5 Reasons You Continue to Get Injured and See No Results

You’ve been hitting your local Seattle gym and making time to improve your fitness. Things seem to be going well, and then it happens… you hurt yourself. Or, maybe with all that work to get to the gym, you’re just not seeing any results.

These are two of the most frustrating things, because neither one of them comes about due to a lack of trying. Quite the contrary. You’re trying to better yourself, and something seems to get in the way. But, that’s part of getting stronger - overcoming adversity.

So, with all that in mind, here are a few of the most common obstacles where people get in their own way, injure themselves, and fail to see the fitness results they desire.

You Forget to Warm Up

Admit it, you’ve done this before. You’re busy and in an attempt to get the best workout possible you skip your warmup, and hit it hard. Bad idea. If you haven’t hurt yourself yet by doing this, you will.

It’s crucial to warm-up your muscles before you begin to push them to their max. This can be done relatively quickly in 5-10 minutes. A lot of people jog on the treadmill, or do jumping jacks, which are both good options. But ideally you want to move and warm the same muscles you’re about to work. So, if you’re going to do weighted squats, start warming up with some non-weighted squats. This increases blood flow to those muscles, reduces stress on the heart, improves reflex times, and reduces your overall risk for injury. Plus, it mentally prepares you to work hard.

You Don’t Get Enough Rest

Fitness requires balance. You have to work hard to stress your muscles. That in turn stimulates them to become stronger. However, your muscles need time to rest because that’s when your body actually repairs itself.

If you’re constantly working your muscles, they won’t have time to rebuild and become stronger. This can result in disappointment because you’re working hard without seeing results. Or, even worse, you can injure yourself, which will really impede your progress.

Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night, and allow each muscle group to rest for 48 hours before you target it again in your workouts.

You’re Not Drinking Enough Water

A majority of the human body is made up of water. To prevent injury and perform at your best, it’s crucial to stay hydrated. The general recommendation for water intake is 8-12 cups per day, which is about 2-3 liters. Are you drinking that much water per day?

A simple way to assess your hydration status is the color of your urine. It should be clear or light yellow. If it’s darker yellow, or you have trouble urinating you’re likely dehydrated.

To keep yourself hydrated, start off your day by filling a 1 liter bottle with water. Try to drink all of it by noon, then refill it, and attempt to drink the rest of it by the end of your work day.

If you’re drinking coffee, or tea - remember that caffeine is a diuretic. So, make sure you’re also drinking water to stay hydrated.

You’re Not Feeding Your Body for Fitness

Working hard is just a part of the fitness puzzle. Showing up and working hard is just the first step. But you also have to take care of yourself. That means allowing for rest, drinking water, and fueling your body for fitness. That means eating high quality foods, with a balance of nutrients, carbs, protein and fat.

If you ignore the carbs, you might suffer from low energy in your workouts. If you’re not getting enough protein you’ll deprive your body of the necessary supplies to repair muscle. To get the best results, avoid processed, and fast foods, and make sure you’re eating balanced meals that consist of fruits, vegetables, and varied protein sources (nuts, meat, seafood).

You’re Not Training Correctly

This is one of the greatest challenges where it pays to have an expert on your side, to help create a training routine that keeps you safe, and moving toward your fitness goals. Creating a balanced training routine can be challenging, and there are two common mistakes people make in their training routine.

Training Too Hard - No pain, no gain, right? That’s not necessarily true. Working out, and seeing results does require us to challenge ourselves. However, you shouldn’t be pushing yourself to the point of pain. If you are, you’re probably placing undue stress on your body that can result in injury. Or, you’re going to burn out.

Not Training Hard Enough - On the flip side of overtraining, you might not be pushing yourself hard enough. Sometimes this is because you just need to increase some confidence in your exercises, and physical ability.

How do you differentiate between overtraining and not training hard enough? Ideally you want to be just in the middle, but it’s especially hard to identify that sweet spot if you don’t have much experience. This is where it’s handy to have a second trained pair of eyes.

A good personal trainer will work with you to reach your goals while incorporating cross training to improve total body fitness, and reduce your risk of injury. They’ll also help you to find that line between working too hard, and not working hard enough.

You’re probably motivated to get fit. But there’s a lot that goes into creating a training plan that’s safe and effective. The best way to ensure that good will, and motivation gets converted to results is to work with a personal trainer.

Get Results with Demco Fitness Center

Demco Fitness is among the best gyms in Seattle. We offer personal training to help you meet your goals with strategic training sessions to get results while preventing injury. Our fitness center is located in downtown Seattle in the Belltown neighborhood, and we offer semi-private sessions and fitness classes.

If you need a dedicated personal trainer in Seattle, stop by or give us a call.