Why Am I Not Seeing Any Results in the Gym?

When you decided to make fitness a priority, you were pumped. For the first few weeks or even months, things were looking good, your motivation was high, energy levels through the roof. You were feeling great, looking slimmer and totally on your way toward a fitter you and then... stagnation. But don't let that plateau discourage you! This in fact is a great a great opportunity to reassess and reset your plan. Here's what you might be doing wrong and how to put it right.

You're doing too much of the same thing.

It's great to find your fitness passion, whether it's cardio, weights, classes or yoga. But if that's all you do, you're going to get very good at it and then any body changes you were making will drop off. Your body needs a change and needs to be shocked by different exercises. Try something new! And be specific about it. If your goal is more muscle tone, add some strength workouts. Or if you want to improve your flexibility, give yoga a go. Don't use the same workout week after week, find new exercises to keep the body and muscle's guessing.

You're not challenging yourself enough.

The intensity of a workout tends to matter more than its duration when it comes to fitness. As mentioned above, your body adapts quickly to the same routine so not only do you need to change your workouts but you also need to mix up the intensity of your workouts.

You're not using proper form

If you do not do the exercises correctly you are only fooling yourself. Many people at the gym think that if they lift heavy they look better to the public. This should not be the case and a very common problem in fitness. Make sure that you use a weight that is challenging enough to ensure the correct form is being used. For example if you are doing a bicep curl, don't swing your back. Stand straight or against a wall to ensure you're targeting the bicep and not the back. This also helps prevent injury.

You're overtired or over-stressed.

Working out and eating well are only two parts of the equation. If you're not sleeping enough or you're really feeling the pressure at work, your body isn't going to adapt as well to the positive influence of exercise. Sleep is essential for muscles to heal after a tough sweat session, and stress can wreak havoc on your hormones, training your body to retain fat. Try to get a minimum of seven hours of sleep by treating bedtime as an unbreakable appointment, and look for ways to manage stress wherever possible.

You sit around too much when you're not at the gym.

Keep active at all opportunities to keep the heart rate going. For example if you travel by bus, get off a stop earlier to walk that little bit extra. If you have a dog take it for long walks, do regular housework around the house, take a walk during lunch time and use the stairs at wherever possible avoid lifts. Bottom line: Spend more time on your feet.

You're too hard on yourself!

Another thought to consider: Perhaps it's not your results but your expectations that are a little off. So many people have a set idea of what they think the scale should say, that they only see disappointment when it's not going down at the pace they want. Or they get so focused on one "problem area" that they ignore other positive progress. Or your muscle's are not growing at the pace you were expecting. You need to be patience and persistent and set goals to reap the rewards. Try to keep motivation high at all times and be as stress free as possible as stress is one of the major culprits that hold you back from seeing results.

Avoiding Muscle Groups

You chooose your favourite muscle groups then fail to do the ones you don't enjoy doing. This is a big mistake, you need to ensure all muscles are worked equally and effectively.

Waiting too long between sets

If you wait too long between sets, your muscles will lose the pump and will fail to respond in the most effective way. Try and keep to a minute at the most.

You stop when it hurts

Remember, your muscles hurt when they finally start to get challanged and this is when they wil respond best.

You're lifting too light

If you dont' work your muscles to their full potenially then quite simply they will not grow.

You don't take supplements

To help get the best results from your workout then make sure you that you take the fundamental supplements. This includes

LA Whey Protein: To help recovery and growth. Protein is the building block of muscle without it your muscles will fail to get the nutrition required for growth.

Explosive Creatine: To help expand muscle cells to pack more nutrients and water into the cells to help them look fuller and pumped. Creatine is also great to help improve performance via power and strength.

Possessed: Energy is essential to ensure you get the best workouts possible for optimum results.

BCAA: To ensure your muscles get the essential amino acids needed for optimum, recovery.