You’ve been working out for ages, and suddenly you feel like you are not making any progress. You get bored and tired easily and make excuses not to workout, exercise or go to the gym. That spark that was once there, is now gone. You fall sick easily.
Well, if some of these symptoms describe you, maybe there’s more to it than just the disinterest in exercise. Here are 5 things that might stop your progress in the gym.
Some of the things that might Stop your Progress in the Gym include:
1. Over-training
The fitter you are, the more likely you will fall into this category. Usually, the sportsman will tend to push themselves harder. This condition is very serious and dangerous as it can lead to health problems and increase the risk of injury. Sometimes, high volume, time and stress training does not always mean better results. It is necessary to follow an appropriate diet combined with adequate rest and recovery.
Signs of over-training include, constant tiredness, rapid heartbeat, falling sick easily, disability during normal exercise, insomnia, chronic muscle pain, high levels of cortisol in blood, and or depression.
2. Under-training
Not pushing yourself hard enough, is as good as not working out at all. If your muscles do not feel some sort of strain, then you will not get any conditioning done, and your performance will not improve. Continuous training on the same program with the same weights with the same series and breaks between them will not challenge nor trick your body into working more efficiently. You will become lazy and soon will give up, as you get progressively more demotivated from not seeing any good results. Try something new, contact the instructor or coach to prepare you for the appropriate program or training mode.
Signs of under-training include, getting bored during training, hardly breaking a sweat whilst training, doing the same training routine every time, lack of progress, drop in performance, wasting time chatting with people during workout breaks.
3. Stuck in the doldrums
Constantly challenge yourself, whether it be a new sport, activity, type of diet regimen or workout routine. If you normally play contact sports, try something which challenges your co-ordination such as dance, if you like to work out in the gym only, try running or swimming outdoors. If you are constantly moving in the same program, you are not likely to achieve the goals you have set. And the results will go away. Change something! Find someone that can work together with you, so you have incentive and can measure yourself against his or her strength. If you recently feel sluggish during your workouts, challenge your diet. Maybe add or subtract a power-shake? Or add fruits to the mix, if that’s been missing. Always strive for optimum performance levels.
4. Poor technique of execution of movements and exercises
It’s not about speed or quantity of repetitions. It’s about doing your exercise in perfect form. Good technique of performing the exercises is very important in terms of progress and good results, but also a serious factor in the prevention of injuries. If you are not confident in technique, seek help from a qualified coach or instructor.
5. Ignoring exercises for mobility and flexibility
I find that this problem is more apparent with men than women! Women tend to take time to stretch and cool down, or warm up, but men hardly do it. My own husband likes to launch into strenuous sports like touch-rugby and basketball with hardly any stretching! Very often people rush and do not have enough time for this part of training. This does not mean we should ignore it. For flexibility, stretching exercises are the best. For mobility, running exercises help muscles and joints ensure increased performance and more rapid achievement of goals.
Off the top of my head these are the top 5 Things that Stop Progress in the Gym. Do you struggle with your workouts? What obstacles have you faced, and what have you done to overcome them?
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