I believe that when it comes to exercising and working out, we all have our own perception as to what we find to be difficult and challenging, and what we do not. Someone who is completely new to training with weights in the gym for example, might find that a 20-30 minute resistance training session is more then sufficient for them to reach maximum failure in the early stages of their fitness regimen. An intermediate or advanced lifter on the other hand might be able to train for hours on end with much heavier weights, and yet still be able recovery quickly enough to be able to do another workout just as intense the very next day. Obviously the beginner lifter will not be as conditioned as the intermediate and advanced lifter and therefore might move a little bit slower during their own workouts, rest a little bit longer in between their own sets, and will most likely require an extra day or two to recover in between their own workouts.

However what happens when the beginner lifter never really advances to become the advanced or even intermediate lifter? I mean one would think that it’s only a natural progression that the more often a person trains and the more time that they spend in the gym, that they would eventually become stronger, faster and more fit, right?

Occasionally yes. But more often then not the reality is no, no they do not……..

Doing The Same Old Shit

Human beings are creatures of habit. Many if not most of people crave routine and prefer to remain within their comfort zones when attempting new activities or completing a task. Unfortunately when it comes to transforming one’s physique and producing quality results, this sense of complacency offers very little to no value in return.

As the saying goes, “If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.” And this could not be more accurate when it comes to your workouts in the gym. Whether you’ve been training for 6 months or 6 years, if you’ve stopped seeing results, then you have to stop and reexamine both your diet and your training. If your training program has remained the exact same and the weights you are lifting have not increased by much, if at all, then it’s time to STOP DOING THE SAME OLD SHIT!

Our bodies are very smart. And once they catch onto a routine, they know how to adapt and handle this routine. Therefore if you consistently go into the gym and start with the bench press every single Monday for example, and do the exact same amount of reps for each set, while rarely if ever increasing the weight that you lift on your working sets, then guess what? Your body will adapt to what you’re asking it to do. And what happens when your body adapts? Then change is no longer forced to occur. Hence, why the results begin to slow down and then stop all together.

Getting Sucked Into Social Media

10 years ago when I would walk into a commercial gym and see someone using a piece of exercise equipment that I wanted to use, I would politely ask them how many more sets they had left before they would be finished. Fast forward a decade later and I now find myself walking into these very same gyms, asking people how many more sets they have left on their phone, because it’s quite obvious to me that their not even training at all! These are the people who are usually just sitting on a bench or occupying a machine, while cruising through Instagram or updating their Facebook status on their phone. Look, there’s a time and place to do this. AND IT”S NOT WHILE AT THE GYM!!!

I’ve covered my hatred for gym selfies in numerous blogs so I’ll refrain from getting to deep into this subject. However let me just say this – If you’re “resting” in between sets while on your phone, then you’re not focused and chances are that you’re “resting” too long. A rest between sets should literally be 45 seconds to a minute tops! This gives you enough time to rack the weight, add on more weight, perhaps grab a swig of water from your water bottle and mentally prepare yourself for your next set. Taking photos of your ass or texting with your BFF is NOT considered to be active resting!!!!

Training Harder AND Smarter

When it comes to most things in my life, I’m a huge advocate of working smarter rather then just harder. However when it comes to my workouts in the gym, I believe that training harder and training smarter are both equally as important. I don’t believe in doing Mickey Mouse workouts and neither do our clients. I don’t ask how their day is nor do I talk about what’s going on in my own life, because quite frankly neither of these subjects have anything to do with the task at hand. And that task is to get into the gym, train hard and produce results!

I’ve always been perplexed when I see other trainers and their clients at the gym engaging in long drawn our conversations in between sets. I’ve never quite understood how anyone could find value in this type of service. I mean if you want to talk about your day, office gossip, dating life, etc, then make an appointment and go for a coffee with one another! The gym is not the place to do this! This is not social hour. Unless ofcourse you are someone who actually doesn’t care about achieving your target health and fitness goals. And if this is the case, then why even bother going to the gym in the first place? You’re really just taking up precious floor space and getting in the way of the rest of us, that actually do care about getting fit and staying healthy.

Whatever your own definition of intensity might be, I think we can all agree that if something is no longer challenging, then it’s no longer difficult enough to be considered intense. And as I covered above, I believe that in order to produce maximum results with both our health and physiques through exercise and training, then our intensity must be one if not the most, important factors in the resulting equation.

And quite simply, if you don’t have the right intensity, then you will never get the quality results.

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance