Hey Team,

Welcome to another week!  

I’ve written a bit of a “why aren’t you getting the results” you want blog post today – essentially just leveraging (or trying to leverage) the outcomes from some of the post- 2 week/4-week/6-week/8-week review sessions I’ve been having with new starters lately into 5-reasons why coming to the gym doesn’t immediately mean results will come your way…sadly – and I guess we all ‘know’ this, whilst showing up is at least 90% of the battle sadly it isn’t the whole battle…so stay tuned for ‘5-reasons why you aren’t getting the results you want in the gym!’.

Before I go into that though, there are some cool new things happening at Round 1 over the next couple of weeks:

5-Reasons you aren’t getting the results you WANT

I’ve been doing a heap of goal-setting sessions lately – essentially, it has been working as follows.  

New starter comes in and we set out some training and nutrition targets with them so that they have a clear plan relating to:

– WHAT they should be eating (Daily Calories and Protein) and a mechanism to track them.

– Guidelines on the number of classes they will complete each week.

– ‘Non-Gym’ activity targets – steps per day, meal prep etc – this depends on the person, their daily ‘load’ etc.

They take this plan away and then IMPLEMENT it – from there, we review their progress every two weeks and make adjustments to the plan to ensure it is fitting their lifestyle AND meeting their rate of progress.  Now, in theory, all going well results *SHOULD* be guaranteed…maybe not within a month but certainly we expect to see solid improvements coming within 3-months (and SUSTAINABLE improvements).

Oftentimes though after 3-4 weeks the ‘DREAM’ – improved performance in the gym, weight loss and muscle gain – isn’t really happening at the speed they would like…I mean, What gives???  Now – stepping back for one second 3-4 weeks is clearly in ‘just getting started’ phase and  not the time to give up but I can understand the frustration…I mean, WHAT GIVES???  Thinking about this, I then thought about the battles of EVERYONE in the gym – I mean, we all slug it our day after day, week after week, year after year…exactly WHERE are the outcomes???

It really is easy to push blame away from yourself and cover up the initial struggles you are having with a bit of simple deflection – “THIS PROGRAM DOESN’T WORK”…but – and again, my comeback to that would be “This program HASN’T given you the short term results you were looking for – which is why we re-test every 2-weeks and make adjustments and let’s go away and do that now…”, but ultimately the key to getting results is being 100% honest with yourself.  There is no point pushing hard on the accelerator if you don’t have all your wheels on the ground!

Getting ‘REAL’ results is not effortless. Moving forward requires you to make REAL changes – you really do need to give the program your effort and commitment.  So many times the reason you aren’t seeing the progress you were hoping for comes down to one of FIVE (5) simple things:

1. Your training schedule is inconsistent.

This is the simplest one.  We recommend 3x sessions per week, 52-weeks per year.  There are 11x different training TIMES every day Monday to Thursday.  There are 10x spots on Friday.  We are open each weekend on Saturday and Sunday.  When things work best – and this doesn’t help shift workers and I understand that – you will be in the same session TIMES each week.  Your training schedule will be 100% consistent and 100% predictable.  Further, you will have ONE spot on your weekly calendar – and it might be 6am Saturday before kids sport etc – as a ‘fallback’ training spot in case one of your regular times was missed due to a one-off event.

If you WANT results, you need to make your training and diet a bit of a priority in your life – if it is something that you take a ‘maybe’ or ‘sometimes’ approach with, well, you will get ‘maybe’/’sometimes outcomes.  And I’m 100% not saying that 2x sessions per week doesn’t give you HEALTH benefits – 2 sessions DO give you health benefits and you WILL get fitter…but if you are actively trying to lose weight or train for an event, it’s not going to be enough.  

Do you need help creating YOUR perfect week of training?  Hit me up via email and we can find a time to connect and put a weekly plan together.  (michael@round1fitness.com.au)

2. You’re overtraining.

This is a tricky one.  I do think it’s pretty hard to overtrain by doing a 45-minute Boxing class every day…but…even for the crew who train exclusively in the boxing gym there are going to be those times when you need ‘a break’.  In the strength gym – again, we try to set things up so you CAN train every day without causing too much stress, but at some point, workload is workload and regular heavy lifting takes a toll.

