That Plateau, Though! The Three Best Ways To Get Past The Sudden Stop In Weight Loss
The weight loss plateau. You've heard the term before but you never thought it would happen to you. The truth is, the plateau happens to everyone when they begin to take losing weight and adopting a healthy lifestyle more seriously. Once you change your diet and begin a regular exercising routine, it is normal for the pounds to drop quickly. However, over time, your metabolism builds a resistance to the newfound lifestyle, resulting in slower weight loss. Don't let this discourage you. There are a few tricks you can do at the gym that will ensure this weight loss plateau does not last forever.
Add Compound Routines
A compound routine is when you do two to three exercises at the same time. Your body is now used to doing a routine exercise and working on one target area of your body at once. If you throw a few different exercises into one setting, your body immediately notices. If you target more than one area at a time, you can drop your body fat while building lean muscles.
Implementing compound exercises into your routine is very simple. If you do wall squats, add some light weight dumbbells to the mix. Now, instead of just working your quads, you are building the lean muscles in your arms, making your body work harder.
Increase Exercise Intensity
Essentially, your body gets bored with the same old routine day in and day out. You have to challenge your body to perform better and harder. You cannot allow your body to become complacent or you will never go above where you are at right now.
Add high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, to your daily workouts. An HIIT workout is one where you give it all you have for a short period of time, usually anywhere from sixty to ninety seconds, then you take a break for a moment. Adding any cardio, strength, or resistance workout you want. The idea is to not let your body get used to what you are doing. The harder you go, the more you will sweat off those pounds.
Be Strategic
The strategy to your workout routine is just as important as the routine itself. For example, if you focus on your cardio first, chances are you will be too tired and winded to even think about lifting weights to build that lean muscle. If you do end up lifting light weights, you won't do nearly as many repetitions as you need to. Also, you are more likely to lift properly when you lift weights first because you are clear minded and energized.
Before you begin your cardio routine, spend thirty minutes lifting light weights to build the lean muscles. This will get your blood flowing and will kick your metabolism up a notch, making your body more prone to losing weight.
Everyone hits a plateau in their weight loss eventually. Just because the pounds shed right off in the beginning doesn't mean they will continue to do so. There are steps you can take, however, that will help you get over the sudden weight loss halt so that you can achieve your weight-loss goals.
For further help, contact a personal training company or do an online search.