The time is now troops — go time for those starting their new year fitness goals. This is also go time for the troves of trainers, diet gurus, and supplement companies to hawk their wares and services catering to those looking for the next quick fix program and magic pill that will solve all that ails them. In my thirteen years in the industry serving my clients, I’ve yet to find that ‘pill’ but I have come up with methods that have set my clients up for fitness success and longevity. The hard reality is when it comes to fitness and goal setting, the average gym goer can be confused and misguided about their plan of attack. Even the experienced fitness buff can tend to get it wrong.
Thankfully for you, I’m going to be your pocket expert and do my best to navigate you through this metamorphosis of your life (yes, that was cheesy) and being prepared will not only help you to be more confident and knowledgeable but potentially extend your quality of training.
Let’s highlight some of the mistakes trainees can make and solutions to remedy the situation. Of course you can just hire a competent performance coach and let them do the dirty work for you.*
*Ok, ok shameless plug , but it's true is it not?*
Sooooo, starting off the list hot and heavy:
1.Not Having a Plan
“If you fail to plan you plan to fail”.
— Your boy, Ben Franklin
I will always root for anyone that makes a commitment to better themselves, but it can be painful to watch people aimlessly wander through the gym or do redundant exercises because they neglected to formulate a plan of attack. In my experience, no plan plus no focus tends to equate to burnout, injuries and stagnation — some of the main reasons folks don’t make it past March in their fitness pursuits.
Solution
Examine your goals — know what you want to accomplish, assess your weaknesses and write a plan based on those. For example, if my goal is to put as much muscle and strength on my body in the shortest amount of time as I can, then my program should be chock full of compound exercises and shouldn’t have excessive cardio in it and water cooler talk by the cable machine. Or if I’m trying to keep my workouts short and effective, then total body workouts or complexes that hit a major body parts would be quicker than hitting every machine and free weight in the gym. Having your workout pre-planned keeps the needle moving forward, and gives you tunnel vision to complete your task.*
*Knowing the gym layout ahead of time also helps if you aren't already familiar so you avoid looking lost. Also help you avoid running into Sammy Shadowboxer and IG Erika.
2. Too Much Too Soon
Newsflash- being sore is not the best indicator of how you should judge your workouts. A little nerd stuff for ya: your body responds and adapts to efficiency of the nervous system and mechanical function of the muscles against a load. Trying to go too hard for the sole purpose of getting sore or to ‘feel’ the workout is a race to the bottom . Your body adapts to workouts and trying to be sore every workout is like chasing the proverbial dragon. Combine life’s stress to those extra hard sessions and I promise you'll be saying hello to burnout and those three month gym layoffs. I realize that you have goals and grinding yourself to the bone each workout will only expedite the process , at least that's what you think.
If you've been on the shelf for a while and are just getting back to training , trying to match your previous bests right away will be the end of you. The amount of soreness your body experiences after a layoff will be significant and your muscles and joints will surely tell you to f*** off in no time.
Solution
Lift and leave. Stimulate your muscles, don’t annihilate them! You should not leave your training session broken down, period. Choose certain days to go hard and know when to scale it back. I usually like my clients to go on a heavy/light/medium routine during the week and adjust volume and intensity according to their stress and injuries. This keeps things fresh but also helps them to not worry about busting their asses to the point of injury and burnout.
For the lifters coming back after long layoffs, I generally recommend a period of lower intensity (around 60% 1RM) and higher reps to prep the joins and muscles for the progressive work down the road. Don’t worry — your gains aren’t lost forever and taking a methodical approach means your body will be ready for more growth and better resiliency.
3. Training Too Long
Seems to be a right of passage to brag how long you can train. What many don’t know is that the stress hormone cortisol becomes your enemy after long bouts of exercise preventing you from optimizing your workouts - while making you prone to quit your resolutions before they even had a chance. It's common to see a trainee hit every exercise machine , two or three cardio machines , and foam roll for twenty minutes. This my friend, is not progress. I mean, don't you have other things to do ( like read my other blogs?). Longer is not better. Smarter is better.
