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Four reasons you aren't seeing results

When asked, in an online survey by the International Food Informational Council Foundation, women indicated they would rather lose $1,000 than gain 20 pounds.

When asked, in an online survey by the International Food Informational Council Foundation, women indicated they would rather lose $1,000 than gain 20 pounds.

In another questionnaire, 46 per cent of both men and women surveyed said they would be willing to give up a year of their life to avoid being obese. Fifteen per cent were willing to give up 10 years.

These are fairly extreme sacrifices to make and to make all in the name of flatter abs and thinner thighs.

So, it baffles my grey matter when I see people in the gym making fatal mistakes in their training program that will cost them results, ones I now know they're willing to lose $1,000 over, or worse, a year or 10 years of their life.

Too many reps I don't know about you, but I hate these plank a day challenges on Twitter, or the 300 push-ups a day, or the 500 sit-up challenge.

While I am sure that most people start these challenges with good intentions (to help them stay accountable to a daily fitness program), what they are doing, instead, is setting themselves up for injury.

And injury, in return, will stop that daily fitness program they are so keen to keep doing.

Nobody, and I repeat nobody, can do 300 pushups with good form. Nobody will also see improvements to their core by doing a five-minute plank, and hopefully you all know what I think about sit-ups (if you don't then here's the Coles Notes versions: they suck.).

To see results you need to stress the muscles with an external force, using a load just a little past what your body can handle. That means heavier loads need to be performed (not body weight), and for a rep count that is just enough the body says, "OK, I'm done."

You drive to the gym to walk on the treadmill Here's another grey matter baffler. While, yes, I do understand that some people need to drive to their local gym because of distance, or they are hitting it in between errands, or on their way to or from work.

Subtract these people from the equation and you still have a wait list for the treadmill.

In my workout, and those of my clients, a treadmill is only there as a warm-up tool, or to do an interval workout on. Other than that, results are seen in the weight room.

While you may, personally, have seen results in the past with long bouts of cardio (especially beginners), you will see them faster and push through your plateaus by lifting weights.

Wrong order of exercises There should be a plan with your workout program. Don't start your program with the first machine you see in the gym and then just follow the line of equipment from there.

Work large muscles first (such as your quads, hamstrings, glutes, pecs and lats) and then your smaller muscles (hip stabilizers, triceps, biceps, core and shoulders).

Your diet sucks You cannot out train a bad diet. Period.

You can try, but trust me when I tell you that you will never run as fast as a bag of Doritos can, or lift as hard as a Panago pizza can.

If you really want to see results in the gym, and in turn on your body and intrinsically with more energy and added years to your life, you must put quality food in your mouth.

Want to workout with me? Join my Jan small group-training program. There are 11 classes a week and the early bird rates are now available on www.fitnesswithpj.com.