We’ve all done it. You start working out and you experience some results but not as fast as you’d like.
Sometimes results come slower.
Other times there are actions you can take to speed up the process. Let’s take a look at five (5) such things.
1 – Eat For Your Goals
The solution most people take when they start working out is, “I’ll just eat less.”
Sometimes this is a conscious thought and sometimes it just happens. For instance, if we compare keto, to paleo, to Weight Watchers, to the carnivore diet, to veganism [to anything else really], you find a big reason people lose weight is because they’re simply eating less food.
While there are other health benefits, this is generally why you lose weight early on. You are eating less of the “bad” stuff and just eating less, in general. And since we could simplify this to a math problem:
Eating Less + Working Out More = Weight Loss (temporarily…)
A better way is to eat for your goals. And since you are exercising more, you might find you need to eat more. This is not all people and in all cases but if you’ve been exercising and restricting your diet at the same time, it’s time to have a talk.
A simple start? Take the healthy stuff, you’re already eating, and eat a little bit more.
If I’m averaging 1600 calories per day, currently, and I’m feeling slow, sluggish, tired, and my weight loss has stopped, add 100 calories. Check out this example below:
Week 1: 1600 calories per day for 7 days
Week 2: 1700 calories per day for 7 days
Week 3: 1800 calories per day for 7 days
Etc.
While working with a nutritionist or dietitian would be better, with this method you just might find that you find an intake where you feel good, where your weight loss kicks back up again, and your workouts get better.
Weird…
2 – Sleep
Sleep is magic. Sleep is also likely one of the first things to be sacrificed when it comes to priorities throughout the day. Speed up your transformation by improving your sleep!
We’ve talked ideal sleeping conditions before [look at #4 HERE], so this will not be that. Instead, here are a few things you can do, throughout the day, to improve your sleep at night. And if you want a more in depth look at this, check out Dr Andrew Huberman and his sleep checklist HERE:
- If you can, get outside and view sunlight within 30 minutes of waking up (no sunglasses allowed, here)
- Wake up at the same time every day. For some of you, this will mean getting yourself to go to sleep at the same time every night
- Theanine good. Melatonin not so good
- Alcohol messes up your sleep. Drinking should only be an occasional thing and this is yet another reason as to why
If you want more, and more detail, Dr Huberman has a list of 12 things he suggests for better quality sleep.
“But Chris, I’m a night owl!” That may be true, but you probably turned yourself into a night owl. Inversely, you can also turn yourself into a better sleeper including sleeping at the correct hours. Make this a priority.
3 – Building Consistency
I get it, as a CrossFitter and competitive person, I sympathize with the idea that you want to go hard. And as a human being, I also sympathize with the thought, “I just don’t feel like it today.”
Sometimes you need to kick your own ass.
Other times you need to just move.
On the days when you don’t feel like doing anything, just do something. The habit [in this case] is much more important than doing the full blown workout. If it is a choice between not doing your workout because you’re not feeling up to all the intensity and and just moving, you should be choosing to “just move.”
With a solid habit, results will come!
4 – What’s Your “Top End?”
Do you know what a truly heavy 10 reps on a back squat feels like? Do you know what a mile time trial feels like? Do you know what it feels like to do full speed burpees for 5 minutes?
No? Well, then you’ve got some things to think about.
I am not saying everything has to be 100% output. What I am saying is if you don’t know what 100% feels like, you don’t have a reference point for the other stuff.
The RPE scale is a great tool and great example for this. There is a 6 to 20 RPE scale, but for our purposes we are going to focus on the 1 to 10 scale.
1 is nothing. You are doing barely more than just sitting around
10 is as hard as you can imagine working and you couldn’t work any harder
If I ask you to run 20 minutes and run it at an RPE of 6. Could you tell me what that feels like and what pace that is? What about running that 20 minutes at an RPE of 4?
If I ask you to back squat 10 times but work up to a weight that feels like an 8, what should that feel like? How about a 5?
Sometimes you just need to move like we talked about above. Other times, you need your ass handed to you. Intensity is the key here. Don’t get into the habit of making all your workouts a moderate 5 to 6.
5 – Ask For Help
It pains me to say it but I don’t have all the answers. I know, I’m just as surprised as you are!
Read those two (2) sentences as sarcastically as you can.
When you don’t know, you should ask for help. If your results are slowing down or otherwise stopped, ask for help. If you don’t know where to start, ask for help.
Sometimes all you need is a simple kickstart. Other times you need someone to hold your hand and guide you to the top of your mountain.
Not only is that what a professional trainer does, it is likely they’ve been there and done that and know what you’re going through.
If you’ve realized you can’t do this without some guidance and accountability, click HERE. We would love to have a conversation with you and get you the results you’re looking for!
Just Pick One
Find you’re stuck? Pick something on this list and start working through it. Just because you hit a plateau now does not mean it’s a plateau forever. You just haven’t found the right way [for you] yet!
