The training is probably not the problem

Two things decide whether the work shows up

What you do in the gym, and what you eat around it. When nothing has moved in months, one of the two is out, and it’s worth knowing which one before you go looking for a new program.

• Points at the training
  The work itself isn’t consistent enough to answer
  There isn’t really a program, or it changes every few weeks.

  Nothing in the program gets harder from one week to the next.

  You miss more sessions than you make.
• Points at the food
  You’re training consistently and nothing is progressing
  You’re on a real program and you turn up to it week after week.

  Some sessions you can train hard, others you’ve got nothing in the tank.

  You’re sore for days afterwards and never feel properly recovered.

It nearly always comes back to the same thing. When your food isn’t pointed at your training and what you’re chasing, the changes you want stop showing up in your sessions and in your body. Get them pointed the same way and that’s when it moves again, better energy in training and a body heading where you want it.

You can only chase one thing at a time

Most people who feel stuck are asking their body for two opposite things in the same month. Get stronger, and lose body fat.

Both are good goals. They just need different amounts of food, so aiming at one for a block and focusing on something specific usually gets much better results.

• 01
  One goal, eight to twelve weeks Long enough for your body to actually respond, short enough that you stay interested. Everything in that block points at the one thing.
• 02
  Point your food at that one goal Building strength or muscle is fuelled differently to losing fat. Half doing both is what keeps people in the same spot for years.
• 03
  Hold what you built, then move Whatever you just built, the next block has to protect it. Going from a strength block into a fat loss one, that means bringing the food down in a way that keeps the strength you spent twelve weeks earning.
• 04
  Stack the next block on top of it Four of those in a year and each one starts from higher than the last. That beats twelve months of chasing everything at once and finishing where you started.

Protect, then build. Protect, then build. The whole thing works because at any point you can say exactly which one you’re in, and what your food is doing about it.

Start with two numbers

If the food is the part that’s out, this is where it starts. Not a diet. Two numbers, and then a decision about where to point them.

• Know these
  What your body actually uses in a day
  BMRWhat your body burns keeping you alive, before you move at all. You should never be eating below this number.

  TDEEYour BMR plus your training and everything else you do in a day. This is your maintenance number.

  Online calculators get you close enough to start with. Once you have them you stop guessing, and you can see what your body is actually being handed each day.

• Then aim them
  Point that number at the block you’re in
  BUILDSlightly over your TDEE. Strength, muscle, and fuelling hard training.

  HOLDAround your TDEE. Keeping what you’ve built while the training keeps going.

  LEANUnder your TDEE. This is the one for shifting body fat.

  This is the whole thing in one line. If your food isn’t pointed at the goal you’re working toward, the training can be perfect and you still won’t get there.

• Then hold it
  Do it most of the time, for the whole block

  A block only works if it finishes. Being on track the majority of the week and relaxed about the rest will beat a perfect fortnight followed by nothing.

  A weekend away won’t undo eight weeks. Six weeks of being too strict, then quitting, will.