5 Indicators That You Aren’t Training Hard Enough

If you are a relative beginner at fitness, yet you’ve been training for several months, it’s very likely that after all this time you’ve entered a “comfort zone”, so to speak. Maybe you aren’t keeping track of your progress like you used to or you are just going through the motions, without really pushing yourself. In order to keep progressing it’s essential that you challenge yourself at every workout.

If you find yourself doing any of the things described below, it’s time you reassessed your training priorities, got back in the gym and hit the weights with vengeance.

1. You never change your exercises

When you start going to the gym, there is a period where your body is learning the movements and under gradual weight progression you start experiencing what is generally known as “noob gains”. Those are basically muscle gains that occur because the body has never been trained that way before and whatever exercise you expose it to will force it to react by building new muscle mass.

However, after some time the body will adapt to those movement patterns and doing them over and over again will not induce new muscle gains. Sometimes this adaptation occurs in a matter of weeks, regardless of the exercise you’re performing. Once the body’s fully adapted to the movement, it thinks it doesn’t need to work that hard to move the weight, so it doesn’t burn that much calories.

The solution for this is to design a training program that will include multiple training elements like aerobic and resistance training, mobility and conditioning, as well as static and dynamic stretching. When you incorporate all these elements, you’ll introduce great training variety which will force your body to respond optimally.

It’s recommended that you add one change at a time in your training program every one to four weeks. An example would be to substitute running on the treadmill with riding a stationary bike. Either try a new cardio workout or add some assistance strength movement.

2. You think that the gym is a place to socialize

It’s been proven that having a training partner is a significant asset when trying to build an impressive physique. Training partners will push when you’re not motivated, they will encourage you to follow through with your plans and give you a sense of camaraderie. However, this can be a double-edged sword. Your training partner can be a bit more “talkative” and can actually distract you from your training.

Even if you don’t have a training partner, you might be the one who’s doing too much talking with other gym members. If you find yourself talking with people in the gym during sets more than a few minutes, this means you don’t work hard enough. This will seriously derail your progress.

The solution is to keep talk to a minimum and focus exclusively on your training. Whatever you have to say, save it for later.

If you’re working out with a moderate intensity, you know you’re training hard if you can only utter a few simple sentences, not have a full conversation. If you’re working out hard and intensely, you should only be able to have the strength to say a few syllables before catching your breath.

3. You distract yourself with entertainment

You might be thinking this will help you pass the time when riding the stationary bike or the treadmill. The truth is you cannot focus on your training when you focus your attention elsewhere. And not only watching TV. The same goes for checking your Facebook or Instagram, reading e-mail or flipping through a magazine. It’s almost impossible to maintain proper training intensity when you’re doing any of these activities.

The simplest way to fix this is to perform the majority of your training sessions without being distracted by all the entertainment around. And the best way to do this is to put some headphones with some uplifting music and start smashing the weights.

4. You don’t sweat at all

If you find yourself completely dry after finishing your workout and hardly broken a sweat, even if you were training outdoors in cold weather, it’s likely you haven’t trained hard enough. Even though it’s a fact that some individuals sweat a lot more than others, you’re supposed to be sweating at least a little if you are working out, even at a moderate intensity.

You should always strive to perform the exercises with a proper form and some lighter weights at first, but don’t be afraid to boost the training intensity and break some sweat.

5. You feel like you’ve accomplished nothing

When it comes to resistance training you should always be critical of every training session. Always evaluate what you did right and what you did wrong. It is OK if you adjust the weights to your training experience level and even train with lighter weights when you think something is too heavy, but there’s no reason whatsoever to slack on your training.

If you feel you haven’t challenged yourself enough, you may leave the gym feeling frustrated and disappointed that you didn’t push yourself more.

The way to know this for sure is if the training feels at least slightly challenging, but not that hard that you can’t finish the workout session. In the end, when you leave the gym, you should be experiencing the “workout high”.