No visible results - yet they keep going...

[coolcolj]

My Rant of the month

I've been at my current gym for 1.5 months now.

And every week I go in I see the same faces doing weights, aerobics or on the cardio machines, and nobody looks any different from when I joined up!
How do these people keep motivated doing the same old shit over and over again with no results?!

I'm personally getting leaner and bigger everyweek, poundages going up slowly. Its definitely noticeable when your waist goes down half an inch at least a week and your weight stays the same.

Sometimes I go in and finish my workout in 1.5 hours at the most, including warmup and post stretching, and the people that were there before me are still there when I leave!

Sure are a lot of zombie trainers out there...
I'm sure many of you can relate to this


Rant off

 

[FitFossil]

I've been seeing the same people look the same at my gym for the past 6 years. I've never understood how they could show up like clockwork day in and day out and be satisfied with no results. I mean they've got the hard part mastered (just getting to the gym).

If I wasn't getting results, I'd quit (which I did A LOT until 2 years ago ). Finally I got my act together and started seeing results. THAT's what keeps me coming back though.

I know everyone doesn't have the same goals, but a lot of these people don't even LOOK like they workout even a little bit, yet they seem to be at the gym more than anyone else. Maybe they overtrain and/or overeat...but how on earth do they stay motivated?

 

[holto]

yep 1.5 years at my current gym about 15% of the trainees look exactly the same

for the young ones it's ignorance and for those 30 something

I think they are just happy with feeling healthy

 

[kingslender]

Christ guys take it easy on your fellow atheletes.
If you are born with the genes that allow you to put on size and strength easily, good for you. Not everyone has it so easy.
I'm sure Id be one of the ones you're talking about - its taken me over seven months to raise my max bench press by twenty pounds. I still go to the gym five times a week, and try to eat right and take care of my body.
What would you have them do, just give up and say "fuck it, Im not getting real big, real fast, the hell with it" and then either quit or start juicing? everyone has to be judged by their own standard.

 

[coolcolj]

Maybe your just not eating and training right?

I'm no genetic freak, I just know how to train and eat right for my own body. For one thing your train far more than me. I've been training 3 days a week, but I think I will cut back to 2 days since I overtrained this week. Confirmed with a cold, dry lips, a woeful snatch performance and a drop of 3 inches on my vertical leap...

Fast twitch fibres don't get recruited very well when your overtrained.

 

[bignate73]

i hear the excuses daily. the ones who listen to me....change. pure and simple. ive taken old longtime members that are burned out or tired of no results and given them what they want. i dont like the "victim" attitude that people take, as to not getting results and voice that to people regularly. there is always something that is missing if there is no progress and im not talking about the results either. a factor or 2 off that needs to be changed and then progress starts back up again.

you'd be surprised how many people just dont want to put for the effort other than the physical output towards change. some people work out just so they can eat like they want, even though they arent anywhere near where they would like themselves to be. its self motivation, they lack either the willpower or the knowledge necessary. sometimes its cool to take a few minutes and just throw a tidbit of info to them (takes no time, but can bring some light to their situation).

it sucks to see people work hard and not change, but its a reality at a gym. either for lack of time, finances or motivation to seek out why they dont change, they doom themselves to going through the motions. but at the least the regular exercise does them some good.

 

[makedah]

Yes, there are lots of people who do ineffective workouts because they believe bad advice or because they don't want to put in that extra effort. There are also people who work out hard but don't alter their diets much (either because they don't want to or find it too difficult), so they might 'look' the same to people, even though they're getting stronger and more fit. These things can be easy to tell if you know the person, but...

I don't know how much casual observers can tell about whether or not other folks at the gym are 'progressing' - particularly in only 1.5 months!!! What kinds of clothes do these folks wear (loose or revealing)? Do you know how much they weigh or what their BF% is and if that has changed over time? Can you really tell how much weight they're using? Do you count their reps? Do you know how high the incline is or how fast the speed is on their treadmill? Do you know what their goals are? Maybe they're not looking to radically change the way their bodies look, but to maintain a certain level of health and strength. Do you think that these other people can tell that YOUR body has changed? Is it possible that you look the same to them, week in, week out?

Frankly, I've never paid THAT much attention to other people at the gym, so I couldn't tell you any of the above. But hey, maybe you all train at very small, intimate gyms where people wear revealing clothes and talk a lot about their goals and whether or not they're meeting them!

 

[IamTHEman]

who do you think keeps the gym industry in business? exactly.

 

[Doktor Bollix]

The thing about gyms is that they are filled with experts. Everyone knows everything already. I've had a fat old guy who was doing curls at a tempo of 3 per second with 10 pound weights (why do old people do that?) tell me I would wreck my knees. I've had a "personal trainer" come up and tell me my form was wrong because I bent my legs doing deadlifts instead of keeping them stiff; never heard of a non stiff legged deadlift.

For the majority of people, if they knew that they know nothing, they would know something, but they don't even know that, and until they do, they'll never learn. I'm not saying I know anything either, I'm always learning and that's why I've made progress.

 

[bignate73]

if they knew that they know nothing, they would know something, but they don't even know that,

i had to read that 3x.

 

[benchmonster]

Great thread. I can top the story that started the thread.

