How to Break Through a Fitness Plateau
If you’ve been working to improve your health and fitness, then chances are you’re all too familiar with hitting plateaus. It happens to nearly everyone, but it’s also something that can be overcome with a little knowledge and action. Here are signs Los Angeles personal trainers look for to help them understand if a plateau has been reached and how to bust through it.
Why You Hit a Plateau
Hitting a plateau in training is very common and you shouldn’t get discouraged if it happens to you. Personal trainer Lalo Fuentes says that plateaus happen when your body simply gets used to the stresses placed upon it during your workout program or with caloric intake. When changes aren’t made to nutrition or exercise programs periodically, then plateaus will be reached. If you don’t give your body a reason to change, it’s not going to do it on its own!
Signs You’ve Reached a Plateau
There are several things that can indicate a plateau has been reached. Los Angles personal trainers look for these indicators:
A loss of strength
Reduced motivation
No progress over a couple of sessions
Irritability
Decrease in appetite
These are just a few of the things that can indicate you’ve reached a plateau or are quickly approaching one. But don’t worry – your personal trainer knows what to do!
How to Bust Through
When you’ve hit a plateau there are several things your personal trainer may recommend to overcome it. You should:
Rest – If your plateau has been reached because you’re overtraining, then taking some time off and allowing your body to rest may be just what you need.
Add intensity – You may need to change your strategy and swap out slow jogs with sprints or lunges in place of a walk.
Change your moves – Working your muscles in the same way over and over can lead to plateaus, so target the same muscle groups but in different ways.
Add cross training – Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results won’t help you out of your rut. Target different muscles by changing up your exercise routine.
“A plateau is simply your body telling you that it’s reached a place where it’s comfortable,” says Lalo Fuentes, CSCS, “it’s now time to make your body uncomfortable so you can continue to see results and reach your health and fitness goals.”
You must strive to constantly challenge yourself and your body; otherwise, you won’t make the progress you want. Once you stop making progress, you might stop finding the motivation to get your workout in and then you’ll be right back where you started. Don’t let a plateau sabotage your health and fitness goals.
Working with a Los Angeles personal trainer is one of the best things you can do to avoid plateaus. They know what to look for in order to help you avoid plateau pitfalls so you can keep on reaching – and surpassing – your goals.