In the first 3 months of a new year, many people make fitness resolutions. Most of these people gradually lose their zeal to pursue their fitness journey and in some cases abandon their gym memberships.
There 3 main reasons why people abandon their fitness journey after a short while, these reasons include:
- Insufficient willpower
- A busy work or home schedule
- Slow or insignificant results from their efforts.
If you are struggling with working out because you are getting slow results, this article is for you.
Below are 5 ways you can make the most of your workouts.
1. Know your goals
Before you begin working out, decide what goals you want to achieve. Choose an immediate goal, a short term goal, and a long term goal.
Your immediate goal: This should be what you would like to achieve about a week after you start exercising. The immediate goal can be settling into an exercise routine or eating healthy. It should not be a dramatic transformation.
The short term goal: This should be what you would like to achieve in 3 months after you start working out. Do not have unrealistic expectations or goals as this could cause you to be discouraged quickly.
Long term goal: Your long term goals should be what you hope to achieve in 6 months – 1 year of working out.
Knowing what goals you want to achieve will help you choose the workout plan that will best suit your needs. It will also help you decide what your what your meals should look like. Having clear goals in mind will provide you with enough motivation to continue with your fitness journey.
2. Be consistent
One leading cause of inefficient workouts is being inconsistent. Properly plan for your workouts and go to the gym to build strength and resilience.
If you exercise often, your perseverance will improve. Hence you will be able to work out longer and better. Furthermore, starting to exercise after a break is always more difficult and painful. The best way to avoid having to experience this is to workout when you ought to.
Decide how often you can workout every week and aim at meeting you workout quota.
3. Work shorter but harder
Working out for a long period does not make your workouts more effective.
First of all, many individuals get discouraged at the thought of a 1-hour gym session and this discourages them from working out. Hence, to ensure that your workouts are more effective, we recommend a short exercise session. The short session can range from 25 minutes to 40 minutes. An example of a short high-intensity exercise routine is Shaun-T’s T25 workout plan.
Working out for too long can be harmful as well. It is likely that while tired, your exercise form may be wrong and this could cause bodily harm.
If you have built your endurance and can maintain the intensity of your workout, you can increase the duration of your workout session.
4. Have a recovery day
When you make your workout plan, ensure that you also include rest day. A rest day can make all the difference when you are trying to reach your fitness goals. When you work out, you may sustain small muscular injuries and strains. A recovery day is a mini holiday for your muscles, tissues, nerves, and joints. During these days, your injuries will be repaired and muscles increased to accommodate the new strain it is experiencing. Without a recovery day, you risk having injuries that could make you unable to continue with your workout plans.
Lastly, having rest days can prevent burnouts and enable you to recharge physically and emotionally.
5. Eat the right diet
You can do high-intensity exercises every day but without the proper diet, you will be unable to achieve your fitness goals. You can eat a high-calorie diet while working out. However, if your goal is to lose weight, you may still end up gaining more weight. This is because you may be unable to burn enough calories at the gym to go into a calorie deficit.
Similarly, if you are trying to gain muscle mass, eating a small amount of protein while doing the appropriate workout will not give you the results you want.
When applied, the 5 tips listed above can help you get great results from your workouts.