How would I define ‘overtraining’ from a Round 1 perspective?  If you are finding yourself REGULARLY doing 2x sessions in one day – say, boxing in the morning and Strength at night, or REGULARLY doing 6-7 days in a row, well, THAT is over-training – and that means you could be doing more to hinder than help.  Now – my plan is to do a bit of a ‘Why you need to recover’ blog post in the next few weeks (including some strategies) to try and add some depth here but fundamentally if you are overtraining – and what what looks like can be different for everyone – then what should be a GOOD thing in your life (training and exercise) could be causing injuries, inflammation, burnout and ultimately causing your progress to plateau…I mean, we all know it but muscle growth occurs during REST – not during activity…if you never rest…

3. You’re not challenging yourself in weight selection or pace.

This is another tricky one – I mean, didn’t I just say there’s this thing called over-training and wouldn’t doing ‘MORE’ contribute to that?  I mean, yeah – but ultimately if you’re not pushing yourself in the gym then you aren’t really a candidate for over-training…

There’s no doubt that not ‘challenging’ yourself in the gym is an issue that most/all of us face from time to time.  Sometimes, it might be as a direct result of that ‘I don’t want to overtrain’ idea – I’m just dropping back 5-10% today…I’m tired/sore/haven’t slept well/stressed – whatever it might be.  We all have days when just ‘moving’ is the reason we’re in the gym – we want to do a little bit of something because it helps manage the ongoing back soreness and a little bit of physical activity will improve our mood/relieve some stress.  That’s all good.

But getting complacent is 100% a pitfall.  I’ve spoken about this forever but if you always use the same weights, always do the same rpm on the bikes, always do pushups on your knees…well, then nothing is EVER going to change.  Once you are doing things efficiently and well with one weight/pace, you need to up your game and pick up something heavier/move a little faster.

4. You’re not moving enough outside the gym.

Even if you’re in the gym 4x per week, best case scenario that is FOUR HOURS.  And whilst that 100% counts, if the rest of the week involves sitting or laying around and not doing much, well, that counts too.  Or more particularly, that DOESN’T count.

Some people have active jobs – those guys often get more than enough movement from 9-5 to keep their engine ticking over.  For everyone else though, simply increasing your step count and making time every morning to stretch and prepare for the day ahead can make a REAL impact on your progress.

I’ve lived the corporate life and I 100% understand the back-to-back-to-back meetings that fill your days and really compromise your ability to do ANYTHING more than type during the work day…so get creative.  Park further away, institute a plan where 3x each day you take a 5-minute walk, opt for a standing desk if that option exists, take the stairs…the list goes on and I’m sure you can think of a few.  If you want progress, you need to pull the lever – whatever lever you can – that will increase your daily activity…getting to the gym is AWESOME. Getting to the gym AND upping your daily activity levels is what can really help.

5. You’re not being realistic with your nutrition.

I totally get the whole “Life’s too short…I’m not counting calories” approach.  I totally understand – I really do.  But sadly what gets measured gets managed and if you don’t KNOW what you are eating – EXACTLY – then it’s hard to implement a meaningful change that can lead to results.

One thing about counting calories – it quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) teaches you what things are high in calories and which things are not.  And if you stick to the basics (click the link here and download the guide to calculate your calorie/protein targets:  https://round1fitness.com.au/round-1-simple-food-and-recipe-guide/) then you can very easily identify if you are eating too much or too little.

Managing your eating means HONESTLY evaluating your food habits.  Snacking after dinner on M&M’s is bad.  Prioritising protein is good.  Skipping breakfast is bad.  Eating a consistent lunch that you can grab out of the fridge as you leave the house each day is good.  Weekends that look radically different to weekdays are bad.  Building those foods you LOVE into your balanced weekly menu is GOOD!    

Training and food go HAND IN HAND – without one, the other simply doesn’t have the impact it can/should.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m not trying to suck all the fun out of your life and I want EVERYONE to be out enjoying a fun social life.  There is 100% room in everyone’s weekly diet for pizza, beer, cookies and even more pizza – WITHIN a balanced week of eating.  BUT, if every weekend is a 24/7 blow-out, well, you need to understand there will be both training performance AND body composition implications associated with those choices!

Ultimately, consistency IMPACTS progress – and it swings BOTH WAYS.  There is no doubt that consistency in a solid training and nutrition routine is where you’ll yield the best results – but you 100% need to regularly review the outcomes (both performance and body comp related to ensure you are on track.  

See you in the gym,

Michael.