Here’s How Inconsistency is Killing Your Progress in the Gym
“I’m working out, why am I not seeing results?”
One of the most common answers to this question is a lack of consistency. If you aren’t getting into the gym on a regular schedule (three or four days every week), progress will be slow and the lack of results will be frustrating.
Staying committed to your workout routine ensures that your body adapts and grows stronger over time, allowing you to break through plateaus and reach your muscle-building goals. Consistency is key, and staying on track can make a MASSIVE (pun intended) difference in transforming your physique, especially if you're a skinny guy trying to bulk up.
To illustrate, let’s look at how muscle-gains chart following a workout.
On this graph, the blue dot represents a workout. In the time directly after a workout we have muscle breakdown which leads to decreased performance. Then our muscles build themselves back up and, assuming our nutrition and rest are decent, they surpass their starting point and build bigger and stronger (green dot). The gains then slowly drop back down to the baseline (red dot).
If our next workout comes at the green dot then this process begins again from that higher baseline, and that’s how we see growth over time.
If too much time passes between workouts then any strength and size gains have vanished and the same process will repeat without any lasting results.
Stacking successful workout days and weeks is how we see real results. Stacking those into successful months and years is how we make those results last.
It’s cliche, but the most important thing really is showing up.
Now sometimes a full workout seems too daunting or is just flat out impossible (I get it). On these days the best move is to simplify and do half a workout. Obviously full workouts are ideal and you won’t really be making progress if you shorten it, but here’s the thing: half workouts are still good.
First, the muscle activity will limit the losses you would otherwise see. Let’s say Monday is your bench press day. You’ve been working hard for a few weeks and your bench has gone from 135 to 155. Then one Monday you have a long day at work and you don’t want to work out, so you skip it.
Next time you go in to bench, you can only put up 145. Some of that work you put in has been wasted. If you’d done half a workout instead of skipping it entirely you could still be at 155 and ready to continue making progress.
In addition to the maintenance, a half workout will also release a hit of feel-good endorphins into the bloodstream, plus you’ll get the self-confidence boost that comes with doing something you don’t want to do but know you should.
It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing mentality. Full workouts are ideal, but if every missed workout becomes an abbreviated workout you’ll be much better off physically, mentally, and emotionally in both the short and long term.
There have been plenty of times I’ve gone to the gym, done my warmup, and done my major lift for that day before leaving. It’s not perfect, but I’ve never once regretted going. And the next time I hit that lift I’m in the same place I was rather than playing catch-up and feeling bad about myself.
So next time you feel like skipping a workout, think about the progress you’ll lose, then get your workout shit on and get your ass to the gym.
Consistency. Is. Key.
Jeremy Hill, CSCS
