Most people think “ruts” only happen to those who have a hard time getting off their butts to exercise.
But it happens to those who exercise too. “Yeah right!” you say.
The other day I got an email from a reader. He asked, “I have a fitness question for you – I run 3 or 4 miles four or five times per week and I eat a healthy diet. Why don’t I lose weight?”
And just because there are negative ruts, there are also positive ones. This is the result of a belief the avid exerciser holds what they have done in the past will work again. At least these people with negative ruts know they simply need to move.
The avid exerciser’s rut or plateau is somewhat more challenging to understand.
If you eat right and exercise consistently doesn’t mean you are on track to attain the results you want.
Let me explain.
My junior year at Bowling Green University, my summer was filled with many different routines. I jogged long distance to get my wind. I sprinted 40 yards sprints on the field. I ran 400’s round the track. I did stadium stairs with a parachute. I lifted in the weight room. And scores of other means to ready myself for the season.
Wammo, come the first game and we LIT UP Cincinnati. I secured two sacks right off the bat. And that was the start for 19 TFLs – tackles for a loss the rest of the year.
Contrast that with the training the summer before my senior year.
I remember joining in a softball game after a heavy squat session. I literally walked back from the stadium gym, walked across a field while I came upon some friends in a softball game. They asked me to play for a bit so I obliged and took a seat on the bench.
When it was my turn up to bat, I took a couple swings. Two strikes. Ouch! This pissed me off. Stay focused, stay focused. My arms and joints felt real tight from lifting.
The third pitch came and I burned it down the 3rd baseline, my feet felt like they were in cement, from all the heavy squatting. I tried to sprint out of my stance but it felt more like lifting my feet out of sticky tar. I did not beat the throw to first cause I was too damn slow.
This play on the baseball diamond was foreshadowing for my senior season on the gridiron. Sure I was consistent
churning out amazing animal like workouts in the weight room… I was bigger and stronger.
But I had flexibility of a steel beam and the speed of a Yugo.
If I would have studied what I had done the previous year, I would have been much better off.
My point is this, don’t let your body get used to your routine. Switch it up. That is why my course the Super Body Blitz
is so popular. Each day a new routine is devised. The other major benefit is the fact that you never run in a straight line more that ten yards. The rest of the time you shuffle, jump, hop and karioka the fat right off your frame.
Being that you never shuffle down a busy city street or hop to get the mail or do a cross-over move while you mow the lawn – all these movements are fresh and new. That means your body will cut weight faster and easier
by implementing a few of these into your daily exercise.
The key is not to just train. And the key is definitely not running and more running. The secret is to train your body in a way where you always keep your metabolism guessing what the next routine may be.
Now ’tis time to get after it.
Lets Move!
Vincent Palko
Vince Palko is the author of Linebacker Fitness, The Super Body Blitz, and also the creator of Triple Your Endurance. An all natural energy boosting system created for the athlete and non-athlete. His website can be visited by going to Triple Your Endurance. Vince is a marathoner and triahtlete. Vince has been enshrined in both his college Bowling Green State University’s and his high school’s Hall of Fame for his performance on the football field. He has a FREE newsletter you can sign up for at his website as well.
