As a personal trainer, I see it all the time. You aren’t seeing results with your workouts, so you change it up in hopes to confuse your body and finally see something – anything!
You’re not alone. I’ve been guilty of this too.
From about 2016 to 2019, I struggled to see any results with my workouts. I worked out 6 days a week (if not 7 days). I tracked my calories and macros. I was “disciplined” and would receive so many compliments for my discipline and the routine I had created for myself.
From the outside, it looked like I was crushing it with my workouts and nutrition. On the inside, I was frustrated, I felt like a fraud (seriously, who works at a gym and can’t put on muscle?!), and I struggled with fatigue, acne, bloating, and painful periods.
Then in 2019, I was diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis and everything changed.
I was told I couldn’t workout as hard or as much as I was. My diet needed to have some short-term, though aggressive changes. And it was a struggle for me to find my new identity with my new diagnosis.
However, since 2019 and the swaps I made, I have hit PRs, I’ve increased my muscle mass, I’ve lost weight. I’ve even improved my acne, fatigue, bloating, and periods. Yes, partially due to cycle syncing, but …
Here are 5 ways I changed my workouts to see results – that you can begin to incorporate today as well!
1. I prioritize at least 2 rest days per week.
My stress levels were already high from my job and I was raising them more with my workouts and my inability to rest. By taking no days off (or one day off, which I would feel massively guilty about), I was doing more damage to hormones and not giving my body the ability to recover properly from my workouts.
By prioritizing rest, you’re allowing your body to recover fully before you hit it again. And you’ll have better workouts and lessen your likeliness to under recover and ultimately burn out or overtrain, when you are properly rested. Your body will thank you!
2. I’m strategic about my approach to cardio.
I loved workouts where I was leaving sweat angels on the ground. I loved the endorphins that came after a hard and sweaty workout. I loved challenging myself and getting my heart rate up. But this was also causing more stress on my body that my body couldn’t handle. And, spoiler: a sweaty workout is a not a sign of a good workout. (It’s also not bad; it just is.)
So, I stopped bringing my heart rate up high while I was still struggling with fatigue, acne, bloating, and painful periods. I focused on keeping my heart rate lower. I’d stop a workout if my heart rate started to creep up too high. This allowed my body to heal and recover, without adding more inflammation and making the symptoms worse. Read more about Cardio Zone Training HERE.
3. Focused on eating at maintenance.
I always counted and tracked my calories and macros, but when I focused on being extremely intentional with my maintenance calorie – including what my macros were all broken out into – I started really getting in tuned with my body and her needs.
Suddenly I knew if I needed more carbs, more protein, if I needed to lower my fat. Tracking can be stressful for some, but I was able to use it as a tool to help me uncover how to get my body to start healing, recovering from my workouts, and eventually used it to see physical results.
4. Stayed on one program consistently.
It’s easy to program hop when you aren’t seeing immediate results. It’s easy to try something that someone else is seeing results with. But the magic is in consistency.
It’s a myth that your body needs to be confused. It doesn’t. Your body loves consistency. Your body wants to feel safe with what she expects for workouts. And that consistency over time leads to beautiful results.
5. Followed a progressive overload style program.
Building off the consistency, progressive overload helps you achieve this. This is a workout program style that builds week over week to see improvements.
When I say that, I don’t mean you’ll be increasing weight every week. Nor will you be increasing sets and reps. As you become more and more experienced with lifting weights, you’ll notice improvements to form, ability to slow the lift down to connect your mind to muscle, and so much more. The focus on sets, reps, and weight is often ego driven. Whereas progressive overload allows you to get stronger, while focusing on other achievements that will ultimately lead to your physical results.
I’ll be honest, it sounds simple, but my all or nothing, balls to the wall mindset really struggled with this approach to training at first.
It wasn’t until I felt better, had more energy, my periods were easier to manage, and I started to see muscle gain that I realized this approach actually works.
What else is difficult is, no one was talking about it in the fitness industry for years. There always seemed to be a medal for how sore you were, how much your workout crushed you, your time on a metcon. But there was never a medal on having less acne and bloating because your workouts are supporting your hormonal health.
Back in 2019, I couldn’t find any programming to follow that supported this method and helped me optimize my results and hormones all at once.
So, I created one.
Enter: Action Athletes.
Action Athletes has been in the wild for over a year now. It’s helped hundreds of women gain muscle, lose weight, and feel good in their skin – without wrecking their hormones.
In this fitness programming app, you have access to:
- 10 different programs for any goal – weight loss, strength gain, toning, general health, and everything between
- On demand workouts for accessory work, workouts when you’re traveling, if you want more core or cardio, and more
- A resource library that educates you on calories, macros, tracking progress, and more!
- Plus, you have access to me to help you with programming, any questions you have, form checks, accountability, and funny memes!
And I want to invite you to try it out for a week for free!
Start your trial of Action Athletes today to see if this style of working out is meant for you. You may not see results in a week, but with time and consistency, I know you’ll feel better and finally see progress towards your goals!
Let’s go get strong!
