A plateau is kind of like running into a wall that feeling you get when, after a few months on an exercise and weight loss program, you suddenly stop seeing results. It is not uncommon and the reality is that unless you continually update your program to reflect the changes your body has already experienced, you can almost be guaranteed to plateau at some point along your journey toward reaching your goal weight.
- Incorporate agility drills and speed training into your cardio workouts such as the types seen in sports training.
- As long as there are no physical reasons for not doing so, consider training like an athlete for a month, even if it is a junior athlete it is okay, because it is something that your body is not used to doing.
Breaking thru a plateau can be as easy as changing your exercise program and as simple as switching from the Stairmaster to walking. Or from walking to the elliptical machine. Or from walking to hiking. Walking to jogging, or biking, the options are endless.
For your lower body, some of the toughest exercises are the lunge and squat. You can do many variations of them.
- For example, for the squat you can change your foot position by moving your legs in close like skiing or wide with feet pointed out or out front to target the quads more.
- For lunges you can also do walking lunges, lunge to the side, front and back, do stationary lunges or falling lunges.
Another method of determining whether or not you are working too hard is the talk test.
- Simply put, you should be able to talk when you are working out. Maybe not to the extent that you can hold a long conversation, but if someone were to ask you a question you should be able to respond without difficulty.
It is important to realize and monitor the intensity of your workouts so that you do not overdo it and defeat your purpose and end up working too hard. The end result of working too hard can be injury which can often end up putting us out of commission for extended periods of time sometimes as long as 6 to 8 weeks.