June 21, 2015
9 Ways To Tell If You Are Exercising Enough
Are you hitting the gym and not seeing the results you'd like? Frustrating to say the least. But don't get down, it is actually a very common problem. Many times you are not working out as hard as you think are or you could be working really hard but focused on the wrong things.
“It’s very common for people to set a fitness goal and be super-aggressive in the beginning and then lose momentum when they stop seeing continued results,” says Jimmy Minardi, personal trainer and owner of Minardi Training in East Hampton, NY, and Aspen, CO.
The biggest problem, of course, is that you may not even realize that your intensity levels are not what they used to be. So, here are 9 signs you may not be working out hard enough and some helpful advice on how to correct the situation:
1. You're never sore or tired the day after a workout.
“This happens when your body gets comfortable with your routine,” says Erin Bulvanoski, a trainer at Kore in New York City. You may be doing the same workout and using the same amount of weight when you should be mixing things up a little. How to adjust: Once a week, grab some heavier weights. Adding a little more HIIT to your workout will help too.2. You're not losing any weight.
“Is your body composition changing? That’s what is most important,” says Holly Rillinger, a master instructor at Flywheel in NYC. If you're not seeing a difference in the way your clothes are fitting, you've hit a stall. How to adjust: Rillinger says to track your diet to see if you need to change anything there. If you aren't already strength training, add some weights to your workout routine to build some fat burning muscle. Otherwise, try adding a high intensity cardio workout to blast through those extra calories.3. You barely break a sweat.
If this is the case, you are likely working at a steady state and need to add some intervals, says Minardi. “You should break a sweat when you train and should see [or feel] a spike in your heart rate,” he says. (For workouts that will make you break a sweat, check out Sweatflix℠: BodyRock On Demand ). How to adjust: Get your heart rate up. Between your yoga poses, do some squats, or mountain climbers or push ups. Something to quicken the pulse.4. The last rep feels hard but you could do another.
Time to add more weight. “You should barely be able to squeeze out that last rep,” says Rillinger. If you aren't sure, just try. Worst case you fail and learn where your limit is. How to adjust: Grab free weights that are 2-4 pounds heavier than what you are used to. “It can help burn more calories, take your sculpting routine to the next level and get you results faster," says Bulvanoski.