My clients, friends, and even family often come to me with questions about fitness and health. Generally, they are questions about losing weight. Generally, they don't like the answer. Ha ha. But, I also get a lot of "I've been working out doing x, y, and z exercises for a while and I don't see any results anymore. I'm losing motivation and the desire to keep working out. What can I do?"
I decided to answer this question for all of you and them, in one blogging swoop.
Years ago, while training clients in the gym setting, I came up with this little illustration to help them better understand how their bodies work without using all the scientific mumbo-jumbo.
I'm sure you have heard the cliche' FEED the MACHINE, etc. Well, your body actually is just that: a Machine. No. Seriously. Your body is probably one of the most highly functioning, smart, and adaptive machine there is. It can evolve and adjust to whatever environment it needs to endure...depending on the severity of the environment, of course. So, it's no wonder that doing the same thing for years, months, or even weeks will create a hiatus in your training results.
Because your body is so smart and high adaptive, it has the ability to modify how you expend energy (aka calories). What do I mean? Well, your body, like most people, wants to maximize results while minimizing energy used. Yup. Your body is lazy. It doesn't want to put in the full work either. In fact, it will adjust so that it can put in the LEAST amount of work possible while still getting the job done. For you, that's no bueno. That means that your body is holding on to all the energy you consume, not using it and burning it off.
See, your body is like a big assembly line.
I decided to answer this question for all of you and them, in one blogging swoop.
Years ago, while training clients in the gym setting, I came up with this little illustration to help them better understand how their bodies work without using all the scientific mumbo-jumbo.
I'm sure you have heard the cliche' FEED the MACHINE, etc. Well, your body actually is just that: a Machine. No. Seriously. Your body is probably one of the most highly functioning, smart, and adaptive machine there is. It can evolve and adjust to whatever environment it needs to endure...depending on the severity of the environment, of course. So, it's no wonder that doing the same thing for years, months, or even weeks will create a hiatus in your training results.
Because your body is so smart and high adaptive, it has the ability to modify how you expend energy (aka calories). What do I mean? Well, your body, like most people, wants to maximize results while minimizing energy used. Yup. Your body is lazy. It doesn't want to put in the full work either. In fact, it will adjust so that it can put in the LEAST amount of work possible while still getting the job done. For you, that's no bueno. That means that your body is holding on to all the energy you consume, not using it and burning it off.
See, your body is like a big assembly line.
The goal of a line worker is to maximize the amount of product they can put out in the shortest amount of time. The best way to do this: learning shortcuts.
Shortcuts can be something as basic as using a tool to put the nut onto the screw. So, the more you do the same, thing, the more efficient you become at it. Great for line work. Terrible for losing weight. In order to keep your body working at full capacity, you MUST change what you're doing as often as possible. That includes how you eat, but that's a whole other discussion.
To burn the most energy (remember, that's calories out), your body has to be kept guessing. You can't do the same movement patterns, the same running trail, the same weights, or even the same weekly training regiment. Nope. You gotta get new stuff in and old stuff out. Try something new that you've been thinking of trying. Do yoga. I mean it. Do YOGA! It's one of the best mind and body workouts you can do that will help you recover from hard workouts and keep you feeling strong. I would even go as far to say that it is a great tool for injury prevention.
But the most important thing is to keep it fresh. Keep it new. Keep it changing. You can do x, y, and z exercises still, but you need to add some a, b, c, j, o, and r to that workout as well. So, get out there. Get excited. Do something totally out of your comfort zone and foreign to you. It'll burn more calories than your "old reliable" workout will. Then, in a few weeks, do "old reliable" again. But just once. Your body won't know what hit it and your results will be AMAZING!
Keep sweating and sewing.
Adora
Shortcuts can be something as basic as using a tool to put the nut onto the screw. So, the more you do the same, thing, the more efficient you become at it. Great for line work. Terrible for losing weight. In order to keep your body working at full capacity, you MUST change what you're doing as often as possible. That includes how you eat, but that's a whole other discussion.
To burn the most energy (remember, that's calories out), your body has to be kept guessing. You can't do the same movement patterns, the same running trail, the same weights, or even the same weekly training regiment. Nope. You gotta get new stuff in and old stuff out. Try something new that you've been thinking of trying. Do yoga. I mean it. Do YOGA! It's one of the best mind and body workouts you can do that will help you recover from hard workouts and keep you feeling strong. I would even go as far to say that it is a great tool for injury prevention.
But the most important thing is to keep it fresh. Keep it new. Keep it changing. You can do x, y, and z exercises still, but you need to add some a, b, c, j, o, and r to that workout as well. So, get out there. Get excited. Do something totally out of your comfort zone and foreign to you. It'll burn more calories than your "old reliable" workout will. Then, in a few weeks, do "old reliable" again. But just once. Your body won't know what hit it and your results will be AMAZING!
Keep sweating and sewing.
Adora