Are you feeling that you have not really accomplished a significant thing after all the exercising that you’ve done? Perhaps you have been faithfully performing all the challenging exercises and eating all the right kinds of foods, and yet you feel something is missing.
When Exercising Becomes Unpleasant
There will come a time when you will feel that your exercise routines are becoming dull and uninteresting. As a result, you may judge your situation in a negative way. You will think that you are not making any progress. When you reach this point, it will be easy for you to lose your motivation. It is time for you to act.
Your Feeling is Just Natural
What you are experiencing is known as the fitness plateau. It is a common occurrence among those who perform workouts routinely. This condition is frustrating because the feeling is not good.
Once you feel that you are undergoing this condition, you need to act swiftly. If your body is always doing the same workout regime, a switch is necessary so that the muscles that are not usually targeted will have their chance to grow.
A Simple Key to Solve the Problem
One fitness expert has a very good advice to those who want to avoid plateauing. He recommends that every 8 to 12 weeks, you need to completely switch up your exercise regimen. In this way, your muscles won’t get too comfortable and lethargic. They will be alerted on the new challenges facing them with each and every new move that you will perform.
Other Tricks That Will Beat Your Fitness Plateau
There are other strategies you can use to get you out of your present exercise rut. Here are some of them.
Concentrate on your weaknesses
If there is a part of your body that you feel needs to be worked on, then get the best exercise regimen that will focus on them. Oftentimes it is your weaker muscles that cause your problems.
So, give these weaker muscles the workout they deserve. You will not only develop them but more importantly you will be able to get over the hump of your particular plateau fitness.
Rest for a while
If you are feeling lethargic, then give your body enough time to rest. Perhaps, you are working too hard to achieve the fitness goals that you want to attain. Having a week off will allow your muscles to rest and recover. After a needed respite, you will find that you are raring to go to the gym and have a fresh start.
Challenge yourself a bit more
If you are feeling bored about your workout routine, perhaps challenging yourself a bit more will shake up your doldrums. Try carrying heavier weights, or performing more difficult exercises. This will surprise your muscles and will force them to ‘wake up’ and be alert. Try to increase the pace slowly though, to be safe. You don’t want to overwork your muscles and suffer the consequences.
- Add Intensity to your cardio exercises
In your cardio routines, you can try speeding up your pace. For instance, while working out on the treadmill for 15 minutes, try increasing your pace by 0.5 every minute. Do this until you are practically sprinting towards the end of your routine. This will keep all the muscles in your body, as well as your whole system fully awake and alert. Again, do it only if your body can take it.
- Avoid getting stuck on strict routines
Our muscles are able to adapt and this can be good or bad, depending on what is the goal and intent. Since fitness plateau is a common problem for those who work out regularly in a gym such as Snap Fitness or Equinox, it is better not to be stuck with a strict exercise routine.
For the same reason that you don’t want to eat the same kind of food every day, you should not subject your body to the same kind of exercise routine every time.
So, change your workouts periodically, not too soon, and not too late either. You are the right judge as to when you need to switch from one routine to another.
- Go to your limits – safely
Let’s face it: exercise really takes hard work. According to some fitness experts, it should always be to fatigue or failure. In other words, whatever exercise routine you are performing; you always need to have the last repetition to be really challenging.
For instance, in a 10-repetition set of bench press, the first 8 reps are designed to burn the calories. But it is the last two reps that will cause positive changes in your body. So, perform as many reps as you can. If you stop too soon, you haven’t really allowed your body to get the benefit that the exercise provides.