Here’s Exactly Why Your Workouts Aren’t Producing Results
1 Dec
For those of you following my P90X journey, it’s still going well. I’m actually past day 30 and will get some pictures up soon, but I’d like to take a post to address an important issue that I know a lot of you are struggling with, and something that is extremely vital to long term health and fitness.
I’ve always been a firm believer that nutrition is half, it not more of the battle when trying to make a significant change in your health and fitness, and overall lifestyle, however many people out there struggle with their fitness goals because they have not yet learned this lesson.
I know several people personally who go to the gym religiously, but then follow up their workouts by consuming mass quantities of pizza and alcohol because they think they deserve it. This is the equivalent of washing your car and then driving it through a mud hole. You’re basically undoing all of the work you just did.
A lot of people will also eat pretty well following a workout with a nice protein shake and then a healthy meal to follow, but then they won’t touch a healthy piece of food for the next three days. Unfortunately that’s the same as washing your car, waiting 4 hours, then driving your car through a mud hole.
The Muscle Repair Process Needs Continuous Fuel
Your muscle fibers go through a rebuilding process for up to 48 hours following a workout. They need good fuel in order to do repair themselves and grow and become toned. If you do not fuel them properly (protein, water, good carbs, and good fats) you will actually LOSE muscle. And when you lose muscle, you decrease your metabolism, which contributes to fat storage.
My point: Your muscle fibers cannot repair themselves with continuous poor nutrition.
Now I’m not saying you can’t have the occasional slice or the occasional brew, but if you do try to keep it in moderation and don’t do it more than once a week.
Take this as an example. I was watching The Biggest Loser last night after a grueling 60 minutes of P90X Plyometrics X. On this episode the contestants were sent to a Marine Boot Camp for a week of basic training exercises. This should whip anyone’s butt pretty good right? I went into it thinking they’d all lose 20 lbs.
Well it did whip their butts, but they didn’t all lose weight. The contestants all said the workouts were extremely intense and probably burned more calories in their workouts than they did in any other week, but do you know what happened? Nearly half of them gained weight that week.
Why? Because they took in more calories than they burned, and they didn’t fuel their bodies to recover from the workouts.
The food at the mess hall isn’t exactly the breakfast of champions. It’s things like french toast, danishes, greasy sausages, pancakes, syrup, and then some. This kind of food is MURDER to a good workout. All of the manufactured sugar and processes preservatives strip the water right out of the body. This means the body has no water to repair the muscles fibers and lean muscle cannot grow.
Now for all of you out there wondering how putting on muscle helps you lose weight, well that’s another blog post entirely, but the basic gist is that muscle burns many more calories (up to 5x) than fat does to survive. This means the more muscle you have, the more fat your burn naturally. This is a large contributor to why skinny muscular people stay that way, and why overweight people continue to gain weight.
I’ll post a good way to get started on your nutrition plan soon. Until then, just use your head and ask yourself if what you’re eating is good for your body.
Day 30 P90X before and after pictures to come.
Recommended Resources:
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Strip That Fat – Focused on lighter workouts, cardio, light weight training, and healthy eating. Caters towards women, but also works for men who are not looking to be extremely bulky. Great for tennis, golf, runners, cycling, etc.
P90X Home Workout Program – Extreme focus on fitness. Utilizes an intense blend of cardio, weight training, plyometrics, and yoga to build your body and increase performance in all areas of fitness. Also promotes an incredibly healthy diet, all designed to whip you in shape in just 90 days.
