Are you putting enough into your workouts? Are you putting enough into your workouts?
Centr Team
13 Nov 2019
If you’re dragging through your daily workouts but getting frustrated that you’re not getting anywhere, it might be time to ask “Am I working hard enough?"
Of course, you don’t need to completely annihilate yourself at every exercise session (because that would be damaging), but putting the right amount of effort into your training is pretty much the only way to get the results you’re after.
You might not even realize that you’re not busting out enough effort. If you need some guidance, here are five signs that you’re not training hard enough.
1. You could repeat the same session again straight afterward
Exercise isn’t easy – if it were, we’d all be the healthiest, fastest, strongest, most flexible versions of ourselves with no trouble.
Your workouts should be challenging: anything strenuous should leave you breathless and feeling like your muscles need a break to recover. They should be demanding enough of you that there’s no way you could just jump back in for another full session once you’ve finished.
Each Centr trainer will put you through your paces using a different style and if you thought that Sylvia's Pilates or Tahl’s yoga sessions were ones you could ‘rest’ through, think again. If you finish up feeling not so much as a bit of muscle tiredness or ache, chances are you didn’t give it your all. Next time, give attention to perfecting the form of the movement, focusing on the muscles you are trying to work, then lift your intensity.
If you’re still not feeling the burn, remember that stacking workouts is always an option. If you’re still feeling invincible after a plyo session with Bobby and a Centr Masterclass: Da Rulk session, you really might be a superhero.
2. You never feel the slightest bit sore the next day
A great way to know how hard you have trained is to see how your body feels 12-24 hours later.
Those stiff muscles when you move the next day are called DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), and believe it or not, they are a good thing. They mean your body has worked hard and is responding to your workout. If you haven’t felt any soreness after a training session for a while, it’s definitely time to up your intensity.
Don’t be afraid to add some extra weight to muscle-building exercises if you didn’t feel it the last time – localized aches and pains in muscles after you’ve trained them is exactly how you know you’re making gains.
There are also bad DOMS and we want to avoid those, so please look out for pain in your joints, pains in muscles that you didn’t work or muscle soreness that lasts more than seven days. You may need to tweak your technique a little or add weight in smaller increments.
Michael can reignite your fitness fire and get you on the road to results.
3. You don’t get out of breath during cardio
If you’re completing one of Michael’s boxing or skipping workouts or one of Jorge’s MMA sessions and you’re not huffing and puffing, it’s a sure sign that you need to put a little more effort in.
When we push our bodies physically, our breath becomes shorter because our muscles need oxygen to work. Oxygen travels to our muscles through our blood and our heart is the giant pump that gets it there. The harder we work, the harder our heart works and the more out of breath we become.
And the good part is when we do this over and over, our bodies become more efficient at it and we become fitter and healthier – not to mention the calorie burn along the way!
4. You’re not seeing results
Our workouts are fun on their own, but results are what you’re here for. So if you’ve been sticking to your training and eating plan for a while now and you’re not seeing results, something isn’t right.
Whether your goal is weight loss, muscle gain or overall fitness, seeing results requires the correct nutrition, but if you’re keeping up with the meal plan and still not getting what you want then you need to look elsewhere for answers. If you are just going through the motions of exercise rather than pushing yourself, you’re not likely to see the results you came for.
Need to get out of your comfort zone and kickstart your fitness? Ashley Joi’s sessions are designed to blast calories, burn fat and challenge your muscles into toning up – but only if you’re walking away from them knowing you were all in.
5. You’re not very motivated to exercise
Sure, getting bored is human nature. We forgive you if you’re struggling to find your fitness mojo. But feeling excited about workouts could be as simple as putting in enough work to get your body switched on and your head engaged with a fresh challenge.
When you’re making a positive life change, training hard, sticking to your program and seeing results, it’s super exciting. It makes you want to keep at it and keep putting the effort in for the results to keep flowing.
So let’s find your motivation, the reason you’re here, your ‘why’ when it comes to exercise. And once you’ve found it, get excited about how it’s going to feel when you finally get there. Yes, there’s some work to do, and it might not be easy, but that’s what makes it interesting.
