There are many things that it takes to sustain a training habit (training is exercising done with structure and purpose). And it's not money.
Time. We overestimate how much time we need to invest into strength training. Most people believe they need to train '5 or more days a week'. This is an overestimate. Most people will do just fine with 3-4 hours of training a week. The catch is to fill those hours with useful, productive exercises in the right doses and intensity.
Attention. Are you doing the right things at the gym? Is your strength training actually challenging and intense enough? Are you spending too little time doing resistance training. Paying attention to how you spend your time and where it goes is just as important as choosing to spend time on something.
Focus. You've made all the right choices. Compound movements. Check. Some machine based patterns. Check. Paying attention to every major joint function. Check. Now are you doing those things well? When you train, do you have some sense of awareness that you are executing things well rather than just going through the motions. Do you find that repetitions are feeling 'easier' than the last time you took a stab at it. Is it time to make things a little harder. Attention and time without focus can feel like an unproductive blackhole bereft of progress and returns on time spent.
Time, attention and focus go hand in hand in sustaining a good training habit. I have heard people complain that lifting weights or strength training does not work for me. When in reality, they spent time on exercise. But rarely gave the attention or focus needed to productively train.
Time. We overestimate how much time we need to invest into strength training. Most people believe they need to train '5 or more days a week'. This is an overestimate. Most people will do just fine with 3-4 hours of training a week. The catch is to fill those hours with useful, productive exercises in the right doses and intensity.
Attention. Are you doing the right things at the gym? Is your strength training actually challenging and intense enough? Are you spending too little time doing resistance training. Paying attention to how you spend your time and where it goes is just as important as choosing to spend time on something.
Focus. You've made all the right choices. Compound movements. Check. Some machine based patterns. Check. Paying attention to every major joint function. Check. Now are you doing those things well? When you train, do you have some sense of awareness that you are executing things well rather than just going through the motions. Do you find that repetitions are feeling 'easier' than the last time you took a stab at it. Is it time to make things a little harder. Attention and time without focus can feel like an unproductive blackhole bereft of progress and returns on time spent.
Time, attention and focus go hand in hand in sustaining a good training habit. I have heard people complain that lifting weights or strength training does not work for me. When in reality, they spent time on exercise. But rarely gave the attention or focus needed to productively train.