Why You're Not Getting the Results from Your Workout

If you've been following my posts since the very beginning (and I hope you do), and yet still don't get the results, this is the post that will answer your question. Don't even think about supplements to get faster results  before you read this post first.

Before asking which supplements to use, we have to realize that there are many factors that involves in body-building efforts. Even stress can thin out your body. Here I will share few factors that you may have to reevaluate when you don't get the results from your workout or your training.

image credit to thelegalcommune.com

1. Rest
Have you have enough rest? How long do you sleep in a day? Of course, every person is different in terms of sleeping needs, but the standard sleeping time is 7 to 9 hours a day. When we sleep, our body produces growth hormones that can repair the broken cells. Besides the sleeps at night, you also have to pay attention to the resting time between each training. You won't build your chest muscles when you train it everyday. Give at least two or three days gap before you train it again in the next workout.

2. Train Hard for the Designated Muscles
Let's say you want to build your biceps, and you don't get the results. Reevaluate your training: was it "hard" enough? Some say that it was hard enough, but they do the same pattern with the same weight every time (and didn't do the overload principal). Add more weight over time because your muscles will get used to the same weight you're using every time, making your training pointless. It's like when we were in school in 1st to 6th grade, the lessons get harder everytime, right?

3. Variations
Use some variations in your training so that your muscles don't get bored. When you do the same training pattern every time, your body will adapt, and won't respond much to your training. Use different order when you train, different weights, different resting time between each set, and different sets to "surprise" your muscles and triggers them to adapt and develop.

4. Did you do cardio before your weight training?
What usually happens is people do cardio before their weight training. They thought that it was just a warm up. You do have to do a little cardio before you train for a warm up, but what people usually did is that they did it too hard, and sometimes, too long. You don't have to run in the treadmill for 30 minutes as a warm up. This will tire you in your weight training, and will significantly hamper your effort to build your body. Do your cardio after your weight training.

And that's the four basic things that you have to reevaluate when you reach a plateau (no progress) in your training. If you do them all right, then reevaluate your nutrition. Did you consume enough nutrition your body needs to build your body? It doesn't matter if you want to lose weight or want to gain some, your daily nutrition needs is important.

Beginner's Guide to Build Your Body

In the previous post, I've shared about how to gain weight ideally. In this post, I'm going to share about what you have to do when you want to build your body. By "build", I mean gaining some weight or losing some weight. Either way, they are quite the same, with some differences here and there.

image credit to smithalan00.hubpages.com

The Guide:
- measure your body - as in your biceps, chest, legs, all of them.
- train YOUR WHOLE BODY, including your legs even if you only want to show off your upper-body, because this will help you produce the growth hormone which will help you build ALL THE MUSCLES.
- you have to keep in mind that you can't get a six-pack while you're bulking (thickening your muscles)
- train your stomach, but you have to remember that you can get a six-pack after you attenuate the fat in your stomach with diets.
- it's ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to thicken your muscles (bulking, also known as gain weight) while losing some weight (cutting)
- when you want to bulk up, get a realistic goal. Gaining 0,5 - 1 lb per week of lean muscle mass is impressive already.

The Diet:
- find out your body type to determine your diet strategy.
- use the 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat benchmark for your diet, while keeping your body's needs (everyone is different).
- for carbs, choose complex carbs instead of simple sugars.
- for fat, avoid saturated fat, and choose good fat such as flax seed, fish, peanut butter, and olive oil.
- drink as much water as you can (but don't get too bloated up).
- it's better to consume too many calorie than not get enough, especially for those with ectomorph type of body. You can adjust your calorie intake if it's too much when you can see some fat in your body when you take a look at yourself in the mirror :)

The Training:
- train you muscles at least once a week AS INTENSIVE AS YOU CAN, but not more than 1 hour.
- 45 to 55 minutes are your "developing window" to build your muscles. More than that, your body will go catabolic.
- never think that when your muscle pain is gone you can train it again the next day. You can see more about the recovery time here.
- never push yourself too hard (overtrain). TRAIN, EAT, REST, and you'll get your results :)
- take a week off every 8 weeks, and start training again with new routines.
- remember to stretch and warm up before workout or training to prevent injury.
- take about 90 to 120 seconds to rest between each set. Read more about this here.
- make sure you do the motions correctly. Doing it wrong can injure you, or doesn't give you the results you want.
- start with compound movement, and end with isolation movement.
- after 2 or 3 sets of warm up, start to GO HEAVY for a round, 3 sets to failure.
- take notes of your progress so you can track it down.

The Supplements
- multivitamin with enough vitamin C
- try Creatine, Glutamine, and ZMA
- Whey Protein is compulsory if you can get some, but make sure the protein from REAL FOOD is fulfilled.

Gaining Weight the Right Way

In losing some weight, the usual advice is that the calorie intake has to be smaller than those that are out. If the calorie intake is more than what the body needs, the body will store the excess calories as fat. However, if the calorie intake is equal than those that are out, our body won't gain or lose some weight. But is it that simple?

There are some articles on the internet that explain about the BMR to count the daily calorie needs to maintain weight. More than the BMR rate, we'll gain weight; and less than that, we'll lose some. However, the fact is different.

For example, a thin person with 50 kg in weight and 175 cm in height eats 2500 calories a day. If he's not losing or gaining some weight, then we can assume that 2500 calorie intake is equal than those that are out. Let's say he wants to gain weight, and do what people usually do: eat more, especially before he sleeps (because as we know, this is considered to be "forbidden" for those who wants to lose some weight), eats ice cream and chocolates as desserts, then goes to sleep. It's quite clear that the calorie intake is more than 3500 calories a day, yet he still complains that his body is still thin (by now he can be regarded as a person with ectomorph type of body, which is a body that has fast metabolism, which makes them hard to gain weight).

Then what about the above theory? Why is he not gaining any weight even if he increases his daily calorie intake for more than 40%?

First, you have to take into account that human's body always tries to keep its fat level point in a balanced and stable condition. This also happens in ectomorph type of body, where they have low level of fat and unable to store big quantities of fat.

It's also known that it's better to not eat a lot at the same time, because our body will only absorb a few, and the rest will be stored as fat. However, for those with ectomorph type of body, they can't store fat, thus their body speed up their metabolism to dispose the new "fats" that are supposed to be stored.

This is the concept of Fat Level Point, where the body will always try to maintain the fat level in its stable condition. Some call this as the condition where the fat people find it hard to lose weight, and the skinny people find it hard to gain weight. With this concept, it's clear that eating more is not the solution to gain weight ideally.

Those with ectomorph type of body can only gain weight by enhancing their muscle mass (not their fat, because it won't work). To add some muscle mass, they have to lift some weight with medium or heavy weight. They also have to eat right for their muscle recovery.

Even for those who wants to gain weight, they also have to eat 5 or 6 times a day with medium portions. That meal plan is necessary so that the food intake will be optimally absorbed. Medium portions will make sure the excess calories won't be stored as fat and get disposed by the body.

In the next post, I'm going to share a quick guide to gain weight in a healthy way :)