I am now 27 years old. Last summer at the age of 26, I went back to train at the gym I trained at in high school, some 9 years earlier. Now mind you, I had not gained and inch in height, but when I was in high school training at this gym, I weighed 155lbs, and I built up to that.

At 26, I was 205, (now 225-230), and was much much more muscular and strong. I recognized some of the people when I was in there last year as "regulars" from when I was 17. I shit you not they looked exactly as they did 9 FREAKIN YEARS EARLIER!!!!

I was shocked. Why waste 9 years? In those same 9 years, I had managed to acquire a wife, 3 kids, a double major bachelor's degree, a law degree, a black belt in Karate, my license to practice law, and 50 lbs of muscle.

I am still flabbergasted. God Bless them for being in the gym and not on the couch, but if you can't make some gains in 9 years, you may want to switch up the ole routine.

B.

 

[FitFossil]

...I'm always learning and that's why I've made progress.

That sums it up exactly! Some people think they know everything, and they just stagnate. Others read one article and think that's the whole truth, and anything else they read or see after that is "wrong".

The main thing I've learned is what works for one body might not work for another. And what worked for me last month may not work this month. Change, experimentation, and upgrading skills are necessary for improvement, and not just in bodybuilding, but job, marriage, life, etc. There's a quote I like that goes something like "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."

 

[circusgirl]

well, not everyone is interested in muscle gain. Maybe they just want a healthy heart and lungs? My mom goes swimming 3 times a week for 30 minutes. She does it to maintain her level of fitness, relax, and stay healthy. She has ZERO interest in bodybuilding, getting very lean or building muscle, or in improving her fitness level, as she has not competed in the pool since she was 20 or so. She still swims faster than most though. Anyway, a lot of people go to the gym to hang out, meet friends, get a little exercise, keep healthy heart, and don't care as much as we do here about their body shape. Sounds ok to me.
circusgirl

 

[HulkRow]

ive been going to the gym for 3 years and my Biceps have grown 1.5 inchs...im a badass.

 

[kingslender]

Alright guys, first of all the point of my post was not to solicit training advice from you clowns.
The point I was attemting to make was that everyone has their own goals and their own desires, and therefore must be judged by their own standard. Some people train for looks, some for general health, and some (like me) do it for advancement in other athletic pursuits (playing organized sports). All I meant to say is that you can't look at someone you don't even know and tell whether or not they are making proper progress.

 

[coolcolj]

Nice quote

Here is a quote from Ian King that fits here nciely


In your view, why do some people's physiques never change even though they never miss a workout and maintain a well balanced diet?

Probably because they never miss a workout. There is a critical balance between being disciplined and being inflexible. Never missing a workout is usually symptomatic of someone who is training to meet their emotional needs, and when the training decisions are being made for reasons other than what gives the best physical results, you will receive compromised training. It is important to understand your emotional state, and ensure that your training decisions are not being made to meet your emotional needs. It actually takes a lot of emotional maturity to say - "I feel a bit tired, so I don't think it would be wise to train today," or to take a week's rest. Most suffer from the insecurity "I will shrink if I miss one day let alone a whole week!"

These emotional insecurities result in overtraining. Particularly for clean athletes, unless you are prepared to take your rest weeks and respect fatigue as it arises, you will always overtrain. This is why I tell clean athletes that athletes using drugs make the same mistake, but the drugs cover up for it to some extent - but even in the latter case, this decision making process based on meeting emotional needs still creates an impediment to progress.

The bodybuilding/fitness industry is a unique phenomenon. Can you imagine a facility called "Joe's Dental Center" where there are a hundred dentists' chairs and members of the public paid $10 per session to operate on themselves? Or "Downtown Legal Center" which provided a row of tables equipped for self-use? Most people hire dentists, doctors, lawyers etc. to provide professional advice to get it right. Yet the majority of gym users feel they can design their own workouts - no wonder there is a low success rate!

If I err when training a client, in either volume, intensity or frequency, I can detect that within a day and make an adjustment to training. If I can make an error on occasion, I can safely say that most lay persons make an error EVERY training session, don't have the skills to detect the error, and even if they did suspect an error, don't have the skills to adjust.

 

[MrMuscle]

after 1,5 months nobody makes visual gains in a big fashion. ive been in the game for 9 years now. And i still see some of the same faces, doing the same stuff they did 9 years ago, still in no shape. Some people just dont want to listen or learn, just let them be. They see the progress you are making, and maybe they will ask you for advice, most likely not, just let them do what ever they are doing.

 

[Imnotdutch]

Alright guys, first of all the point of my post was not to solicit training advice from you clowns.
The point I was attemting to make was that everyone has their own goals and their own desires, and therefore must be judged by their own standard. Some people train for looks, some for general health, and some (like me) do it for advancement in other athletic pursuits (playing organized sports). All I meant to say is that you can't look at someone you don't even know and tell whether or not they are making proper progress.

Ever get the feeling that nobody is listening to you??

Anyway, I agree with you and think this is a great post. Personally, I train for strength, and I couldn't give a damn whether my looks change so long as I get stronger.

Also, if I remember correctly, the original poster has 6 months or so experience......so he can be forgiven for thinking that his gains will keep coming forever

 

[aurelius]

I'm personally getting leaner and bigger everyweek, poundages going up slowly. Its definitely noticeable when your waist goes down half an inch at least a week and your weight stays the same.

any pics?