Busting Through Plateaus

This weekend I was in Seattle observing the Exercise Etc. Fitness Conference. I have had the opportunity to join their team and I am thrilled to be a part of it. One thing that always happens when I attend conferences is I seem to get super motivated again. Being surrounded by other motivated personal trainers and fitness experts always seems to rejuvenate me with fresh ideas and I am excited to workout with my clients as well as for myself.

Sometimes that is all we need to break through a plateau. If you are new to exercise and have never hit a plateau you are most likely going to hit one eventually. It is had to keep up the same progress as you become more trained. This is why that last 10lbs or so can be so difficult to get rid of. We just get stale with the same routine and less motivated to stick to our programs as well. We new to be rejuvenated so we can see better and faster results. This is true whether you are looking for fat loss or for muscle growth.

I picked up one tip for breaking through, or potential avoiding plateaus all together, in Lou Schuler's book the New Rules of Lifting. I can't remember exactly what number rule, but it is one of the first ones. Each workout you should be breaking a record. I may be para phasing a bit, but the idea is that you are trying to get better in every single workout. This doesn't have to mean you have to increase the weight every workout. You can set the goals up. You might try and get more reps, add an extra set, finish in a faster time, or try a harder progression of an exercise. There are a number of different ways to break records but you should be improving from week to week. Usually after a few weeks of training you will see your progress start to level off and we start to just go through the motions. Granted this is better than not working out at all but we are starting to cheat ourselves.

By just picking one goal each workout and accomplishing it you will see amazing progress in your performance from week to week. A lot of our training will be psychological. It is amazing how when you set deadlines for work or school everything seems to get done exactly by the deadline. Having that little extra motivation can be all you need to continue to push yourself each week.

Sincerely,


Mike Deibler M.S., C.S.C.S.
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator