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The other day I got an email from a reader named Phil who used to train really hard and made great progress, but then for some reason stopped and lost all of the gains that he previously made. Here is the email:
“Seen your post about tagging someone, although i need the motivation myself. I used to train at a high intensity maybe about 6 times per week. I put on good mass and was progressing strength wise steadily. However i have stopped training for the past year and have lost any gains i had previously made. I was training using HIIT and overload and deloading but i feel like i have lost all knowlodge of my workouts now because i am back to basic level of strength. Any advice is appreciated ! Cheers, phil”
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I chose to talk about this email because I feel it happens a lot amongst us; we train really hard for a while then we end up stopping and lose all progress – it used to happen to me too.
So how do we stop this?
The cause
In most cases, and probably for Phil’s, he stopped training as he was trying to hard – funnily the things you commit to the most are often the things that you end up giving up at – I remember back in the days when I used to try and go on super strict diets, sure I’d lose a stone, but I could never keep it up and just rebounded hard.
The root of this problem is due to over-sacrifice: you may not realise it, but if you are sacrificing too much, whether it is motivation, time, or other things (e.g. pizza etc) it makes it easier to quit due to it feeling like more of a burden instead of something that you look forward to do each day.
So how can we stop over-sacrificing and get back in shape?
Next time around I’d suggest two things:
1) Keep your workouts simple, short, and interesting
I’m a big fan of having a strength component in my training routine; it’s fun and exciting because you’re always becoming a better version of yourself. It’s also always a challenge which excites me to want to go and work out. I always focus on low rep compound lifts first, then follow up with a few sets of higher rep hypertrophy movements, such as in my free training program.
For me, this is perfect as I even though I run a fitness website I have no motivation to go to the gym if I don’t have a purpose or goal. Having my short and long term strength goals keeps me excited to go out and strive to become a better version of myself.
2) Do not sacrifice anything
This probably sounds incredibly counterintuitive, but hear me out: as mentioned above, when you decide to give up certain foods or sacrifice huge amounts of time or willpower you start to resent fitness; when I tried to cut out carbs I just hated it (pizza = my life).
Instead, simply make small and gradual commitments which slowly become a habit. For example, I’ve decided to finally be able to touch my toes so I literally do 3 10-second stretches each day – that’s it. It requires no motivation and willpower, and it takes so little of my time that I am more than happy to do it, especially as I know that this will gradually lead to me seeing great exponential results. I mean, who can’t spend 30 seconds to stretch? Already I’ve made great improvements, and it is now something I just do without thinking.
For Phil I suggested he start off with something easy like a set or two of pushups each day – it will require little to no sacrifice for him and it will be easy to develop into a habit. Once he appreciates the gradual improvements that he is making to himself fitness will start to no longer be a burden, but instead turn into something he will actually want to do. From there on he will naturally start to desire to further improve upon yourself, and will effortlessly dedicate more time to become a stronger, bigger and better version of himself.
Using these methods will help you ignite a fire which will burn and grow on its own, instead of having to use up all your willpower and determination to keep it going.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions email me at mike@unigains.com
-Mike
