• If you are a personal trainer you probably know why, and you can stop reading
• If you are trained by a personal trainer, he/she will tell you all that you are doing wrong
• If you are none of the above, there is a huge chance you are doing something wrong and not getting the results of your workout.

But don’t worry, a lot of people are doing something wrong while working out, and you must have noticed that there are no visible results after a while, and you probably did something about it, like reading this for example. Doing a workout routine for a very long time in the not proper way can harm your health, muscle pain, back pain, leg pain, etc.

Regardless of the reason why are you exercising, whether because you want to lose weight, or build muscle, or just keep your overall health in good shape, you have to do it properly if you want results. When it comes to losing weight, you want those numbers on the weighing scale to go down, and go down fast! When building muscle, you want the scale to go up, but in a muscle mass, losing fat really fast.

It can be difficult, and it takes time and effort, and if you are not doing it right, it can take a lot more time and a lot more effort. So, here is a list of top 8 things you are (probably) doing wrong while working out:

1. Sleep – sleep deprivation affects the same hormones that control appetite, stimulating them, and making you do all those midnight snacks, usually high calorie and fat kind of food. Lack of sleep won’t help you lose weight, but it also won’t help you gain muscle, because sleep will facilitate muscle growth. Sleep also boosts your immune system and keeps you healthier, and a well-rested body is a body you want in the gym. The tired body gives lousy results in the gym, and even worst, tired body can cause bad injuries!
2. You are not using weight as your ally – maybe you are not aiming for the muscular look and using too little weight, or maybe you are craving for huge muscles and using too much weight. Either way, stop it, you are doing it wrong. Weight lifting is what challenges your muscles, and gives them shape and helps them grow, and whatever your goal is, fat loosing or muscle building, choosing the right weight is critical. If you don’t do the exercises with proper weight, you are not getting close to your goal soon, so challenge yourself, don’t overdo it, and keep safety as a priority always. The number one cause of gym injury is overweighting!
3. Improper warm up – cold muscles are easy to hurt, not being elastic and flexible enough. The proper warm-up prepares your whole body, muscles, heart, lungs, and keep you safe from injuries, increases your blood flow and warms you up. A proper warm-up increases your overall performance, speed, strength, and endurance.
4. Change the routine workout, for a little bit – small changes in your routine might give big changes in your expected results. Running on the treadmill on different speed or different difficulty is a completely different workout, and the same applies to change weights or reps. Every change is welcomed, however, try and keep it one at a time, because too much change can also give you unwanted results, or again, injury! Change the routine every month or so, sometimes even the order of doing exercises can give you better results.
5. Count your calories – it can be dull and annoying, but watching portion sizes does give results fast. It can be quite difficult to balance your workout with your diet, and intake just the number of calories you will most likely spend in the gym seems impossible (and most of the time it is), but trying to maintain the balance can be good enough for you. Never over-eat and never stay hungry for too long, look for healthy snacks that will get you out of the red zone (meaningless overeating)!
6. Rest – not sleep, but give your body time to accumulate all the stress you are causing working out. A walk in the park, doing yoga, medium hiking, all ways to fast recover your body, keeps you in shape, and rests you at the same time.
7. Not disciplined enough – make a plan, and stick to it. You can make minor adjustments, and sometimes minor changes (as recommended), but jumping through all the machines in the gym is pointless, and time exhausting. Having a plan and keeping a diary usually helps you maintain discipline, and stick to a well-prepared routine. Try and make a routine plan for a whole month, and review the diary afterward. You will notice the changes that have to be done! Keep logged all your sessions just like taking your antibiotic, four times or three times a week at the exact place and time.
8. Having fun? This perhaps is the most important thing of all, having fun while doing it. If you are not having fun, and go one step ahead, two back, you have the change the whole routine, or the whole workout plan. Maybe running is not for you, or weight lifting is just too boring, whatever the reason, you have to change it. Doing it just because is not a reason enough, and doing it and not having fun while most certainly not give you any results. Find fun exercise you want to do, and do it, and in time results will come!

The post Workout without results? Here is what you (probably) are doing wrong! appeared first on Transforming Fitness.

