So you decided that this was going to be the year that you were going to get that extra few pounds off, or in some cases, quite a few extra pounds. You made special trip to your favorite department store and picked up some really nice new exercise gear complete with very stylish track pants a few T-shirts and even a few wristbands.And then you made a trip to the nearest gym advertising a special this year to get yourself signed up for the super-duper workout plan.
The only problem? After joining the gym and really planning on taking off those extra pounds, for some reason they just simply don’t seem to be going away. So for those of you who may be wondering “why is my hard work not paying off?” Let’s take a look at a view of the things that might just be standing between you and that hard body that you are so desperately longing for.
Frequency – one of the things that could be holding you back could be how often you actually go to the gym. If you signed up and find yourself only going once or twice a month, you’re not really working on an effective plan. After all, to really get some momentum going with whatever you’re doing, a little bit of consistency is required.
Commitment – you have to ask yourself just how committed are you to actually losing the weight. If you look at yourself in the morning and you kind of think “hey, I am not really that bad,” then maybe you’re really not going to be that committed to losing weight, and maybe you are fine the way you are, that’s pretty much your call.
Getting cardio – even though you might attend the gym on a regular basis, if you’re not getting your cardio, then you’re not really getting a good enough workout to encourage weight loss.
Really working up a sweat – this really goes hand-in-hand with cardio, but this is where the rubber meets the road. By working up a good sweat, you know that your body is heating up and burning off some of those fat cells.
Wrong equipment – let’s say for example, you’re trying to lose a few inches off the waistline, you wouldn’t really want to focus on doing bench pressing; you want to pay more attention to ab exercises, squats, etc. While machines are good, just make sure that you’re using the right machine.
Wrong exercises – just like using the wrong machine can build up the wrong parts of your body, the wrong exercises can cause you to gain muscle and lose weight in the wrong areas. You want to make sure that your exercises hone in on the areas that you really need to tone and tighten up.
Not enough time – if you’re going to the gym and you’re only there for about five or 10 minutes, then you’re really not putting in the time and effort needed to trim off those pounds. Good workouts are often in the 30 to 60 minute range. But if you’re doing one of the very high impact aerobics, then you’re probably only need about 15 or 20 minutes.
Not enough exercise – this area is probably a little broader than you think; even if you do have short workouts there are things that you can do throughout the day that will constitute exercise and aid weight loss. On the other hand, not getting enough physical movement going makes it really difficult to lose weight.
