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A Perfect Fit: Pushing Past Your Plateau
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Anonymous user Tue Mar 20, 2007 13:20:49 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments Do you know someone who has been working out for a long time on a very regular basis but isn’t making any progress? No weight loss, no body composition change, no inches lost, no improvement on “firmness,” no increased energy — as in nothing has changed?
What about the guy who you see in the gym week after week, month after month, and nothing but stagnation is happening?
Perhaps it’s the lady you know who has gone to aerobics classes four times a week for the past two years, but doesn’t look any different.
What’s that you say? That person is you?
Almost weekly, I speak to people who describe themselves as the fictitious person above. They go to the gym, seem to get in a good workout, are eating better, drinking more water — all the basic good things.
At first, they tell me, they were doing great. They lost 10 pounds, had more energy and felt much better. However, six months down the road everything has seemingly come to a grinding halt.
Let’s take a look at what’s really going on.
First, let’s deal with the person who says they’ve been working out for a long time but nothing is happening.
My first question will always be, “How long have you been working out?” My next question will be, “Have you missed any workouts?”
If the answer to the first question is anything less than six months I virtually ignore the complaint (politely, of course). That person hasn’t even started yet. It took a while for you to get out of shape and it will take some time to “rearrange” yourself. In spite of what you see on late night informercials about a 10-day miracle body change, most real people with real lives will need four to six months to get their body to significantly change. Rule No. 1: Be patient and stick with the program.
The second question is very critical.  Are they being consistent? If they are participating in hit-and-miss exercise, then there will be hit-and miss-results. That’s why I always encourage people to start with an absolute minimum time commitment (sometimes as little as five or 10 minutes per day) so there is no excuse not to get your workout time in. It is always better at the beginning to build the habit instead of designing the so-called perfect program. 
Next comes the inquisition regarding the workout itself. Do you change it up regularly? Do you use heavy enough weights to get the job done? (Most women do not.)  Are you doing too much cardio? (Usually yes.) Is your cardio workout intense enough? (Usually no.) For athletes especially, do you train too heavy, too often? (Very common mistake with high school athletes.)  Again for the athlete, if you feel sluggish, do you push through the workout and make yourself train? (One of the worst training mistakes of all time.)
These are just a few of the things that need to be addressed in order to understand why progress has slowed or come to an abrupt halt. Whether you are training for sports or for general fitness, you need to change your routine regularly in order to shock your system and not allow it to get used to what you are doing. Twelve years ago I would have never taught that principle, but I was wrong back then, and now it’s on the top of the list of things I teach.
“But what do I change?” you ask.
One of the easiest ways to change a general fitness routine is to do your normal routine backward. Start with what you normally end with, and vice-versa. Next time do half as many sets with more weight than you usually use. The next time try to complete your workout in less time — maybe 10 minutes or so. Try doing one set of 15 different exercises, but for one minute without stopping and with only one minute between exercises. You will be done in about 30 minutes and probably ready to drop when you are finished. The main thing is to think outside the box. Just change something — be it sets, reps, weight, or time — about every three weeks. More advanced athletes should change it up weekly.
How about eating habits? Most people I speak with tend to eat far too little to feed the machine. Whether your goal is to trim down or bulk up, you need to be eating and often.
Now come the complaints: I don’t have time to eat; eating breakfast makes me sick; I don’t like to take my lunch to work (or school); I eat all the time, but I just can’t gain weight; I don’t like the taste of protein drinks; I’m a vegetarian; I hate vegetables; I don’t like to cook; do I have to drink that much water? And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Bottom line: If you want your body to change dramatically, you might need to make dramatic changes in the way you eat. I didn’t say the changes would be easy, but it may be the one thing you can to do to make the ultimate difference in how you look and feel.
Try changing one small thing at a time. Those small changes will add up over time. One of the most simple things that I suggest to my customers is to simply make sure that their dinner only consists of meat, veggies, and water. If you do just that one thing, you will probably start to see a difference in body fat within a couple of weeks.
Remember, not all things work for 100 percent of us 100 percent of the time, but this is a jump-start technique I have seen work time and time again. I know — living without bread is not happy time, but get rid of it at dinner and see what happens.
I have mentioned “Lean Bodies” by Clifton Sheets in the past. This is the best book I have ever seen on basic diet and food information. Pick a copy up at your favorite bookstore and use it as a guide.
Lastly, how are you doing with your sleep habits? If you are like most Americans these days you probably are not sleeping well or enough. Lack of sleep or rest will definitely affect your fitness goals.  Again, this is not something easy to fix, but needs to be addressed nonetheless. Your body needs to rebuild. If you are constantly beating up on yourself in the gym or in your garage on your own equipment, your body will rebel by will holding on to fat stores and going into survival mode. If this is true, you are not eating enough and not getting enough rest. If you feel tired, back off the workout a bit. If necessary, take a day off and workout the following day. If you back off a bit now, your body will be refreshed and able to make the changes you are looking for.
To sum it up, exercise regularly, change it up, take a look at your diet once in a while, drink tons of water, try to rest up a little extra now and then — and you will be on the way to the new you.
Remember, only those who quite will fail.

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