New year, new goals. The first couple weeks are always the easiest because it is something new and exciting, but then there comes a time were we start to get exhausted and begin to burnout. The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) describes this as the Exhaustion Stage (NASM 2018). Whether it is because someone is working their muscles too much or they are stuck in the same routine for too long, they begin to feel as if they are going through the motions. Some ways to push through the burnout stage is to change up your workout routine, to give your muscles more rest time between workouts, or a lack of clear definitive goals.
Typically when a new gym goer starts their fitness journey it will be the same 1-2 workout routines every week. Day 1 they will do upper body and Day 2 they will do legs. These workouts will be the same thing over and over again until it becomes repetitive. A few weeks go by and their body has adapted to the workout and they do not feel as if they are getting enough from their workout and it will seem as if they are "going through the motions." One way to fix this is to try different workouts or change the way you workout. For example, instead of doing a barbell bench press try doing dumbbell bench press, or instead of doing a dumbbell goblet squat do a kettlebell goblet squat. Little variations in your workout will be rejuvenating. Exercises that are different, but for the same muscles can help push you through the burnout stage.
Another reason why people get burnt out is because of the lack of rest time that they give their body. A majority of people when they make their resolutions want to lose as much weight as they possibly can. They will go to the gym 5-7 times a week and never give their body any time to recover. When a muscle is used passed is normal functioning there are microscopic tears in the muscle that appear (McGraw Hill 2018). Think of the last time you did a lot of moving around, maybe it was yard work, a lot of walking, or helping someone move. How did you feel the next day? I'm guessing it was hard to get out of bed. This is because of the micro tears and the body is actually trying to heal itself. After a couple of days the pain subsided and if you were going to do that activity again the task would become easier. Doing this work once a week would give your body more than enough time to recover before the next time. Now try doing that hard work everyday. Yes, your body would adapt and it would be easier after a couple weeks of doing it, but now the body is so broken down it becomes a drag to do the activity. This is the same when first starting to get into physical shape. Slowly building up to being able to workout 5-7 times a week by starting out only working out maybe 2-3 times a week for the first couple weeks to not only have ample rest time, but to also build some tolerance for your muscles.
The last reason why people stop their resolutions is because they do not have a specific goal in mind that they are trying to achieve. Their resolution may be, "I want to be healthier" or "I want to lose weight". Now these are very vague goals, but a good starting point for one's goals. For example, if you start out on wanting to be healthier, be specific on what you want to be healthier with. A healthier diet might be what your looking for, so now how do you achieve this? Go into what foods you want to eliminate from your diet as well as what foods you should replace them with. Same goes for the person that wants to lose weight. How much weight do you want to lose? How long are you going to give yourself to lose that weight. Now don't be a person that says they're going to lose 50 lbs in 3 weeks. 50 lbs in 6 months is more realistic. This gives you an average amount of pounds that you have to lose per week/month. When that is broken down it comes out to just over 2 lbs per week which is attainable and realistic. In the end, be realistic and specific with your goals to see an end in sight avoid potential burnout.
The burnout stage can be avoided, but eventually most people will go through some type of burnout. Like if you are working at the same job everyday, doing the same thing everyday, eventually you will not feel the same enjoyment about the job as when you first started. In the end, add variety to your lifts, plan ahead for time to complete the workout, and be specific about your goals.
References:
Clark, M., Sutton, B. G., & Lucett, S. (2018). <em>NASM essentials of personal fitness training</em>. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Saladin, K. S., & Gan, C. A. (2018). <em>Human anatomy</em>. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
