6 Reasons why your fitness routine sucks - Part 5

6 Reasons why your fitness routine sucks, and how to fix it - Part 5

This is the fifth of six articles listing some common reasons why your fitness routine may not be producing the results you want, and how to fix it.

Reason #5: You don't set goals or measure your progress.

Most, if not all of us, know how important the habits of setting goals and measuring our progress are when it comes to our career and financial plans. How many of you take the same approach with your workouts? I'm not talking about wanting to lose 20 pounds in the next 60 days and then weighing yourself every day to see how you're doing. Yes, that is a goal and you do measure your progress, but it's not enough. You are dealing with an outcome and not the work you must do in order to get the desired result.

So how about setting a goal to do your workouts at least four times a week for at least one hour each time? Big deal. Again, it's a goal but it's not enough for most people.

What if you tracked every workout, comparing the overall work you did in a certain amount of time and then set goals to increase your work and/or reduce the amount of time it takes for you to do it next time? You could also compare your results with your workout partner(s) and gain additional motivation to work harder to improve your results. Now we're talking.

Let's face it, going to the gym and exercising on a regular basis is not an enjoyable activity for most people. You get into a workout routine and after a couple weeks you start to feel better. Maybe you have a bit more energy or you start feeling a little stronger or less winded when you climb a flight of stairs. You can't measure those feelings though, so it's hard to get excited and stay motivated to continue. When you time your workouts and start recording your maximum efforts, you'll be able to see your progress in hard numbers. Numbers don't lie. When you start seeing measurable improvement, you'll find it easier to stick with your routine and keep working harder. Read on and I'll explain why that is.

Here is a timed/measured workout that I give all of my Executive Fitness Starter Program participants on Day 3. They repeat it and compare results on Day 16, approximately one month later.

Five rounds of maximum effort of:

Concept 2 Rower, 1 minute for max calories burned(counted as reps)
Abmat situps, 1 minute for maximum reps
Squats, 1 minute for maximum reps
Rest, 1 minute

Here are some real world results.

Nancy B. 174 reps (07/11/09) up to 266 reps (08/15/09)

Jillian N. 301 reps (07/11/09) up to 351 reps (08/15/09)
Ryan S. 287 reps (07/11/09) up to 362 reps (08/15/09)

Jasmine S. 260 reps (07/11/09) up to 298 reps (08/15/09)

Dana M. 272 reps (08/07/09) up to 385 reps (09/14/09)

Ann W. 200 reps (08/07/09) up to 248 reps (09/14/09)

Joe F. 213 reps (07/13/09) up to 243 reps (08/12/09)

John G. 174 reps (07/13/09) up to 284 reps (08/12/09)

Jim K. 197 reps (07/13/09) up to 272 reps (08/12/09)

Christy G. 300 reps (07/13/09) up to 355 reps (08/12/09)


Numbers don't lie. All of these people saw measurable improvement in their fitness level. Why is this so important? Each one of them knew they felt better after the first month of their new fitness program, but had a hard time quantifying anything. Since the workouts continued to get more demanding as the program progressed, it remained a struggle to finish each session. They were getting better/stronger/faster but did not know by how much because each session demanded a little more from them. Once they got to repeat a workout exactly like they had done a month earlier, they could see their improvement. Numbers don't lie. Now they have a payoff for their efforts and are willing work harder for even better results next time.

We are all about increasing your overall physical work capacity. What does that mean? It means you can do more physical work, whatever that is, in less time. Look at the numbers above and you'll see it, increased work capacity.

Crossfitters believe that if your performance improves during the workouts, your physical performance will also improve outside the gym. If you're performance starts to suffer due to a change in your diet or other habits, it will show up in your numbers at the gym and you can identify the cause and make necessary changes. That is, if you track the numbers.

You can start by taking some benchmark measurements for individual exercises. Record the maximum number of repetitions you can perform for a handful of exercises. Also record how long it takes you to do 100 reps of each of those exercises. It may take you 10-20 minutes to perform 100 reps of certain moves, but that's okay - just get a benchmark to compare to future efforts. Then set a goal to improve several if not all of them and test yourself every so often. If you've got a workot buddy or two, challenge each other and maybe make a small wager or two. This is a very basic approach but it will get you started tracking your progress and help motivate you to keep at it and push a little harder.

Next week - Reason #6: You don't eat properly

You can find Parts 1-4 if you missed them earlier.

6 Reasons why your fitness routine sucks - Part 1

6 Reasons why your fitness routine sucks - Part 2

6 Reasons why your fitness routine sucks - Part 3

6 Reasons why your fitness routine sucks - Part 4


Bill Russell
CrossFit Cleveland - RAW Fitness, LLC
17140 Madison Avenue Lakewood, OH 44107
216-812-7841

To get more information and watch a video to hear what our people think of our training , visit our CrossFit Cleveland website.

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