A fitness plateau is when your same old routine isn’t showing results anymore. Or worse you’re losing hard earned work by gaining weight or losing muscle. This happens because we are creatures of routine and habit. In addition to that, we don’t like to be uncomfortable or hurt ourselves. Humans are beings of pleasure, not pain.
So we tend to go too easy on ourselves.
We see results because our body wants to be able to handle the work load we put it through. It improves to match the demand. When we adjust and get comfortable to a work out, the routine no longer shocks the body in to having to improve and adapt to the challenge.
Our bodies want us to be comfortable, but we can’t let that happen.
When preforming cardio you need to surprise your body by changing the workouts time, intensity and type of equipment used.
Whether you do cardio twice a week or six, I find this cardio program to be highly effective:
Day 1- Easy Cardio Pick a level that you are positive you can do for more than 30 minutes. Aim for 30-45 minutes at a steady pace. This work out style improves endurance.
Day 2- Hard Cardio Vigorous effort for at least 15-20 minutes. If you can maintain the intensity for longer, go for it. The idea of this style is to strengthen your heart’s ability to preform a tougher intensity and to burn as much calories, in as little time possible.
Day 3- Interval Training This particular work out is great because you can change the combinations every time. Start with 1 minutes intense, 3 minutes easy then you can move on to 2 minutes intense, 2 easy or change it up entirely to 30 secs hard, 30 secs easy. There are hundreds of interval workouts. The idea of doing intervals is to train your heart to recover faster. This is also the BEST method to burn calories and lose weight.
Rotate this three day plan no matter how often you’re working out and you will never plateau again.
Happy Training!
Kaleena Lawless
Personal Training Specialist
[http://www.kalisthenixfitnessblog.com]
