BLAMING YOUR GENETICS?
Hint: It’s Not Your Genetics

Poor fitness and strength levels result not only to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, fatigue and poor mood, but to also anxiety and depression, joint pain and infammation, immune system suppression, decreased cognitive (brain) function, digestive impairments, neuromuscular weakness, cellular degeneration and accelerated aging.

NONE of these factors are genetic. They are in fact ALL bi-product of a lack of exercise or improperly structured exercise.

In fact, you are likely not seeing results because of one of these factors…

WHY YOUR BODY ISN’T CHANGING

ALWAYS IN A CALORIE DEFICIT?

This goes for anyone trying to grow muscle and burn fat (remember you do not just want to lose weight- you want to lose fat…)

It has been my experience that women, and now many men as well, are usually in a chronic state of “dieting” to get leaner or smaller, and don’t understand that in doing so, you’ll impede if not fully sabotage muscle growth and development.

Less muscle, more fat storage, especially stubborn fat. Less strength. More susceptible to injury, less healthy properties because muscle is much more vascular (blood flow)… you get the picture?

This doesn’t mean you need to over eat or load up on pizza and donuts, but having a regimented health, nutritious and calorie accurate (along with macro: protein, fats, carbs) is needed to grow and develop muscle- which is 80% LESS dense than fat FYI and takes up 6 cals of energy per lb vs fat which uses up 1-2 for lb while taking up 80% more space in your body (picture that).

Eat well, don’t starve and don’t over eat just because if you want to maximize muscle growth and development, avoid injury nd have more longevity and quality to your life.

POOR MOVEMENT SELECTIONS AND POOR LOAD

NOT all exercises are created equal, and when you do the right ones, you must load accordingly.

Before you ask “what are good movements?” Think of all the bad ones: I’m not talking about poor form, I’m talking about some crazy variation of a single leg jump with a weight stacked on your head vs a very solid squat with the PROPER WEIGHT.

NOT ENOUGH FOCUS ON PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD

This is often an area I don’t think that gets stressed enough for people who get frustrated with their progress or see zero to none after the first few months.

If you’re not lifting more weight, or using a TUT and other variable approach for reps six month from now than you are right now, you probably won’t look a whole lot different either.

This is pure exercise science.

CHRONIC ROUTINE CHANGING

*No programming or ‘plan’ or measurable/ progressive approach to training* Doing new and novel movements is fun, but your body cannot adapt and make evolutionary changes.

Think of training your puppy or your kid, or husband (or wife), REPETITION x PROGRESSION = progress. WEEKLY? DAILY VARIATION x NO DISCIPLINE or REF = frustration.

Muscle growth happens from progressive overload and that means repeating exercises. Not for just three weeks but sometimes for months on end in various variables. If you can’t use a routine for more than a few weeks before you start looking to change things, then that right there is your biggest issue.

Your body will never fully transform and injury and stress will surely follow.

TOO MUCH JUNK VOLUME

Junk volume defined, is any set done so far away from failure that there are no effective growth reps performed in that set.

AKA doing for the sake of doing.

In fact, this can hurt muscle growth and cause injury and stress.

As we learn in our training together you must use “Effective reps” are the reps performed very close to failure, at a max mechanical effort.

In fact, there’s no amount of “volume” that can be done to make up for a set done very far away from failure (with no mechanical tension.)

You must give the muscles a reason to remodel due to that stress. That’s how the growth response gets stimulated/ kicked off and muscle builds as fat leaves.

OVER EATING

Maybe you are, but it’s not just food, it’s the quality of your food that matters most.

Calories don’t change after 6pm, but the 100 calories in your cookie verses a bowl of yogurt and blueberries are very different in how they will act with your body and what they will be used for: building strong muscle or storing fat.

Don’t snack to avoid added calories. Do eat solid portions of good quality food.