Solution
Exercise is not punishment. It's always a balance of getting just the right dose and should not make you miserable!
Stick to four movements per workout — Push, Pull, Squat and Hinge. These tend to cover multiple joints and give you more bang for your buck. If you're doing a bodybuilding split, stick to 3–4 exercises per body part. If you're focused and efficient workouts should be an hour max. I can get through most of my sessions in 45 minutes and still get a training effect. I try not to drag my clients through long grueling sessions unless they're training for something specific.
4. Being Timid/Lacking Confidence
I believe this goes hand and hand with having a plan. Starting a training program is daunting and intimidating for most people but knowing what you're going to do ahead of time makes the process much smoother. Look, I get it — grunting, sweating, scantily clad, creepy, narcissistic, and occasionally flat out rude people make training at a commercial facility rate only slightly less enjoyable than getting a root canal. That perception is what keeps people from blossoming like the beautiful flowers they are and truly reaching their potential. It makes trainees ‘hide’ on cardio machines instead of exploring and getting strong with free weights. At worst it keeps people from training at all because of the fear of judgement. However, take solace in knowing the perception does not match the reality in many situations.
Solution
Don’t ever let your fears or reservations keep you from being great. Your goals and your training sessions are no less important than anyone else’s and if you think people are staring, it's probably because you’re just a fine specimen of a human. They'll just have to get used to it, hmmph!. Be ready with your plan of attack to alleviate trepidation and procrastination.
That brings us to our finisher…
5. Not Setting Attainable Goals
This one is big. And in my 13 years of experience I’ve heard many outrageous and unattainable goals:
“I wanna lose 60 lbs in three months.”
“I have until April to put 25 lbs of lean muscle on my frame and keep my six pack.”
“I want a J-Lo booty.”
“I’d like a pet unicorn.”
Ok, ok, ok, it's plainly obvious that of all those requests you can’t lose 60 lbs in three months. But seriously, the more unrealistic your goal, the likelihood increases that you will set yourself up to fail. Once trainees see how difficult their goals are to reach, interest usually finds its way out the door soon after. I find that many people have their goals rooted in past nostalgia, past or current eating disorders, and negative body image. So, the reasons for these goals are built on ‘shoddy’ foundations. Half the time the particular goal would not even suit the person and they to see that. Example: someone thats not obese or not having an emergency medical reason would probably not need to lose that much weight that fast.
Solution
Lofty goals are great but let's pump the breaks on the outrageousness and break them down while reshaping how we think in terms of our approach.
Instead of losing 60 lbs in 3 months, our approach could be:
“I want to try and lose 5 lbs a month while maintaining muscle mass and strength.”
Or:
“I’d like to lose weight incrementally and safely until I reach a body composition I’m happy with.”
Instead of trying to get a J-Lo booty, the approach should be:
“I’m going to dedicate this month to exercises that benefit the building of my glorious glutes and do them to the best of my ability and genetics.”
Here’s an alternative to trying to put on an unrealistic amount of muscle in short time:
“Instead of focusing on single joint exercises, I will also use a variety of compound exercises to give me the most bang for my buck for strength and muscle. Then I will assess periodically.”
You see? It is so much better when you break down goals into bite sized morsels. I understand everyone wants their results big and fast. The unsexy truth is that it's always going to be a process and you’ll be glad you started sooner with small steps than later with huge lofty expectations that are destined to crash and burn.
Small victories win the war and keep you from fizzing out in the new year. Watching the needle move in the right direction breeds motivation and a willingness to stay focused. It's truly all in the approach.
I hope this blueprint is useful for you this new year. In the case that I’ve failed to enlighten, inform, and elucidate you, I encourage you to reach out to my email or website with your needs so I can serve you better.