The Personalized Physique

Main Menu

How to Break Past a Weight Loss Plateau

Break Past Your Fitness Plateau

The first thing that you need to do is pat yourself on the back… you have officially increased your fitness level from when you started your program, this should be a proud moment! Plateaus happen when an individual’s fitness level no longer continues to increase. These changes in fitness not only deal with cardiovascular fitness levels, but also muscle growth, visually seeing changes in shape, or no change in body mass index readings and body composition percentages. There are several ways to know when your body is heading towards a plateau. Some of them include: decreased breathing levels, heart rate, not being able to ‘feel the burn’, the scale stops moving down, and performing the same exercises for longer than 4 weeks. Plateaus happen to all of us….endurance athlete or recreational exerciser that is why it is important to always continue to challenge the body in new and different ways. Our trainers make sure to eliminate weight loss plateaus, see how with your own in home personal trainer...
Remember the principle, that to have well rounded fitness you must use cardiovascular training, resistance training and have healthy eating habits. Considering that last month we touched upon nutrition, this month the discussion will focus on challenging your fitness routine in order to prevent plateaus. Let’s face it, its disappointing when you have been sweating and showing up diligently and still not seeing what you want! Four key factors will determine if you stay the same or keep working towards your goal, they are: type of exercise, intensity, duration, and frequency.
Let us assume that an individual’s nutrition is sound and balanced. Let us start with people who are cardio hounds. I myself LOVE cardio, I actually can not say enough positive words about it BUT it only gets you so far. You should be trying to workout smarter not necessarily longer. If you do 60 minutes of cardio five days a week for the next two months eventually you will become stagnant. There are several things that you can do to optimize your results. The first change being that every 4-6 weeks you change your routine. If you only do cardio, try 2 days of light to moderate lifting for 30-45 minutes. If you train the way you have always trained you will attain the same results. Some other suggestions would be to try a new piece of equipment if you bike, use the elliptical or the arc trainer, mixing it up trains the muscles to never know what to expect and conditions them all around. If you walk or run and you just can not bust out of the rut, try fartleks, a type of interval training that many runners use. The way it works is to have measured marks, but for our purpose telephone poles work great. Every other telephone pole try a light jog and then a sprint or walk and then a light jog. This takes into consideration the principle of intensity. If you go at the same pace your heart rate will stay and eventually you will not get out of breath as easily and you will not feel the burn. You should consistently be challenging yourself! I find that the greatest factor that people forget to change is the intensity. They go to the gym sit on the bike, grabbing the latest edition of PEOPLE and start pedaling. This is not the way to get results. Machines have programs for a reason, pick one. On a bike you should be looking at the rpm’s not a magazine! Some great programs on a bike or elliptical are the interval or random programs, these programs typically elevate the heart rate and then drop it and then elevate it again. By raising and lowering the heart rate in this fashion it helps to burn more calories, get your heart in better shape, and burn fat stores.
Duration will vary on fitness level. If you are working out between 30-45 minutes and have not seen results in the last 4-6 weeks, IT’S TIME… to up the time. Or if you are only doing 3 days change the frequency and do 30 minutes 5 days.
When I train in people’s homes I frequently get asked, what will we do next time, because I always bring some new or different type of equipment in order to train muscles in new ways. Incorporating any type of balance equipment when you lift will make regular exercises more challenging. For example, if you do squats on the ground with weights at your sides try squats on a bosu trainer then you can progress to squats on a bosu trainer with shoulder presses and then one legged squats with shoulder presses. Muscles need change and the environment in which they are challenged will make all the difference. Some other great forms of balance equipment include steps, foam rollers, and balance discs. Push yourself to train functionally, so now it is not just about a better body but a body that performs everyday functions with greater ease. Change is a good thing! Contact us for more weight loss programs in your area.
 


Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Sign up for our
Email Newsletter