7 Reasons Why You’re Not Seeing Results

In my experience as an STCfit coach, I have witnessed hundreds of women go from frustrated and struggling, to consistent excellence. It is no surprise that there is an overwhelming theme appearing amongst women striving for physique success.

Unfortunately many women are influenced by the impact of easily accessible information on social media and marketing, when it comes to finding out exactly how to get results.

As we should all be aware, the internet is not the most reliable place for information — in particular when the information required must be individual and personal to yourself and your goals.

The funnel of inadequate information results in lack of clarity and therefore thinking problems, which inevitably end in action problems.

Thinking problems refers to the way you are conditioned to think about a certain concept.
Action problems refers to the actions that proceed the thought.

‘The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result’

Below I will outline the 7 reasons women fail to see physique results, as a result of their thoughts and actions.

Thinking
1. I don’t need to have a plan, I can just move more
Action
1. No structured training program suitable for individual requirements

Far too many women underestimate the importance of structured, consistent and goal specific training. Going into the gym to simply burn energy/calories is an ineffective approach to achieving physique progress. The lack of structure and specificity results in poor quality training sessions, and an inability to progress and make improvements to performance and physique.
A well constructed training program should be a non — negotiable for anyone serious about getting results.

Thinking
2. I just need to eat healthy/clean
Action
2. No consideration for individual macro and calorie requirements.

The concept of ‘clean eating’ sounds effective in theory, however in application is far from optimal. Often there is little to no consideration for protein intake, with the emphasis put on choosing the least calorie dense foods, at all times possible. This is misguided as many ‘clean’ foods are in fact highly calorie dense resulting in an accidental over consumption of energy.
This thought process also comes with a lack of individual consideration to calorie intake and protein requirements. Failure to look at these factors will have you with a smaller physique, not necessarily a better physique.

Thinking
3. I need to be perfect to get results, otherwise there is no point
Action
3. Inconsistency and on/off track

Something I like to refer to as the ‘fuck it’ approach, majorly influences the quality and rate of results. This generally shows up as a week of consistent behaviour over run by an impulse decision to self sabotage when something doesn’t go to plan.
When we view our progress as on/off track we move away from cultivating sustainable lifestyle habits and respond to bumps in the road with irrational and erratic decisions.
Instead, adhering to a foundation of habits and behaviours consistently over time, with dials to turn up and down depending on the circumstances proves to be a much more effective approach.

Thinking
4. I just need to eat less
Action
4. Restrictive and rigid dieting approaches

Slashing calories sounds like the way to approach physique goals, however with little consideration to the structure of a fat loss phase things can often spiral, and spiral fast.
Restrictive diets include cutting out food groups, drastically slashing calories and aiming to endlessly diet all year round are impossible to adhere to long term and result in many physical and psychological issues such as binge eating and poor lifestyle quality.
At all times, the goal should be to diet off the highest amount of food possible. This is why an understanding of individual calorie requirements is imperative to undergoing a successful fat loss phase that can be consistently adhered to.

Thinking
5. I know how to train even though I’ve never had technical help
Action
5. No consideration for effort or intensity, training with poor form

Training effort and quality is often overlooked, with the thought process being ‘doing something is better than nothing, or alternatively ‘more is better.’
Poor movement and unmanaged training intensity will directly influence the quality of results. Without a measure of how hard we’re training and how proficient we are from a technical standpoint, it is near impossible to progress in strength, manage intensity, fatigue and train at a high quality standard. Poor quality movement will lead to injury and unmanaged workout effort will leave results on the table.

Thinking
6. That progress only happens in a deficit and there aren’t other options
Action
6. No time spent at maintenance cals or in a surplus building muscle

The endless cycle of trying to diet all year round is a big trap many women fall into. In order to build a physique and facilitate the process of muscle growth, we must be at maintenance or ideally, a calorie surplus. Neglecting time spent in a surplus due to fear of gaining weight and being uncomfortable is up there with the biggest issues in physique outcomes and results in little to no progress made in a larger time frame. Short term vision means we are constantly chasing the next eight week result, and failing to make improvements to our physique long term.

Thinking
7. I will just do what X friend/influencer/parter did and got results
Action
7. Generic program hopping with program apps and diets

If you want generic results, use generic approaches. The belief that generic approaches can produce exceptional results is truly misguided. The individual nature of achieving great results gets neglected, and women are persuaded by apps and programs suited for every person under the sun when in reality, we each require individual nutrition, programming and lifestyle management for successful outcomes. Adopting a one size fits all approach is a one way ticket to subpar results and that recurring question, ‘why aren’t I seeing any progress?’

After consulting with numerous women over the last few years, it is increasingly evident that these problems are universal, and must be shifted in order to see results.

At STCfit, we follow a 5 pillar method to breaking through these common mistakes and achieving outstanding physique results via:

1) Individual Training
2) Movement Analysis
3) Individual Nutrition Prescription
4) Lifestyle Management
5) Mindset Shifts

We have seen outstanding success through implementing these 5 pillars into the STCfit coaching method and have overhauled women’s physique results from good, to great.

For more information on optimising physique results, check out episode 119 of the STCfit Learning Podcast ‘Your Fat Loss Cheat Sheet.’

Also check out some extra lifestyle tips we shared, featured here.