5 Reasons Your Fitness Routine Isn’t Working

Photo by Kobe Kian Clata via Unsplash.

1.    You’ve  been working out for a few months now, but the scale hasn’t moved…

There’s a saying: “You can’t outrun a bad diet.” That goes for all forms of exercise — and all diets that don’t have you in a caloric deficit. See my guide to nutrition for weight loss for more.

2.    You went to the gym without a plan…

Sometimes it’s healthy to show up at the gym and play around with equipment, discover new exercises, and switch things up to challenge yourself in new ways. But you shouldn’t be writing your own program or cobbling together a workout from scratch. There are professionals out there who have developed tried and true programs (like “Starting Strength”) that are appropriate for people of all skill levels and with access to everything from a premium gym to nothing but their own bodyweight. If you’re new to training or you’ve been doing something you made up, consider sourcing and implementing a well-designed program instead.

3.    You’re doing the same thing every time. 

You’re not increasing acute variables (weight load, reps, time, etc.) progressively… If you don’t know the term “progressive overload,” chances are you’re not doing it. Every workout should be harder — in terms of volume — than the last one. If you squatted 120 lbs for six reps last time, this time do seven reps. When you get to twelve reps, increase the weight and drop the reps back down to six and work up again. Keep the increase in intensity to 10% or less each week.

4.    You’re totally exhausted by the end of your workout.

You might need to switch up the order of exercises, decrease total volume, or  rest more between sets. You should be doing your compound lifts — squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, bench press — that target big muscle groups first, and follow them with isolation exercises — like curls, lateral raises, calf raises — later in your workout. Your sessions should be around 45–90 minutes total and you should be resting 1–2 minutes between sets or vertically load your workout (organize sets into circuits) to allow muscle groups to recover. You should also be allowing your muscle groups to rest 1–2 days before working them again. Creatine supplementation helps with muscle fatigue. And if sustained exercise lasts more than 60 minutes, you might want to consume carbohydrates at 10–15 minute intervals to replenish energy.

5.    You’re still not really seeing results — or you’ve been at it for a while and you feel like your training pace is unsustainable.

You’re either not training frequently enough or you’re overdoing it… find a good program and stick to your splits: Push/Pull/Legs/Push/Pull/Legs or Upper/Lower/Upper/Lower or Full Body/Full Body — or some combination thereof. You should be working your major muscle groups twice a week and resting in between (this can be “active rest” like unstructured exercise or yoga/other light training. Proper nutrition and good sleep is important — and so is taking a break from your routine every once in a while. You should program regular intervals where you either abstain from training (active rest) or cycle through other phases of training (a week of just cardio or a week of muscular stabilization/endurance training, or even a “de-load” week where you do your normal routine with light weights).