Dear Craig, why do I still look the same?

Not that question… again

Okay, so I’m taking off my Motivator Dude business suit today and putting on my Exercise Scientist Bloke track suit. And my heart rate monitor. And my cap. Now all I need is a barbell. Aaaah, so good to be home. So comfy. And familiar.

So…

I constantly get asked the same or very similar questions via email. In fact, I have received three emails this morning asking me essentially the same thing:

“How come I exercise a lot but don’t really see any results (physical change)?”

Now, rather than sit here and type for an hour (or more) to discuss something that I have covered many times before on this site, I thought I’d pull out an old article, add a few bits, tweak a little, edit a tad, give it a bit of bling and send it back out there on the information highway for another spin…

* For some of you hard-core fitness types this post will be nothing more than a refresher, but for others it may be something of a revelation.

What we all have in common

The one thing that we all have in common when we join a gym or start any new exercise program is our desire to create physiological change; leaner, lighter, bigger, smaller, sexier (maybe that’s just me), firmer, more muscular, fitter, stronger, more flexible, less back pain, lower blood pressure… and so on. After all, we don’t hand over our hard-earned cash or put on our new sneakers in the hope that we’ll look the same in twelve months do we? But for many people, that’s exactly what happens. We join gyms and start new exercise programs for a wide range of reasons but the common denominator is that we want to be different in some way; we want to change something about the way our body looks, feels and functions.

A lot of effort for not much

Although most people exercise because they want to transform their body in some way, the reality is that many people spend lots of time, effort and energy lifting, jumping, running, riding, rowing, punching, kicking and generally getting sweaty and stinky, only to… look the same. Take a look in any gym anywhere in the world and you’ll see a whole bunch of people who never really seem to change. Now, if their goal was to stay the same then that would be fine, but it aint!

Think about it.

How many people do you know who exercise consistently (with the goal of changing their appearance), yet always look pretty much the same, year in, year out? Plenty, I bet. It may be someone you know well.
Too well perhaps.

So we typically start exercise programs for 3 keys reasons:

1. To change the way we look

2. To change the way we feel

3. To change the way we function

While the young bunnies are (often) all about the look, those of us who are heading into our late-thirties (cough, splutter) tend to be more concerned with how we feel and function. Although I probably wouldn’t object to a six-pack.

Give your body a reason to change

So, why do some of us spend way too much time, energy and effort in the gym (or any training environment) for way too little return? The very simple answer is that we don’t give our body a reason to change. Our bodies are complex organisms which are constantly responding (adapting) to stress. Exercise is a form of physical stress (a good type of stress) and improvements in your fitness, strength and flexibility and decreases in your body fat levels are simply your body’s responses to the stress placed on it via exercise.

Same old, same old

The truth is that our body will only adapt (get fitter, stronger, bigger, smaller, lighter) when it needs to – when it’s stimulated the right way. If, for instance, you can run five kilometres (three miles) in twenty five minutes, yet every day you do the same run (five kilometres) in the same amount of time (twenty five minutes), over the same course, within a relatively short period of time your fitness level won’t improve (because there’s no need) even though you are training every day. So too with the person who wants to build muscle or strength, yet typically lifts the same amount of weight doing the same exercises, for the same reps and sets, with the same intensity, for the same amount of time, day in, day out.

This is the point of the discussion where we need to differentiate between two types of exercise/training programs.

The Maintenance Program

This is a program where we typically stimulate our body with the same or similar exercises, intensities and volumes. This is the program we follow when we’ve decided that we’re buffed and completely happy with our body and we just want to keep what we’ve got! The truth is that many (and I mean a whole bunch of) people in gyms (and outside gyms) are following a maintenance program and don’t know it. They constantly do the same type of training, on the same days of the week, using the same equipment, for the same amount of time at the same intensity… and then get frustrated and look perplexed when their body doesn’t change

The Progressive Program

This a program where we constantly vary the type of exercise, sets, reps, intensity, duration, overall volume and even training environment. A program which is constantly stimulating our body to change and adapt. This is the training approach that most people should embrace but don’t. We are creatures of habit and we love to do… the same (no matter how much it doesn’t work)! Sometimes we need to differentiate between what we enjoy doing (easy) and what will work best for our body (effective). Unfortunately they’re not always the same. This might mean switching from the treadmill to the stepper, a walk to a jog, the 3kg to the 5kg dumbbells, the footpath to the soft sand, indoors to outdoors, the flat to the hills or the aerobics room to the weight room. If you’re going to train five days a week (for example) then don’t do five runs or five bike rides or five anythings, for that matter, stimulate your body differently each day. You’ll see more results, less repetitive strain injuries and less boredom and loss of motivation.

Mixing it up….

When we do the same thing all the time (running for example), we become fit for that activity – specifically conditioned. However, when we introduce something completely different into the program (boxing perhaps) we: 1) realise that our body still has lots of room for improvement and 2) begin to see our body start adapt (change) again almost instantly.

If you exercise purely for enjoyment and fun then do whatever you enjoy the most (be safe of course), but if you’re serious about changing your body, be less emotional and more practical about your program and do what works. Give your body what it needs. Perhaps its time for you to get uncomfortable and do something different. Or do the same thing differently.

If you know what I mean.

Remember:

If nothing changes (training stimulus), nothing changes (your body).

Simple really.

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