The 16 most common reasons why you see little to no results despite training or having a fitness subscription
One of the most common reasons why someone becomes a client of Personalworkout is the lack of success in their efforts to become fitter, slimmer or more muscular. The purpose of this blog post is to provide a brief and clear overview of the most common reasons for this, based on our many years of experience, and what we at Personalworkout do about it.
Missing the foundation
Before you book your vacation, you probably plan it—or have it planned. But what about your fitness trip? Do you have a clear idea of where you want to go? How long will the trip last? Who will be with you? What equipment and supplies will you need? What will you do if you get lost? Often this clear strategy is lacking and you buy a subscription for a “quick fix”. This usually doesn’t work well.
1. Set a concrete, realistic and measurable goal, write it down in your calendar and make a well thought-out plan with time, financial budget and support strategies (mindset, friends, apps, etc.)
You often start a run motivated and the problems are not long in coming. Is your body ready for your activity and your goal? Are all problems identified and addressed? Are your muscles and your immune system strong? No inflammation? Digestion okay? Does your body have all the resources it needs, such as micronutrients?
2. Do the right diagnostic and medical tests and draw the right conclusions from them
Otherwise, it won’t be long before the first interruption or lack of results. Have muscular and mobility imbalances and blockages been resolved?
3. Take a medical history and seek professional advice to avoid injury
Related links:
- Glyphosate—the unknown poison that everyone in Switzerland ingests!
- Why you should drink from glass bottles and look at your cosmetics
- How I finally beat my inner monster (GERMAN)
- Emotional eating—probably everyone does it, but hardly anyone recognizes it (GERMAN)
The training sessions do not provide the necessary stimulation
4. You skip too many training sessions, either because of illness or injury (see above: missing the foundation) or because you have the wrong priorities (everything else is always more important)
- Fixed deadlines with appropriate priority and good organization in unusual everyday situations such as vacations or business trips will help.
5. You have chosen the wrong workout for your goal
Pilates is not the fastest way to build strength or tone, and cardio is not the fastest way to lose fat.
- Get advice from someone who specializes in achieving your goal. Can someone who has never run a marathon or competed in a bodybuilding show prepare you for such an event? Yes, they can. Is he the best choice? No!
6. You don’t have a well periodized or individualized plan
Do you follow the same training plan for weeks straight? Is it the same as your colleague’s, even though she only works out once a week and you work out three times a week? Always the same exercises?
- Invest your valuable time wisely and pay a little more for individualized support with plans tailored to your goals.
7. You are training the wrong way
Your weight selection or exercise execution is poor, your workouts are too short or too long. There are countless variables that can have a huge impact on your training success.
- Get someone to explain or show you the points above, such as weight selection and exercise execution! It’s worth it in the long run.
Related links:
- Losing weight on your belly—how to finally get a six pack
- The 3 mechanisms of hypertrophy and what it means for your training
- What is a good workout plan for losing weight or building muscle?
- 6 Reasons why strength training makes more sense than cardio for burning fat (GERMAN)
Your diet is not optimal for your goal
8.You do not have a balanced nutrition (diets, etc.), you eat food treated with pesticides and antibiotics, or you eat overly processed food
- Eat a balanced diet, buy organic, and don’t eat processed foods.
9. Your macronutrient distribution is inadequate or not aligned with your goal
Are you getting enough protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats?
- Get professional advice from someone who works out and knows what they are talking about.
10. The calories you are consuming are not in line with your goal
Isst du zu viel oder gar zu wenig für ein Kaloriendefizit – bzw. einen Kalorienüberschuss?
- Get professional advice from someone who works out and knows what they are talking about.
11. You don’t have any strategies to keep your weaker self under control or to adjust your diet when things don’t go as planned
- Try to avoid difficult situations or develop a strategy for saying “no. Again: To change your habits, you must first change your mindset.
Related links:
- Healthy weight loss—without crash dieting, starving yourself, and the yo-yo effect
- How to easily calculate your daily energy needs (GERMAN)
- With this diet, you are guaranteed to reach your goal (GERMAN)
- How to boost your metabolism and lose weight faster (GERMAN)
Your regeneration & adaptation processes are neglected
12. You train too little or too much to cause tissue adaptations
You set the stimuli in the training sessions, the adaptations happen the rest of the time.
- Have your training plans written by a professional.
13. You don’t include “rest periods”
These can be in the form of rest periods or non-training periods such as vacations, but they can also be approached with active strategies: Massages, saunas, floating, etc. sometimes help more than 1 extra training session.
- Give your muscles and your mind regular breaks. Otherwise, you run the risk of overtraining, injury or lack of motivation.
14. You sleep too little or not enough
As mentioned above, you build muscle during sleep or lose fat pads during the night.
- Track your sleep to evaluate it objectively and make adjustments.
Related links:
- What stretching can and cannot do—a meta-analysis
- What to do about sore muscles and can I exercise with them? (GERMAN)
- Sleep like a log again with these 12 tips (GERMAN)
- The blue light epidemic and how it changes your biorhythm (GERMAN)
You are not checking your goal & progress
15. You don’t check your body composition
- Take pictures, measure your body fat percentage with DXA, bioimpedance or calipers, and your waist circumference with a tape measure or infrared sensor. Regularly weighing yourself on a scale is also useful, but it does not tell you anything about your fat and muscle mass.
16. You are not monitoring your training in terms of your performance
Adaptation happens, as described above, with appropriate stimuli. If you’re always lifting the same weight, your body doesn’t need more muscle to perform at that level. Why? 1. It would be a waste of resources and 2. simple physics: force = mass x acceleration. Work = force x distance (in fitness, consisting of sets and repetitions). Power = work x time (in our case, training time).
- Document your workouts in terms of performance (volume) to see if you are making progress.
Related links:
- What is a good training plan for losing weight or building muscle?
- 3 Easy Ways to Measure Your Progress
Personalworkout’s philosophy incorporates all of the above and this holistic approach is the basis of our 90D Challenge Packages, which are available in different levels of intensity. Contact us for an initial consultation or for more information.
Last but not least: Check out our free Fitness Guide (GERMAN)
for more valuable tips on getting results.
Challenge of the Month
What Clients Say
What You Get
