Five Five Ways to Push Past a Plateau
I hit a bit of a writing block today, so I headed to my Facebook wall to find out your fitness questions.
Ellie wrote that she wants to know how to get past a plateau. Without having more information about her specific plateau, here are five things you can do to push past a plateau.
1. Mix up your diet.
When was the last time you tried a new vegetable or had millet instead of brown rice? While I’m not a registered dietician, I do believe that our bodies need nutrients from different sources. I also know that when I eat the same foods all the time I tend to eat more of those foods at each sitting.
2. Challenge yourself.
Are you lifting heavy enough weights when strength training? Are you working as hard as you can during your cardio sessions at least twice a week (other cardio doesn’t have to be all out)? If the answer is “yes” then what are you waiting for??
3. Hire a professional.
A health coach, personal trainer or registered dietician can work with you to help you get passed your plateau.
4. Write it down for one week.
Keeping a food and exercise journal can reveal where you need to make some tweaks.
5. Change your workouts.
Either you’ve been doing the same workouts for too long or you’ve been doing to many different types of workouts and need a focus. Doing the same workouts all the time will pretty much ensure a plateau at some point. On the flip side if you are always mixing up your workouts and never mastering one thing, your fitness level may not progress the way you want it to. You need to try doing one style of workout long enough to master the moves and see results. (that doesn’t mean only doing one workout that means maybe sticking with running and barre classes or some kind of similar combo)
Have a fitness question or topic you’d like to see covered? Feel free to let me know in the comment section or send me an email.
This is a great post. How did you know? You live in my brain, I swear. That salad looks money!
Great post! I’ve definitely found myself at a fitness plateau recently and have to constantly remind myself to do things like try new foods and new ways of exercise. I’ll also definitely try to keep an exercise journal for a week, I hadn’t thought about that before!
Great post, always a never ending challenge, how to keep our workouts fun and new as well as how to come up with new ideas for dinner – /eats(for me this is the worst). Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Perfection! You’re totally right. Some say I have exercise ADD, I say I’m ensure I don’t plateau.
Great post on this 
And honestly, one thing I don’t really think of when talking about this is mixing up your diet, so I’m glad I saw this today!
or…if I could re-read my comments before posting…
That would be “I say I’m *ensuring* I don’t plateau”.
Follow up question: how should I choose the right personal trainer? I am ready to make the financial and time commitment but want to make the right choice.
Amanda, it’s totally acceptable to ‘interview’ a few. Ask for references…ask their specialties or their passion areas. Before you start looking and talking, make sure you know exactly what YOUR goals are. Be specific with yourself and then convey that very clearly to each trainer you talk to. If you’re not sure they are a right match, they probably aren’t.
I hope that helps a little!
Amy
I think the best thing is to get a referral from a friend or approach a trainer who you’ve watched train and you like their style and how the interact with their clients. You do want to make sure that you make your goals clear to both yourself and your trainer. It’s also perfectly fine to try out more than one trainer to see who is the right fit for you.
The other thing you’ll need to do is make sure that their availability matches up well with your schedule and that they train either at your home or at a gym you both have access to.
YES! Great advice! I have been working on this for too many years, 30+, and I havelearned that changing it up is so key – not saying give up running or give up weights BUT make the wrokuts different – and always pay attention to your bod & how you feel & what is going aon – tells youa lot & when you need little & bigger changes. Always learning!