How to Break Your Plateau
Today is a typical morning like any other for you. You get up, go for your workout at the gym or go for a nice run, before you start your day. Or maybe you go from work to the gym to jump on the treadmill for 40 minutes then home. No matter when you fit your workout in, you are to be commended you've stuck to it. SO why isn't the weight coming off like it did when you first started your new workout routine. Everything is the same. Cardio 3 to 5 days a week. Weight training 2 to 3 days a week. Your diet is still in tack (despite the PMS breakdown in the chocolate abyss). If you are still doing everything the same and you can't seem to drop those last 10 lbs then you can't drop those last 10 lbs because you are still doing everything the same. (I know I just reverse the sentence but read it again and you'll catch on if you didn't the first time.)
Your body is a wonderfully efficient machine. Everything from your head to your toes adapt to your environment, your activities and your lifestyle. Your exercise regimen is no different.
Here is the scenario.
Your Story...
You began the new year with a new found dedication to running. After all, you need to drop those extra pounds. So you go for a 45 minute run 5 days a week and weight train in the gym 2 times a week. In January and February the pounds fell off. You consistently left 2 even 4 lbs some weeks, chocking on your dust as you laughed your way all the way to the clothing store. But here we are in April and the scale hasn't moved since the beginning of March. What happened?
Your Body's Story?
When you began your program, your body worked hard to keep up with the new intensity and duration of your exercise regimen. As a result it burned energy (calories/fat) to keep up. Then one day as it accompanied you out the door and began picking up speed, then it said to it's self. Oh I've done this plenty of times before. In fact I am good. I am so good at this now that instead of burning 200 calories on this run, I can do the same run and only burn 150 calories. So it runs with you and indeed it proved that it could do the same activity and burn less calories doing it. Your body has succeeded in doing what it does best...become efficient.
Ah ha! Eureka! Now you know. So what to do about it. Throw your body a surprise party and call it Cross training. Cross training is a great way to condition different muscle groups, develop a new set of skills, and reduce boredom that creeps in after months of the same exercise routines. The term cross training refers to a training routine that involves several different forms of exercise, and/or exercise intensity levels. Get up tomorrow and instead of running for 45 minutes, jump on the bike and take a spin. Instead of doing 45 minutes of a moderate intensity run. Kick it up a notch and do 20 minutes of intense interval training (fartlek run will do as well) Providing different challenges in a workout forces the body to move out of its comfort zone and the body must work harder to complete the activity? Resulting in more calorie burn. More eating the dust off from the bottom of your shoes as you leave those pound behind. But that's not the only benefit of cross training. If sports are your passion cross training can actually help you prevent injury and overuse syndrome. For most sports enthusiasts, cross-training is a beneficial training method for maintaining a high level of overall fitness and that's not all Cross Training
Reduces exercise boredom
Allows you to be flexible about you training needs and plans (if the pool is closed, you can go for a run instead).
Produces a higher level of all around conditioning
Conditions the entire body, not just specific muscle groups
Reduces the risk of injury
Work some muscles while others rest and recover
Can continue to train while injured
Improves your skill, agility and balance
Mubarakah Ibrahim is an AFAA certified personal trainer and owner of BALANCE fitness, a personal training service for women in CT that offers in-home personal training, on-line personal training, outdoor boot camps, and hiking clubs for women. She is the creator of http://www.ctwomenbootcamps.com She also lectures, promotes and conducts workshops on health and fitness through out the northeast. She can be contacted by visiting her website http://www.ctwomenbootcamps.com or e-mailed at http://www.ctwomenbootcamps.com
? BALANCE fitness
Article may be reprinted without permission only in it's entirety including author bio and contact information.
Which diet pill are you currently taking for your weight... Read More
One of the worst things you can hear in life... Read More
Hold the onions! Let's talk "liver". No, not beef liver,... Read More
Here's a letter from my email:Dear Carol,I took your teleclass... Read More
Ah the ever present battle to lose those unwanted pounds.... Read More
We in the diet and exercise industry have our own... Read More
This article is about making long-term changes in the foods... Read More
Are you trying to lose weight?If you are, STOP!Funny thing... Read More
There are many diets, all of which boil down to... Read More
Are you a hopeless carbohydrate addict? Let's conquer these cravings... Read More
Studies show that most Americans are fifteen percent fatter today... Read More
Steady gains made in improvement in life expectancy may be... Read More
To continue the educational series on your health and fitness... Read More
Self-acceptance and body love can be tough concepts to grasp... Read More
The holidays are now officially over and it's time to... Read More
Used a diet pill recently and got depressed because you... Read More
When embarking on a weight loss program people will almost... Read More
A distorted body image is one of the symptoms that... Read More
With weight loss comes a lot of dedication and change... Read More
It happens every morning when you mosey out of bed,... Read More
CancerCoronary heart diseaseStrokeOsteoporosisMajor Depression from Brain StarvationHeadlines.WASHINGTON, Jun 22, 2004... Read More
The perfect diet should be combined with a healthy weight... Read More
It's agreed that if you raise the amount of calories... Read More
If all we have to do is exercise to live... Read More
All of the things we tell sick people so that... Read More
pet-friendly home cleaners Mundelein ..I have put off writing a motivation article because of... Read More
You won't believe what happened to me today!I was getting... Read More
Sometimes it's good to just let the feelings flow. Take... Read More
In March 2003 our then 13 year old daughter, Helen,... Read More
The 8-Week Campaign to Survive the HolidaysEating preparations in the... Read More
Cut the Calories, Bring Out the BikiniSummer's almost here and... Read More
It has been 15 years since I was diagnosed with... Read More
Lousy Reasons to Lose Weight"I want to be a size... Read More
To say that dieting rarely leads to sustainable weight loss... Read More
Life is extraordinary filled with wonderful people to show up... Read More
Exercising too hardThis is probably the most common mistake. As... Read More
You step on the scale and groan at the number... Read More
I am Dr Patrick Flanagan, and this is the latest... Read More
Phentermine, like many other prescription drugs, works with chemicals called... Read More
Experts tell us that overweight or obese children have reached... Read More
Losing weight and keeping it off is much more than... Read More
You may have read the old stories about how much... Read More
When you have started a diet in the past, how... Read More
When losing weight, most of us don't have the time... Read More
If you've been pursuing a lighter, healthier version of yourself,... Read More
No matter what the reason, successful weight loss and healthy... Read More
Looking to avoid the dieting mistakes many of our weight... Read More
Although liposuction is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic... Read More
Axiom Number FourTo have a great selling diet plan encourage... Read More
When you're taking Phentermine, you should go to the emergency... Read More
Weight Loss |