Key takeaways
- If you already train four or five days a week and try to eat well, effort usually isn’t your problem.
- Common reactions (eat less, add cardio, change program, do more) often pile effort onto the wrong strategy.
- “More effort piled onto the wrong strategy is still the wrong strategy.”
- Look at the whole picture, find what’s limiting progress, and adjust from data, not emotion.
Norvic opens this reel by saying you don’t need him to tell you to work harder. You already train four or five days a week. You try to eat well. You know protein matters. You’ve tracked before. So why doesn’t your physique reflect the effort?
The reaction cycle
| When this happens | The usual reaction | A better first question |
|---|---|---|
| The scale stops | Eat less | Is it a real stall, or normal fluctuation? |
| Progress slows | Add cardio | Is my training still progressing? |
| Training feels stale | Change the program | Have I given this program a fair test? |
| Nothing happens fast | Do more of everything | Which one thing is actually limiting me? |
Each reaction adds more work. None of them start by asking what’s actually wrong. Norvic’s line: “More effort piled onto the wrong strategy is still the wrong strategy.”
Seven questions that matter more than effort
- Is my training actually progressing?
- Am I giving my target muscles enough stimulus?
- Does my nutrition support my goal?
- Are my calories appropriate for this phase right now?
- Is my activity helping, or just adding fatigue?
- Am I recovering enough?
- Which one of these actually needs to change?
More isn’t always more
Even the simplest healthy habit shows diminishing returns. In a large analysis of daily steps, health benefits rose with more steps, then levelled off. Training works the same way: research links more weekly sets with more muscle growth on average, but only within what you can recover from.
Benefits rise, then level off
Daily steps where lower risk of death plateaued, by age group
Source: Steps for Health Collaborative, Lancet Public Health, 2022 (47,471 adults). Beyond these levels, extra steps added little further reduction in risk.
Are you adding effort where it’s already maxed out? If you’re training five days and walking plenty, the answer probably isn’t a sixth day or more cardio. It’s finding the piece that’s limiting you.
What good coaching looks like
Norvic describes his approach as looking at the whole picture, finding what limits progress, and adjusting from data rather than emotion. It’s the same process we laid out in find your bottleneck and harder vs progressive training.
When this reel was posted, Norvic shared that he was accepting new online coaching clients. You can apply for coaching here, or message him “COACHING” on Instagram.
This article is general education, not medical advice. Check with your doctor before big changes to diet or exercise, especially if you have a medical condition, take medication, or are pregnant or postpartum. If you train hard and feel run down most of the time, a doctor can help rule out issues like low iron.
Frequently asked questions
Why am I working out a lot but not seeing results?
Often the issue is strategy, not effort: training that doesn’t progress, nutrition that doesn’t match the goal, or poor recovery.
Is training five days a week too much?
Not necessarily. It depends on how hard each session is and how well you recover. Quality and progression matter more than the number of days.
Should I add cardio to see results faster?
Only if your data suggests activity is the limiting factor. Extra cardio can add fatigue that hurts your lifting.
How do I find what’s limiting my progress?
Review training, nutrition, activity and recovery one at a time, using your logs and measurements rather than feelings.
Is online coaching worth it?
It can help if you want an outside view of your data and a plan built around your goals and schedule.
What does “adjust from data, not emotion” mean?
Making changes based on trends in your measurements and performance, not on one frustrating day or weigh-in.
Sources
- Norvic Chanco. Instagram reel, September 21, 2026. instagram.com/p/DdkLwOfBLg9
- Steps for Health Collaborative (Paluch AE, et al.). Daily steps and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts. Lancet Public Health. 2022;7(3):e219–e228. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00302-9
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass. J Sports Sci. 2017. doi:10.1080/02640414.2016.1210197
- Featured image: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.
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Written by
Norvic Chanco
Professional Fitness Coach
With 20+ years of coaching behind him, Norvic coaches strength training, movement mechanics and personalised programming. He helps athletes and everyday lifters build strength that carries over to real life, online and in person.
- Strength
- Biomechanics
- Programming