Well, not exactly, those guys probably had a belly sometime in the past, and believe that those guys or girls will be the ones who will help you the most, for everything, from the beginning to the end of the day.

Before starting the plan for the gym, remember the most important thing, feel good and have fun, without these two, you will have poor or no results at all! So let’s get started!

Relax – don’t let fear take control, you should feel good in your body, and feel good when people look at you. Going to the gym is just a way to upgrade your look, inside and outside, make your body look good, and your spirit shine. This is the first obstacle on your way to the better you, so make sure you jump over it with full thrust self-confidence.

Plan a great meal before every visit – always eat before exercise, and don’t believe that you will lose weight faster if you don’t, you will only feel more tired and burn muscle, which is exactly what you don’t want to do. You need the necessary energy, and the best way is to stick to lean proteins such as grilled chicken or fish with steamed vegetables for carbs, or oatmeal with dried fruits and some protein shake. Most of the gym-goers also like to eat a banana before practice, because it is a great source of natural carbohydrates (sugar) and also potassium. Avoid eating legumes, because of obvious reasons (strange things happen when you are bloated and lifting a heavy load, right). Also, remember to eat at least one hour before practice, and one after!

Plan your Workout routine – always plan the day at the gym, it doesn’t matter if you are new to this, or a “returns from a long break”, you must have a plan. You don’t want to lose precious 20 minutes wandering around looking like a stalker, plan the routine and get right on it. If necessary, consult a professional, or take a personal trainer. Or, find a beginner’s plan online, write down your routine and go with it (this is a much cheaper option of course). Always start with a warmup and stretching exercises, you do this on the floor and you don’t care if the machine you have in plan is not vacant. Next have a backup plan for the exercises, because, the machine might be taken, and you don’t want to sit and wait for it to be available.

Be flexible, not only for your body, for the routine also, every day is not the same and your body does not behave the same all the time. When tired, go small and easy, don’t rush it! Start with small weights and over time increase the weight, according to your expectations and wishes!

Inventory check – the equipment for your workout is important, you don’t want to find yourself missing something like a fresh t-shirt, or even worse, fresh underwear! Make a list of all necessary clothes and items you need for your everyday workout at the gym, put it on your fridge, and cross it out as you pack. It seems a lot of work, but you will find it handy. Amongst the most needed items:

• spare underwear, clean shirt, and fresh socks,
• water (1 L should do you just fine)
• spare shoes
• post-workout meal (protein bar or a simple banana)
• workout gear (shoes, lifting gloves, headband)
• toiletries (shampoo, shower gel, deodorant, makeup) and towel for the shower
• Plastic bag for your wet clothes.

Aftermath – working out after a long pause, or worse, for the first time can be an unpleasant experience afterward. The soreness and muscle pain is inevitable, and proper care for your body in these moments is crucial for a fast recovery. Stretching, cold bath, some aspirin, and continuous training are very popular. Whatever you do, don’t make a pause after the first training! The first time is the worse, the second time you go in, start slowly, do a good warmup and you’ll see, the pain will slowly go away.

Make a playlist – update your playlist, put some music that makes you feel alive and ready to rock. Plus, sometimes you will just want to enter your safe bubble and stop listening to all the gym noises (machines, taunts, laughs, and others).

Give yourself a treat – after a good workout feeling great is often without an option, you will feel excellent, you can’t avoid it, and it becomes like a drug, you will want to visit the gym more and more. Now and then treat yourself a snack you might find unsuitable and in the same sentence with “workout”. A chocolate bar or one beer cannot hurt you as much as avoiding them at all costs, give your body some (dosage is critical, some, not plenty), and it will return the favor!

You don’t need to follow all the tips from above; you can make your own list. More important is to follow the list and be persistent and disciplined, and in good time, results will come. Don’t expect miracles, all good thing comes with a lot of effort, time and commitment, and if you can, try and avoid all chemical supplements for raising body mass and increased performances. These chemicals will show results in a much faster pace, but the side-effects can be devastating to your body and mind, and can have a pretty sound backfire!

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