when we feel like we are working hard but we are not seeing the results we want.  Let’s discuss 8 reasons why you are not getting the results that you deserve.

1. You’re not working hard enough.

If you have been working out consistently for a few months and the results have stopped showing after the first month or so, then that means you need to step up your workout.  The body adjusts quickly to difficult exercise, by getting stronger, losing weight, becoming more flexible, etc. If the workouts are no longer difficult then the body does not have a need to get stronger, or to lose more weight to perform the exercises.  So if your body has stopped getting results, then it’s time to get that old feeling back of exercise difficulty, like when you first started exercising. 

Get-Results Remedy: The way to increase the difficulty of your exercise is to do one of a number of things.  You can increase the weight that you use, you can workout for a longer period of time, decrease the rest time between each exercise, workout faster ie get more reps, workout more often, or do new exercises that will challenge your body.

2. You’re working too hard.

There is a such thing as working too hard, and getting diminishing returns.  Your body does need time to recover and during that recovery time period is when your body gets stronger.  If your body remains very sore from week to week you are not giving your body proper time to rest.  Also if you are constantly feeling sluggish, that could also be a sign that your body needs to rest. In order to see your muscles grow you need to exercise a particular muscle a minimum 2x per week, the maximum is 3x per week.  If you are working a particular muscle 4x, 5x per week, you are doing too much and not giving your body enough time to rest.

Get-Results Remedy: Take a week off from exercising and let your body fully heal.  Then get back to exercising with a routine that is more sustainable, like resistance training 3x per week, if it’s a full body workout. You can add cardio the other days you are not resistant training.  You need to understand your fitness level. Exercise hard enough to feel the burn but not so hard that the burn never goes away.

3. You haven’t changed your diet.

Exercise will take you far in regards to fitness, but it will never beat your diet.  You can exercise hard but if you don’t eat right, you will not be able to burn the fat, or gain the muscles that you want.  Exercising raises your metabolism so it makes you more hungry, but if you eat the wrong things you will gain weight instead of losing weight.  Also building muscles require you to eat a certain type of way especially if you are a thin person.

Get-Results Remedy: If that fat seems to not want to budge after weeks of exercise, you should track your calories using an app. It just takes an extra 100 calories a day to gain an extra pound a month.  You should look at your portion sizes and cut that down, also cut out unnecessary calories, that do not contribute to your fullness, for example added sugar, added oil, added sweet sauces, etc.  On the flip side if you are thin and your goal is trying to gain muscles, then you should look to increase your portion sizes, and eat more protein. 

4. You’re only doing cardio.

Cardio is very important when it comes to losing weight, cardio causes your heart rate to rise, which is the determinate factor in the amount of calories that you burn during exercise.  But only doing cardio burns fat and muscle at the same time.  When you lose muscle your metabolism slows down, so any mess up in your diet, or if you stop doing cardio for a extended period of time, like a week, then the weight will come rushing back.  Only doing cardio causes your weight to fluctuate up and down over a long period of time.

Get-Results Remedy: You have to add resistance training to your cardio workouts.  You can do resistance training with weights, bands, or your body weight.  Also you can combine resistance training with cardio, example doing kettlebell swings, burpees, using heavy ropes, boxing, etc.

5. You reward yourself with food.

Do you workout so you can eat whatever you want?  Well that may not work too well for you. That slice of pizza you ate is equivalent to 3 miles of running.  The amount of exercise needed to burn the unhealthy food that you eat will shock you.  That is why it is important to eat calorie less foods, in addition to exercise, to experience consistent weight loss.

Get-Results Remedy: Do not look at food as a reward system, reward yourself with something else like new clothes, a massage, etc.  If you do want to reward yourself with food, then reward yourself after you have worked out consistently for a month or two.  You should have truly lost weight within that month and you would deserve a little treat for your effort.

6. You’re doing too much too soon.

Social media and TV makes us believe that results happen at a snap of the finger.  So people go to the gym and workout like there’s no tomorrow.  But in actuality weight loss is a slow grinding process, so you need to temper your expectation.  The very fast results that people get are almost impossible to maintain, because of the strain it puts on your normal life.

Get-Results Remedy: Be patient.  Being healthy is not about who works out the hardest, it’s about who can be the most consistent.  If you start out slow and consistent you are way more likely to continue exercising for the rest of your life.  When you start off too fast, you may be discouraged, or you could injure yourself. Once your body gets adjusted to the exercise then you can up the ante a little bit.

7. You’re trading sleep for workouts.

Sleep is a important part of being healthy and if you don’t get enough sleep it will negatively affect your body.  Sleep is the most important way your body recovers from working out, so if you are working out instead of sleeping your body will find it difficult to recover, therefore it will not build muscle properly.  Also a lack of sleep causes your body to be stressed and stress produces a hormone called cortisone which breaks down the muscle, and slows your metabolism.  Those are a few things that sleepless nights cause, but also working out while sleepy will limit your motor functions, so your workout will not be as effective.

Get-Results Remedy: You should schedule sleep and working out like it’s a job, or a date that can’t be missed.  It will not hurt you to workout while sleepy on occasion but making that a habit will cause you to not reach the goals you are seeking.

8. You sit all day.

You may workout regularly but your job of sitting in front of a computer, or your relaxation time is only lounging watching tv, then your workout sessions could be negated.  Having a completely sedentary lifestyle outside of working out will still negatively affect your joints, flexibility, posture, etc.  So it is great to workout, but the body is still meant to be on the move during your regular life.

Get-Results Remedy: You should take walks as a form of relaxation, or park farther in a store parking lot to get extra steps.  Also take the stairs instead of the elevator, take walks after dinner, or even walk to a nearby store whenever you want to shop.  The key is to make movement a constant part of your lifestyle.

These are all tips if followed will greatly enhance your life and you will start seeing the results that you have been working so hard to see.