Monday, January 7, 2008

Pick Something and Stick With It

Although many people get stuck in a rut and continue to perform the same workout month after month (wondering why their results have stalled), other people constantly jump from one program to the next, always looking for the latest or greatest workout.

First of all, let me say this. Most of your fat loss success will come from proper nutrition. That may sound surprising coming from a fitness professional but that's the way it is. As I mentioned a few days ago, regular exercise will do great things for your physical, mental and emotional health but it will not significantly alter your body composition without good nutrition. As they say, you can't out-train a bad diet.

That being said, you will get better results from your strength training by choosing a well designed program and continuing with it until completion. The people who flit from guru to guru rarely get the results they desire because they never give any routine time to work.

Now, if you give a program an honest effort for 4 weeks and don't see results, it makes sense to try something else. But before you do, be honest with yourself. Did you follow the program as written? How was your nutrition for that month? Did you miss workouts? Were you using challenging weights or just going through the motions?

The best designed program is only worth as much as the dedication and effort the exerciser is willing to put into it.

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