No visible results - yet they keep going...

[coolcolj]

My Rant of the month

I've been at my current gym for 1.5 months now.

And every week I go in I see the same faces doing weights, aerobics or on the cardio machines, and nobody looks any different from when I joined up!
How do these people keep motivated doing the same old shit over and over again with no results?!

I'm personally getting leaner and bigger everyweek, poundages going up slowly. Its definitely noticeable when your waist goes down half an inch at least a week and your weight stays the same.

Sometimes I go in and finish my workout in 1.5 hours at the most, including warmup and post stretching, and the people that were there before me are still there when I leave!

Sure are a lot of zombie trainers out there...
I'm sure many of you can relate to this


Rant off

 

[FitFossil]

I've been seeing the same people look the same at my gym for the past 6 years. I've never understood how they could show up like clockwork day in and day out and be satisfied with no results. I mean they've got the hard part mastered (just getting to the gym).

If I wasn't getting results, I'd quit (which I did A LOT until 2 years ago ). Finally I got my act together and started seeing results. THAT's what keeps me coming back though.

I know everyone doesn't have the same goals, but a lot of these people don't even LOOK like they workout even a little bit, yet they seem to be at the gym more than anyone else. Maybe they overtrain and/or overeat...but how on earth do they stay motivated?

 

[holto]

yep 1.5 years at my current gym about 15% of the trainees look exactly the same

for the young ones it's ignorance and for those 30 something

I think they are just happy with feeling healthy

 

[kingslender]

Christ guys take it easy on your fellow atheletes.
If you are born with the genes that allow you to put on size and strength easily, good for you. Not everyone has it so easy.
I'm sure Id be one of the ones you're talking about - its taken me over seven months to raise my max bench press by twenty pounds. I still go to the gym five times a week, and try to eat right and take care of my body.
What would you have them do, just give up and say "fuck it, Im not getting real big, real fast, the hell with it" and then either quit or start juicing? everyone has to be judged by their own standard.

 

[coolcolj]

Maybe your just not eating and training right?

I'm no genetic freak, I just know how to train and eat right for my own body. For one thing your train far more than me. I've been training 3 days a week, but I think I will cut back to 2 days since I overtrained this week. Confirmed with a cold, dry lips, a woeful snatch performance and a drop of 3 inches on my vertical leap...

Fast twitch fibres don't get recruited very well when your overtrained.

 

[bignate73]

i hear the excuses daily. the ones who listen to me....change. pure and simple. ive taken old longtime members that are burned out or tired of no results and given them what they want. i dont like the "victim" attitude that people take, as to not getting results and voice that to people regularly. there is always something that is missing if there is no progress and im not talking about the results either. a factor or 2 off that needs to be changed and then progress starts back up again.

you'd be surprised how many people just dont want to put for the effort other than the physical output towards change. some people work out just so they can eat like they want, even though they arent anywhere near where they would like themselves to be. its self motivation, they lack either the willpower or the knowledge necessary. sometimes its cool to take a few minutes and just throw a tidbit of info to them (takes no time, but can bring some light to their situation).

it sucks to see people work hard and not change, but its a reality at a gym. either for lack of time, finances or motivation to seek out why they dont change, they doom themselves to going through the motions. but at the least the regular exercise does them some good.

 

[makedah]

Yes, there are lots of people who do ineffective workouts because they believe bad advice or because they don't want to put in that extra effort. There are also people who work out hard but don't alter their diets much (either because they don't want to or find it too difficult), so they might 'look' the same to people, even though they're getting stronger and more fit. These things can be easy to tell if you know the person, but...

I don't know how much casual observers can tell about whether or not other folks at the gym are 'progressing' - particularly in only 1.5 months!!! What kinds of clothes do these folks wear (loose or revealing)? Do you know how much they weigh or what their BF% is and if that has changed over time? Can you really tell how much weight they're using? Do you count their reps? Do you know how high the incline is or how fast the speed is on their treadmill? Do you know what their goals are? Maybe they're not looking to radically change the way their bodies look, but to maintain a certain level of health and strength. Do you think that these other people can tell that YOUR body has changed? Is it possible that you look the same to them, week in, week out?

Frankly, I've never paid THAT much attention to other people at the gym, so I couldn't tell you any of the above. But hey, maybe you all train at very small, intimate gyms where people wear revealing clothes and talk a lot about their goals and whether or not they're meeting them!

 

[IamTHEman]

who do you think keeps the gym industry in business? exactly.

 

[Doktor Bollix]

The thing about gyms is that they are filled with experts. Everyone knows everything already. I've had a fat old guy who was doing curls at a tempo of 3 per second with 10 pound weights (why do old people do that?) tell me I would wreck my knees. I've had a "personal trainer" come up and tell me my form was wrong because I bent my legs doing deadlifts instead of keeping them stiff; never heard of a non stiff legged deadlift.

For the majority of people, if they knew that they know nothing, they would know something, but they don't even know that, and until they do, they'll never learn. I'm not saying I know anything either, I'm always learning and that's why I've made progress.

 

[bignate73]

if they knew that they know nothing, they would know something, but they don't even know that,

i had to read that 3x.