When you start your first program, you can notice the results immediately. You feel better and stronger and you even notice the change in your appearance. But then the progress disappears, though you’re still training.
This is one of the most common stages when talking about fitness. Also, this is why many people start to either change their program or quit.
- The body adapts much faster than you realize
When you first start any type of training, it will be a new stimulus for you. Thus, the body will have a much quicker response to it, since you have never been under such a load before. Once your body adapts to this stimulus, the same program will not create such a change. You’ll make progress when the stimulus changes with time.
- Training within your comfort zone looks productive but really isn’t
Often you just fall into a comfortable training pattern which you don’t notice. You don’t really make it hard, but it doesn’t look easy too. The exercise becomes a routine for you instead of a challenge. Training within the comfort zone, the body has no reason to change.
- Lack of structure hides the actual progression
Without a clear plan, it becomes a huge problem for you to see if you are really progressing. You might feel like you’re putting hard work and effort into it, but without tracking and progression, it will look to you like you aren’t progressing. Your training plan makes invisible progress visible.
- Changing program too often can prevent you from making progress
Most people when they start noticing the lack of change in progress, they will start switching their program. They try new exercises, new workouts, new techniques. But the body never adapts within one program long enough to make that possible.
The key to creating the desired change is the consistency of your training and not changing programs.
- Expectation vs Reality
Many people when starting, will expect to be transforming at a quick pace, and will become disappointed when their pace starts to slow. However, fitness progression never stays linear, but always includes plateaus.
When you start understanding this, you can just keep going and not quit too soon.
- Progress gets harder to spot when it becomes small
First changes are always easy to see, while the further changes become more noticeable. You just become stronger, better conditioned, improve the technique in the exercise. And because the changes are less visible, most people will think that you stop to progress. In reality, they just become more detailed.
This is not a reason to give up. This is a stage you have to go through. There is no real reason for it. The difference between those who give up and those who continue is in the following: some can just keep going and stay with their training program and others, try it for a little bit and restart, then restart, again and again.