Every dedicated exerciser knows it “The training plateau”.
If you are working out on a regular basis, you probably have a workout regime. Maybe you are going for a run every day, or you workout your legs on Monday, Back and Chest on Tuesday and so on, or you have the same HIIT routine every Wednesday.
A lot of people who workout, do have the same routine since they started because what worked in the beginning should still work now, right? In part, that is true, and in a part it isn’t.
Ask yourself the following questions:
1. Do you still feel the burn after your workout?
2. Do you have a song for every exercise?
3. Do you have to talk yourself into working out, because you know every move of your workout?
4. Are you already sore by just thinking of those burpees, after your squats, right before your lunges?
5. Do you know every stone on your running route?
If you can answer any of those questions with “Yes”, it may be time to change up your workout and get you off your plateau.
What made your muscles sore after the first couple of workouts is over the long run the thing, which lets your muscles stay in the exact same way for too long.
Muscles have a memory they get used to movement, range of motion and the weight they are supposed to carry. That is when you stop making progress.
At the beginning of your fitness journey, you will make progress with whatever exercises you start.
The rule behind that is that your body adapts to the new stresses you put upon it. Your body builds muscle and gets stronger.
In order for your body to make progress, the stress you put on it must be greater than the level your body is used to. In general if you workout with a 10lb Dumbbell for your biceps work, for a period of 6 or more months your body will build muscle and reach a plateau when it gets used to the 10lbs Dumbbell.
In order for you, to overcome that plateau you need to use heavier Dumbbells after 4-6 weeks, more reps or different sets.
If you start running for the first time, and you do 2 miles every day, you will see progress for a few months. But here too after a while you will have reached a plateau and further progress is not possible because your body is accommodating your daily run. That means you will have to run 3 miles a day to see new progress.
More examples how to get your body to make progress:
1. Change your reps and sets.
2. Change the weight you are using.
3. Change the days on which you train specific body parts (if you did legs on Mondays, change it to Thursdays).
4. Change the speed of your exercise.
5. If you lift weights on 5 days and do cardio on 3 days, change to 3 days weight lifting and 5 days cardio.
6. Change the time you rest between your workouts.
“Confusing” your body can actually help too. Always try and change your workout every 4-6 weeks. That keeps your body guessing, and you won’t get bored and frustrated.
After all working out should be fun, and we all like to see progress and results.
So change it up and keep on sweating with a bit of glitter.
Image: Casa Velas Hotel
