By Andy on April 03, 2016
Is it possible to break a plateau?
Our members at Iconic Fitness Dubai Marina, often asked this question on a weekly or monthly basis. Plateauing means you stall out on progress despite continuing to do “all the right things” which the majority of the times mean “eating right”, “exercising properly” etc.
Naturally, our bodies go from losing 3 kilos in 2 weeks to losing nothing for the remaining 2 weeks. This means if you weigh 100kgs you have a lot more to lose versus someone who weighs 60kgs who doesn’t quite have that much to lose. Imagine if you were to lose 3 kgs every 2 weeks, there’d be nothing left of you and you may just disappear and we don’t want that!
There are many factors that influence hitting a plateau. But before we get into that, lets REALLY look at the facts:
Keep a food diary
On most occasions we think “ah.. I’m being good by writing down EVERYTHING in my food journal. Ok, but are you REALLY? You may think “yeah I’ll just have one more drink or maybe just a small piece of cake” This is probably is the biggest and only issue that is responsible for “hitting a plateau” It takes self-discipline to redirect your thoughts and to pick yourself back up again.
How are your workouts… REALLY?
So you’ve got into the “at home gym routine” which worked super well for the first couple of weeks or months. Results meant, “PROGRESS… YES FINALLY” But now the novelty has worn off. How many times have you “creatively counted your reps?” What about skipping a certain movement from the program because you didn’t enjoy it anymore? Again you need to track your workouts for at least 2 weeks and see if it makes any changes.
How much sleep are you fitting in?
Many people I know take this for granted. You simply cannot catch up on precious sleep. Sleeping allows your body to recover and rejuvenate. Lack of sleep leads to increased levels of stress and less time for our muscles to recover. Have you noticed how much better your body performs when you had enough sleep? I know, I perform a lot better when I get enough zzzzzz’s
Now ask yourself… Can you truthfully and honestly say you you’ve spent the last 2 weeks with quality sleep, good exercise and nutrition? As human beings we like to think we are stuck in a rut somehow, but once we make these minor adjustments and redirect our energy… BOOOM it will all come back to you!
