'After 5 Years of Strength Training, Here are 4 Things I Wish I Knew at the Start for Quicker Results'

Reported by Women's Health Magazine.

Five years of strength training can teach you a lot — mostly by first teaching you everything you're doing wrong. Fitness enthusiast Sarah Mackay learned that the hard way, and according to Women's Health Magazine, she's now breaking down the four things she wishes someone had told her before she ever touched a barbell. "I genuinely think I would have made twice the improvements if someone had just told me this on day one," she said.

The first lesson? Urgency is the enemy of results. Mackay's early instinct was to do more of everything — slash calories, stack exercises, push harder. It worked, briefly, then collapsed. The reframe that actually stuck: fitness isn't a deadline, it's a lifelong practice. Sustainable habits will always outlast any crash-and-burn sprint you're doing to look good for a weekend.

The Technical Stuff Nobody Explains

Progressive overload gets thrown around constantly, but Mackay initially understood it as one thing only — add weight, every session, no exceptions. When her body hadn't adapted yet, that approach stalled her. The smarter play she landed on: rep range progressions. Start a weight you can move for six reps, one shy of failure. Week over week, push that rep count higher before jumping to a heavier load. You're working with your body's adaptation curve instead of forcing arbitrary jumps on a schedule your muscles never agreed to.

Nutrition needed a similar rethink. Mackay had been eating entirely around macros — protein shakes, "clean" snack foods — without questioning food quality at all. When she shifted toward single-ingredient whole foods, cuts of meat, vegetables, healthy fats, the results were hard to ignore: better energy, reduced bloating, stabilized blood sugar, and measurable gym progress. She's not demonizing protein bars or the occasional treat, just refusing to let them anchor her entire diet simply because the numbers work out on paper.

The fourth lesson is the one most people actively resist: sleep is training. Mackay was running on four to six hours and wondering why everything felt harder. Gradually building up to seven to nine hours changed her energy, her recovery, and — less obviously — her appetite. When you're chronically under-slept, your ability to stick to any eating plan deteriorates fast. Sleep isn't the soft, optional part of your fitness routine; it's where the actual work gets done.

The real takeaway here isn't a new protocol — it's that the fundamentals you keep deprioritizing are probably the ones holding you back.

Read the original at Women's Health Magazine.