All for one and one for all!
…right?
Well, yes, but only if your name is d’Artagnan and you’re planning on gathering your mates to defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war…
But if not, then not really…
More specifically in this case, I’m referring to training plans.
You’ve seen an influencer online selling their training plan, they show you what you could achieve in just 3 weeks, only training for 5 minutes once a week, still eating whatever the hell you like and you think, “Omg, I can do that, sign me up!”
Three weeks go past, you’ve stuck to the 5 minute training plan each week, you’ve not watched what you eat and binge watched The Office for the 5th time this year. Super pumped about how consistent you’ve been, you take a look in the mirror and jump on the scales and low and behold (pause for dramatic effect…) You’ve gained weight… WTF?!
Now, I’m not saying that exercise and nutrition plans like this are bollocks. They may well work for someone who has super athletic genes, an incredibly active job, who already understands nutrition to the finest detail and who is already pretty damn fit. That’s great, I’m super stoked for you that you only have to add in a quick Tabata once a week to stay on top of your physique. But for the rest of us who weren’t blessed at birth, we may require some slight alterations to that training plan.
Finding the perfect plan for you can be a bit of trial and error. Unfortunately a lot of people give up after a couple of weeks of not seeing changes or results and move on to the next fad. Changing too quickly from diet to diet or switching training plans too often doesn’t give the body enough time to adapt, to make changes and work in different ways, resulting in massive internal confusion and what feels like your body just stops listening to your efforts.
Let your body catch up. If you change what you’re putting in it, it’ll need time to adapt to this new fuel and work out the best way to process it for maximum results.
Let your body catch up. If you change the way you use it, it’ll need time to adapt to these new movement patterns and work out the best way to strengthen and repair for maximum results!
There’s so much help, advice, support and knowledge out there on social media. Everyone has an opinion. There’s plenty of people agreeing that prioritising resistance training, eating more fruits and vegetables and taking a walk whenever possible (see my last post about getting your steps in here) are really good things for you that you should be doing. But unfortunately there’s also people out there who still say carbs make you fat and you have to be sweating for your workout to mean anything.
So how do you know who to listen to?
Just remember two very simple things:
- There is no perfect diet
- There is no perfect workout
You might have a workout partner and you’re both following the same plan but you’re both seeing different results.
Why is this?
Something that works for one person might not work for you, and vice versa.
What works for you is going to hugely depend on your goals, genetics and training preferences, your physical ability, current health status and anatomy.
Your bodies will adapt to the stimulus in different ways and produce a different response. You may be genetically predisposed to build muscle quicker or burn fat more efficiently. Maybe your friend may have a little more weight to lose than you do so the changes to their body shape may be more noticeable. but you might be gaining more muscle mass and creating the much sought after “toned” appearance.
Another big factor in how well or quickly a plan will work for you is ultimately how much time you can realistically dedicate to it.
A lot of these influencers you see online do this for a job. They can dedicate their entire day to looking this good! Whereas you and I have to do this whole workout and get fit malarkey as a side hustle, these guys get to spend every waking hour doing what we cram into a few hours each week.
So go easy on yourself, you can’t compete with that! Even personal trainers have to get their own workouts in around training their clients!
