I am bored beyond description during my training. I feel like a zombie wandering through an apocalyptic wasteland of nylon and spandex, tired radio hits and the same old exercises. Been doing this since January and haven’t seen a result since March. Please help.
Your results dried up as soon as load-shedding ended. So, while the rest of us have gone through phases of scepticism, cynicism, disbelief and cautious optimism, you’ve been in a holding pattern of torturous monotony.
This is exactly why most people fail at the gym. It’s why they train for a few months before falling off the wagon and starting again at some point in the future, only to repeat the cycle. Commercial gyms that don’t know their clients personally make millions like this.
You’d think paying for something you don’t use would be incentive enough to change behaviour, but, alas, middle-class suburbia appears to enjoy debit order day. Your grit, to force yourself through the boredom, can be translated into serious results.
I have various bank accounts for different functions. Capitec recently upgraded its app. Every now and then, when I’m in a shop and need to transfer money between accounts quickly, the app first does a little introspection. It seems to check whether everything is up to date with the latest version — complete with a spinning wheel of doom showing the progress before allowing me in ... all while Karen behind me folds her arms, taps her foot and lets out a sigh.
It annoys me immensely. But I understand it is probably necessary to ensure an efficient customer experience while I’m actually making use of the service — that all the cogs and wheels are working properly. It has a purpose. I wish it was a back end purpose, but it’s a purpose nevertheless.
Training and going to the gym are a bit like banking. Every time you exercise or eat well you make a small deposit. A tiny deposit. A few rand here and there is hardly noticeable. But over time the power of compound interest translates into a sustainable lifestyle change. And the kind of results that 90% of people will never know.
If you want a fruitful gym experience, perhaps you should consider some introspection and regular “health checks” of your programme and whether it needs updates. Granted, you’ve asked for help but you left it so long you’re on the verge of either quitting or going full Tarantino.
Pay attention to the exercises, how you feel, if they’re still challenging you and whether you enjoy performing them at all. This matters because you must want to do what you’re doing or you eventually won’t. What you’re about to read is common sense. It’s also backed by peer-reviewed research.
Besides keeping track of how you feel daily and weekly, you — or your trainer — should be adjusting your routine every four to six weeks, or at an interval that feels right to you. You should be changing it up altogether after longer intervals, without affecting your long-term goals. Anyone who tells you there’s only “one way” is not being transparent. That’s their way.
Progressive overload means that you gradually increase the demands on your muscles over time. You can do this by increasing the weight lifted, increasing the number of sets and/ or repetitions and reducing the amount of time you rest between sets.
This ensures that you make progress. This process isn’t linear, but adjusting the variables, such as sets and reps, helps break through plateaus or periods of no improvement. And remember, results don’t always happen in the mirror — two extra reps is improvement. Keep chasing this while eating properly and that magical compound interest will become apparent.
Naturally, you can’t keep doing this indefinitely. You can’t keep increasing the weight and doing more reps and sets. At some point you need to rest and deload, which means training at a lower intensity for a while. Feeling fresh, it’s time to start again.
Unless you’re experienced, find a trainer who can manage this for you and learn to perform exercises correctly and safely.
This isn’t a blueprint to become a Springbok or world champion swimmer. Neither is it a blueprint to become a fitfluencer. It is a set of time-tested, peer-reviewed principles that will, over the long term, see you enjoy results but, more importantly, enjoy what you do.
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