3 Reasons Why You Have NOT Seen Progress In Training
A major news headline this week was LeBron James becoming the NBA’s all-time leading point scorer. Considering that LeBron had a pretty tough upbringing, being raised by his single mother and growing up in not-so-friendly neighbourhoods, his basketball career has been truly remarkable. When asked by a journalist why he works so hard, LeBron responded;
To be the best, you have to work the hardest. You have to chase what seems impossible over and over again, because giving up is not an option, and when you feel like you’ve reached your limit, it’s only the beginning. That’s when it’s time to dig deep, to find the courage to push some more, because if you’ve got the drive, the discipline, and the resolve to do what it takes to make yourself great, then the rewards are endless.
It’s this ‘drive’ that I would like to elaborate on in this newsletter.
Are you stuck in a rut, pushing your body to its limits but find yourself unable to make the return of investment you are after? If you’re looking to reach the highest levels of physical fitness, the answer may lie in "overtraining"
To be blatantly honest, most of the members that first start with us at Lockeroom are physically in a state where they would be overtrained. However if you are someone who thinks they’re doing everything in their power to progress but for some reason you just can’t, this may be why. From a professional lens the most common factors that contribute a lack of progress and plateaus in any training plan are as follows
The individual is under-recovered and inconsistent due to other current stressors taking over their life (inadequate sleep, highly stressful work environment, inconsistent exercise routine, poor diet and overall poor stress management protocols in place.. The list goes on)
The individual is constantly changing up their training due to lack of knowledge and/ or poor training structure specific to their goal.
The individual is in fact under-training! - this is a very common one we see in gym goers. Individuals perceive themselves pushing their limits in the gym every session but when we scratch the surface in their training regime we will often find they are not even following a program or tracking their training progress regularly. Their training is in fact biased and based on their preserved efforts rather than actual data and previously logged metrics/ benchmark testing from their youth.
Overtraining, also commonly known as “overreaching” is in essence defined as pushing your body beyond what it can currently tolerate with the aim to promote positive adaptations. This involves increasing the intensity of your training beyond what you would typically do in order to reach new heights of fitness and performance.
Overreaching is also a great way to test yourself both physically and mentally. However, although initially you may break through plateaus, build greater endurance, and achieve higher levels of physical fitness, you inadvertently begin to play with fire and if you aren't careful with monitoring these demands placed on your body through this intensive training approach, you may just get burnt.
So the question you may be asking is how do I push myself, continue to progress without burning out or running the risk of injury?
Here are our 3 pillars to successfully push the limits of your fitness;
Stop getting distracted and begin to structure your training based off your goals
Stop looking for inspiration on social media, it is flooded with misinformation and “cool” new exercises that are generated to create engagement/views/clicks on posts
Have a training protocol that is designed for progression towards an end goal
If confused, hire a coach
Avoid regularly pushing your body to the point where it won’t recover fast enough between sessions
Basically go to the point in each workout where you can manage the load and recover from the stressors
Don’t go crazy every session trying to PR / go as heavy as possible.
Track weights, sets reps, if you don’t know where to start use the RPE scale. RPE = Rate of perceived effort/ exertion. This is a scale between 1 & 10, 1 being virtually no weight at all and 10 being absolute max load! The personal trainers at Lockeroom always suggest to our clients to start at around an RPE 6-7 for their first week of training and gradually build this over 3-4 weeks then modify the program accordingly once you have progressed so you do not plateau.
Nail the basics
Expand your knowledge on nutrition or hire a nutritionist to have your diet and nutritional goals packed. All of the members at Lockeroom who have used our in house nutritionists services have not only dropped unwanted kilograms but are also leading much healthier and happier lives.
Regularly get 7-9 hours of sleep! This is often overlooked or underappreciated. You’ll feel much fresher consistently in the mornings and have more energy throughout the day.
Find ways to release your stress, whether it’s induced internally (mentally) or external (physically). There are a myriad of productive things/activities you can do to release stress, whether it be going for a walk or cleaning up your room. Find what makes you happy and do it! At Lockeroom not only do we offer personal training, we also offer Yoga stretch classes and boxing classes as a form of decompression between weight sessions or stressful work days
When done correctly, overarching can be a great way to take your fitness to the next level. It forces your body to adapt to the increased physical demands, leading to increased strength, muscle mass, and overall athleticism. It can also help to reduce the risk of injury and improve your overall health as your baseline continues to increase. The key to successfully overarching in a sensible manner is to ensure that you give your body enough rest time to recover. If you don’t allow your body to recover, you run the risk of overtraining syndrome, which can lead to fatigue, decreased performance, and even injury.
So, if you’re looking to take your fitness to the next level, gradually overarching on a regular basis may be the answer. It’s important to remember that you’re nailing these 3 pillars to success: tracking your training, nailing proper nutrition and sleep as well as managing internal and external stressors as best you can (within reason).
With the right approach, you can achieve great results.
If you’re someone who is looking to push new limits and be the best version of yourself, please reach out and we will see if you are the right candidate for our club.
Interested in Lockeroom Gym Personal Trainers Sydney? Enquire here: [https://lockeroomgym.com/apply](https://lockeroomgym.com/apply)
