The 5 Stages of a Typical Fitness Journey

and how to bypass years of frustions

Written by Kyle Ligon - MovementLink.FIT Head Coach

As I’ve coached thousands of people over the years, I’ve noticed most people, when left to their own devices, travel through 5 distinct, but unnecessary, stages as they progress along their fitness journey. Traveling through each stage in the typical way not only wastes time, but each stage is littered with myths and misconceptions causing slow results and tons of frustrations. By laying out this all too common journey, I hope to fast-track your progress by helping you avoid the pitfalls I personally ran straight into.

Most of these stages are described within the context of someone with the goals of improved body composition as, from my experience, that seems to be people’s primary initial driver…that is until they reach the final stage, but more on that later...

Starting each of these new stages is exciting because people feel they have taped into a new plan with tons of potential - a plan that will finally get them the results they’ve been after. But, as people spend more and more time within a stage, inevitably without getting the results they are after and without progressing into the next stage, the chances of them quitting increase dramatically. It is imperative that people move through these stages quickly or, even better, avoid this common journey altogether.

Stage 1 - “My new exercise program will get me the results I’m after.”

This is an exciting stage and such an important juncture in people’s lives. Although exercise may be the single greatest thing we can do for our lives and simply starting an exercise program will create more benefits than could be listed here, most people overestimate exercise’s ability to create the body composition results they are after. That is the overarching theme of this journey. Exercise is vital, but far from the full picture.

People at stage 1 enjoy what we call “beginner gains.” When an exercise stimuli is novel, the progress we can make in the beginning is huge. This reinforces people’s original misconception of the results they are going to be able to get through exercise alone. Inevitably, as time goes on, we adapt to the stimuli and the results we get from each workout diminishes, eventually plateauing our results. There are more advanced ways to continue making progress, but that comes from stage 5 tactics (please don’t skip ahead, hang in there through the stage explanations to get maximal benefit from this article), and people at stage 1 are usually long way from embracing a stage 5 mindset.

The most amazing and positive thing that happens for people in stage 1 is they start to build an exercise habit into their lives and start to see that habit produce progress. Eventually though, results slow down to a crawl or a plateau at stage 1, which either pushes them into stage 2 or pushes them to give up and quit.

Stage 2 - “If I just add more workouts in each week, it will get me the results I’m after.”

Starting in stage 1, people are typically exercising 2-3 days per week and to break through the stage 1 plateau, people typically up their workouts to 3-6 days per week. The good news from Stage 2 is that, in my opinion, 3-5 days of formal exercise in the gym and 2-4 days of being active outside of the gym is ideal, and so most people in stage 2 are creating a habit that is doing this or are very close to this.

Yet, after an initial boost from adding more workouts, people in stage 2 can continue making performance gains for a while, but their body composition progress stalls out pretty quickly. Although they may performance improve, because their real goals include body composition which they have not yet achieved, they push on to Stage 3 thinking.

Stage 3 - “I need to target my [Core Strength/Cardio/Strength]”

As I coach I have learned to identify the hidden frustrations and goals underneath each of these.

“I need more core strength” really means they want to lose belly fat and possibly want a 6 pack.
“I need more cardio” means they want to lose body fat and they think cardio is the best way to do this (this is a semi-myth as building muscle is incredibly important for fat loss).
“I need more strength” usually means they want to look stronger and most likely want to build muscle mass.

The problem with indirectly targeting the goals through core, cardio, and strength is that targeting those areas is not what’s holding people back from their goals. It’s important to be honest with yourself and your coach, so we can help get you on the right track as fast as possible. Here are some things to understand:

We cannot target body fat from a specific area. Body fat is gained or reduced across the whole body together.
Adding cardio to a program is possible in certain, very specific circumstances, but you’d want to work with your coach because if it’s not incorporated correctly into the workout plan, it may be a detriment to their progress. The program they are following is already designed to lose body fat, so adding more is likely just going to reduce recovery and slow progress.
Strength is extremely fatiguing and it is different than muscle building. So, first of all, we want to be sure we are actually training in the right way for our real goals and, second, we want to be sure everything is accounted for in the program. More is not better as there’s ideal sets, reps, and intensities that will maximize progress.

Unfortunately, Stage 3 is where the wheels slowly start to come off for most people. Most people at stage 3 have not yet learned about SRA Curves and are under the false impression that more is better. The flaw here is that stage 3 thinking still involves thinking that workouts create results, but the reality is that workouts create a stimulus, from which your body recovers and adapts from, creating your results. A class full of people all putting equal amounts of work and effort into the same workout will ultimately get a wide variety of results. This is because the workout stimuli is only part of the equation. Those who are better at boosting recovery will compound their results, workout after workout after workout and those in stage 3 are likely working the hardest in the class, but are still not getting the results they are after.

