The Fitness Diva!

You are one of the thousands upon thousands of people who are regularly going to the gym, doing your home workouts , hitting those sessions with your trainer on the regular, or getting in that morning/evening run without fail, just like we’ve told you you should do.  You’re motivated, invigorated, serious, and up for the challenge.  And for a while there you see results and see your fitness level elevate. You now feel better about yourself and your body is beginning to look and perform the way you’ve always wanted it to.

Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it all stops.  You’re still hitting your workouts religiously, barely skipping a day, but when you jump on the scale or go to measure your progress, nothing is happening.  There’s no change at all.  After a few weeks of this, you add another workout, cut back your carbs, fat or sugar intake and still…nothing.  Confusing, right?  After all, you haven’t slacked off one bit.  What’s going on?

Well, what has happened is that you have hit the wall, my friend.  You have plateaued.   Reaching a plateau is when your body just levels out and adapts to all the stimuli it’s been receiving from your workouts.  With just about any exercise program you undertake, there will eventually come a time when your muscles and cardiovascular system adapt to the new demands you’ve been putting on them.  Then, where you had previously been enjoying fast, visible results, you begin to see little or no results at all.

When that happens, you will need to do one of two things: either up the difficulty level of the workouts you’re doing, add something new, or substitute in a completely new activity altogether.  In my opinion, substituting a new activity into your usual lineup is a good way to go.  Doing something new will force you to acquire some new skills, give you new challenges and will stimulate some other muscle fibers while giving the ones you’ve been working already something new to sink their teeth into.

Remember, anytime you try something new, it tends to challenge you at first, and you’ll have to put more effort into it.  More effort will equal more energy expended, and thus more calories burned.  You will also most likely improve other aspects of your fitness that your regular workouts barely even touch on.  Variety and changing up your workouts every few months is a good habit to get into to help you avoid plateauing and hitting that wall.

So, if you are doing 4 spin classes a week, say, substitute two of them for a kick box or jump rope workout.  Or instead of the usual 5 weight training sessions a week, hit a sports conditioning or interval training class on a couple of those days.  If you don’t have access to classes, find some type of group activity or sport that you can do at least twice a week, for example, like soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, pick up football, etc.  Do that and still hit the gym on your other workout days as usual.

Never worked out with a trainer?  See what discount packages your gym has on trainer rates, and take a few sessions with a personal trainer.  You will be sure to get worked in ways you hadn’t thought of, learn some new things to incorporate into your own workouts, and will also be challenged beyond your usual comfort zone.<br><br>
There are a thousand different ways to stimulate, change up and spice up your workouts.  And when you start to see that wall coming up to slap you in the face, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do.  Get into the habit of revamping your workout every few months, and you will be sure to see really great results all year long!

You can get more weight loss and fitness tips by The Fitness Diva at thefitnessdiva.blogspot.com

She also authors the website CelebrityDietsandFitness.net

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