Been working out at the gym for weeks and months and not seeing results? Have you been religiously staying on track with your clean eating and fitness regimen but all that is changing is the routine becoming easier to perform? Well then you have hit the dreaded “fitness plateau” my friend. Plateauing is a physical fitness wall that every health fanatic will bump into time and again where they just stay locked with the same psychical esthetic look and activity achievements no matter how hard they push themselves during their workout routine. The great thing is you can knock that plateau wall right back down and begin a whole new fitness journey.
The human body is made to adapt. We go out in the sun, we tan, we get cut, we clot, and when our body is under physical stress it adapts to the environment it is placed in to survive. The body needs to be physically trained the same way. Ever look at a person’s body and comment, “she has a softball players’ physique, he’s a basketball player, or that person is a runner?” Bodies adapt to the environment they are placed in, especially in regards to sports. The key is to place your body in a new environment and change it often, a fitness phrase called muscle confusion.
Muscle confusion is exactly what it sounds like, confuse the muscle. By that it means never let the muscle adapt to a certain exercise. For example: On arm day you perform standing straight bar curls, the next time you work your biceps change it to seated dumbbell curls. You can keep the same amount of weight, just change the exercise. Just a little change like that will confuse the muscle just enough to promote change.
Now not only do you have to promote muscle confusion, but you must also change your workout programs from time to time. Doing the same fitness routine not only gets old and boring but your body again will not change if change is not demanded. Change your weight resistance program and your cardio program. Increase the intensity and decrease the weight, increase the weight and decrease the intensity, or do interval training for your cardio.
Remember to always evolve. Fitness is a science. Think of your body in terms of evolution, survival of the fittest. Place your body in the fitness atmosphere you desire at the time and change it to another sooner than later. Change will happen; it is part of being a human being.
Fitness Tip: Simple changes to a program to break a fitness plateau…
- increase your weight being lifted and decrease your repetitions performed
- keep the movements slow and controlled