When additional work gets put in without adequate recovery, fatigue starts to accumulate in an unsustainable way. This leads to nagging pains, lack of motivation, and lack of results. All of this pushes people deeper into a hole as they start thinking something is wrong with them, pushing them into Stage 4.

Stage 4 - “If I just target my [Blank] weakness, I’ll be able to do the exercises in the way that gets results.”

Someone at Stage 4 is deep in a hole and unfortunately do not yet realize it. Here, people have typically been working out for years without getting the full results they are after making Stage 4 a very frustrating place to be. People here feel like maybe there is just something wrong with them causing them to be on the verge of giving up on their original goals as they think it’s just not in the cards for them. But, they still have a glimmer of hope. They think that if they can just “strengthen their hamstrings” or “activate their glutes in their squat” (very common things we hear), then they would be able to squat better, lift more weight, and therefore unlock those results they have been striving for. Unfortunately, because they have still not gotten the results they are after here, even though developing weaknesses is always a benefit, it will never be the thing that unlocks what they are after.

At stage 4 people tend to be very frustrated. Some will give up on their original goals and start looking to justify their lack of results, so they can live with it. They feel like they have tried everything and that it’s just not in the cards for them because there’s something inherent to them holding them back.

Stage 4 is a high risk stage. Not only is the amount of exercise each week probably above what is sustainable, but hard work with a lack of results is a recipe for an exercise habit get derailed by a life incident.

The hope is that someone here somehow has the epiphany…

The Epiphany - “I actually have not tried everything.”

This epiphany typically comes when someone realizes that they have put 100% of their focus on exercise and have been unwilling to experiment with any lifestyle changes outside of the gym. This creates the Moment of Choice: Live deep in the hole that is Stage 4 and give up on your goals or move on to Stage 5 and get everything you want.

Stage 5 - “I am going to work on building healthy habits consistently into my lifestyle.”

Something magical happens when people reach Stage 5. Their results will directly correlate with Stage 5 strategies and efforts…and results will be enormous! As healthy habits become more commonplace in their life, people learn that sustaining healthy habits is actually not as hard or lame as they originally thought. Because body composition starts to change in a meaningful way, and fast, it’s so much easier for peoples thinking and perspective to evolve beyond body composition and into overall health and wellness as well. The MovementLink approach of balancing performance, body composition, joint and tissue health, and overall health and wellness can lay a foundation for making extreme progress in all of these areas simultaneously. All of these things not only spill over into getting people the results they were originally after, but into many unexpected aspects of people’s lives too.

Stage 5 frustrations are inversely related to the person’s willingness to experiment with lifestyle changes. As experimenting with healthy habits increases, frustrations decrease…because healthy habits work and compound with exercise in profound ways.

How to Avoid the Years of Frustration - Just Start with Stage 5

Through all stages 1 through 4, the risks of quitting are high. The risks of quitting when someone is at stage 5 is extremely low.

Almost everyone who has succeeded long term and is happy with their results will be Stage 5. So, if the only way to succeed is to embrace Stage 5, what would the journey look like if someone just started there? Let’s take a quick look at that journey…

Starting with Stage 5 - “I am going to work on building healthy habits consistently into my lifestyle.”

Imagine someone starts experimenting with healthy habits involving sleep, non-exercise activity, nutrition, and exercise. Their exercise journey would just be part of the larger health journey.

Exercise Stage 1 - Starting an Exercise Routine

Beginner gains would be boosted even further and faster, supercharged by the other lifestyle factors. Results would be huge. They may even be enough at this stage to meet the person’s original goals.

Exercise Stage 2 - Exercising 3-6 Days a Week

Ultimately, this would be a great place to land. With boosted recovery, the final results from this would almost certainly be what people are looking for…and fast. This exercise stage is enough for anyone, unless you are trying to compete at the highest levels of a sport.

Exercise Stages 3 & 4 - Work on Weaknesses

These are not be necessary to get the original body composition goals people will have. Any targeting of specific areas or weaknesses does not need extra time and can be taken care of as part of normal workouts in stage 2.

Imagine yourself 10 years from now having gotten the results you want. I promise you, if that person is turns out to be real, then they have embraced Stage 5. It is required for success. A few months to a year of constant wins, seeing dramatic progress, and getting the results you’re after compared to years and years of frustration trying to do everything by exercise alone seems like a no brainer choice to me. I hope this helps fast-track your journey. I’m rooting for you!