Have you ever felt like you were making progress in your fitness routine only to hit a plateau? It can be incredibly frustrating, especially if you feel like you’re putting in the work and not getting the results.
Don’t worry—you’re not alone. Plateaus are an inevitable part of any fitness journey and there are plenty of ways to break free from them. So if you’re feeling stuck, don’t give up just yet! In this article, we’ll talk about how to identify plateaus and some creative ways to overcome them so that you can keep moving forward in your fitness goals.
Changing Up Your Workout Routine: Adding Variety and Challenge
At some point in our fitness journey, most of us will hit a plateau. Your body is simply adapting to the same routine and you feel like you’re not making any progress anymore. The key to overcoming this is adding variety and challenge to your workout routine.
Adding a challenge can help break through that plateau. You can work on increasing the intensity or duration of your workouts or mixing up your exercises. For example, if you usually jog for 30 minutes, try sprinting for 30 seconds and jogging for 2 minutes instead. If you’re used to cardio on Mondays, switch it up and do strength training on Mondays instead. This helps keep your body guessing and push through plateaus more easily.
You can also add variety by trying different types of fitness activities like biking, swimming or climbing stairs as opposed to running on the treadmill every time. By stretching yourself out of your comfort zone and learning something new, you get better results and break through plateaus faster!
Focusing on Progressive Overload: Increasing Volume, Weight or Intensity
If you're looking to effectively break out of a plateau and keep your fitness journey moving forward, there's one main strategy that can help: progressive overload. This means increasing the volume, intensity or weight of the exercises you do in a workout each week.
Let's start with increasing the weight. You'll want to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and challenge your muscles to work harder than before. Start by adding an extra 5–10% to your weights and see how it feels. If it's too difficult, take it down a notch—and if it's too easy, you know what to do!
The next strategy for progressive overload is volume—this can mean doing more sets, reps or time under tension for each exercise. If you're in the gym, add more sets or reps of an exercise each week; if you're working out from home, try gradually increasing the length of your workouts over time.
Finally, there's intensity: this refers to training at higher intensities or speeds than usual in order to push yourself outside of your comfort zone while working out. For example, if you're doing squats, challenge yourself by adding explosive jumps between each rep or doing cardio sprints at the end of each set instead of resting between sets.
Getting Enough Rest and Recovery: The Importance of Rest Days
One thing that can help you overcome a plateau in your fitness journey is getting enough rest and recovery. While working out is important, it's just as important to give your body a break so it can heal and regenerate.
Generally speaking, it's recommended to take 1-2 rest days per week, depending on the intensity of your workout routine. This will give your body time to recover from the stress of exercise and repair any muscle damage that occurred during the workout.
Additionally, getting enough sleep is essential for both physical and mental wellbeing. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night in order to give your body time to recuperate and recharge. This will help you avoid burnout and fatigue during workouts, allowing you to stay motivated and reduce plateaus in your results.
Finally, proper nutrition is key when it comes to recovery. Eating nutrient-rich foods like lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats will fuel your body with energy and provide essential vitamins and minerals — all of which are necessary for physical recovery after a tough workout session.
Tracking Your Progress: Use a Fitness Tracker or Journal
Regardless of what your fitness goals are, tracking your progress is the best way to ensure you stay motivated and stay on track. Using a fitness tracker or journal can be helpful to not only trace progress, but also to help prevent plateaus.
Fitness Trackers
Fitness trackers are small electronic devices that you wear around your wrist and can measure multiple metrics such as steps taken, heart rate, calories burned, duration of workouts and more. They can also keep track of how well you're sleeping, so you can start making adjustments to improve it. Fitness trackers are a great way to monitor progress over time and provide real-time feedback on goals and progress.
Journals
Journaling is a great way to track progress over time without the need for technology. You can note what days you worked out, how many reps/sets you do, how much weight was used, how long each exercise took, what nutrition plan you followed (if applicable) and any other details that might come up in your fitness journey. Not only does this provide real-time data for tracking progress but it also provides motivation as you start seeing your improvements over time.
Working With a Personal Trainer: Custom Workout Plans Tailored to You
We all reach plateaus in our fitness journey at some point. If you’re stuck and need help progressing to the next level, it can be beneficial to work with a personal trainer. With their expertise and custom-tailored workouts, your fitness plateau can become a thing of the past.
A personal trainer can help you in many ways:
- Develop individualized plans tailored to your body type and goals
- Track your progress and provide feedback on improvements made
- Offer additional motivation and moral support
- Provide guidance on proper form and technique for exercises
- Advise on nutrition and lifestyle changes that can improve results
When working with a personal trainer, you’ll get personalized instruction based on your needs, so you can feel confident that you’re doing the right things for maximum results. Your trainer will also be able to push you out of your comfort zone – safely – so that exercising becomes more than just routine.
We offer custom training plans to help you reach your fitness goals. We customize your plan based on your current capabilities and an attainable timeline. Our in-app meal tracker will help you stay in shape and is the perfect partner for your custom training plan!
Check out our custom plans here
Staying Motivated: Set New Goals and Reward Yourself
It can be hard to stay motivated while trying to overcome a plateau. But if you want successful results, having a plan and rewarding yourself as you complete tasks is key.
You can set goals for yourself that are achievable and tangible—like running a certain distance or completing a weightlifting program. Make sure your goals have measurable outcomes so you can track the progress. Setting measurable goals also helps with accountability and motivation.
Reward Yourself
In addition to setting your own milestones, don't forget to reward yourself along the way. Rewards provide an extra level of motivation while helping to keep you on track. Watching a movie, reading your favorite book or buying yourself that new top can help make all the hard work seem more worthwhile!
Ultimately, it’s important to stay positive throughout your fitness journey and remember that plateaus are only temporary. With hard work, dedication and some creative goal-setting and reward systems, you'll be able to break through any plateaus and reach those fitness goals in no time!
Conclusion
Overcoming plateaus on your fitness journey is all about finding the right balance between challenge and recovery. By mixing up your routine, pushing yourself to increase intensity, and monitoring your progress to make sure you're achieving the results you want, you can break through plateaus and keep your fitness journey moving forward.
Motivation will come from setting realistic goals and tracking progress, and as you make progress you'll likely discover that you need to focus on more than just your physical strength and stamina. Addressing your mental, emotional, and psychological health is just as important when it comes to sustaining a successful fitness journey.
Ultimately, consistency is key and plateaus will come and go, so don’t get discouraged if your progress stalls. With a holistic approach to your fitness journey, you’ll have the tools you need to overcome any speed bumps along the way.
Want to learn more about fitness, nutrition and overall health? Join us now at Team Dynasty!
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
