How to Prevent a Workout Plateau

If you have reached a halt in your weight loss despite continuing exercise or have noticed that your muscles have stopped growing despite continued training, you have reached your workout plateau. The body is naturally programmed to become immune to the stresses of exercise, adapting to repetitive training and stopping the progress of weight loss, strength and endurance. Fortunately, there are ways that you can trick the body's systems and bypass a workout plateau.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Mix up your workout schedule to prevent plateau. While setting regular days for your workout, such as Monday, Wednesday and Friday, might fit nicely into your schedule, your body may quickly adapt and you will hit plateau. Instead, mix it up, working out for two days, and taking a day off, continuing this routine for six to eight weeks before taking an entire week off to reset the body system.
2. Replace your regular exercise with something new and light during your full week off. Instead of heavy aerobic exercise or weight lifting, spend the week walking, swimming or biking. Even yoga can be a great way to continue working the body with a more gentle form of exercise. Taking this time will help reset your body and allow you to enter your regular workout again without ever hitting a plateau.
3. Rest. Many people think that they will see better results in muscle gain and weight loss if they work out every day of the week; however, the opposite is true. Your body needs time to recuperate, allowing you to lose more weight and gain more muscle while at the same time slowing down the body's automatic plateau response. Never work out more than two or three days in a row without taking a full day of rest.
4. Prevent a workout plateau by carefully monitoring your body's metabolic needs. As your fitness level increases, you body will need more calories to maintain your metabolism. If you feel that you have hit a plateau, it may be because your body is not receiving the caloric intake it needs to work harder. Constant hunger accompanied by a workout plateau is a sure sign that you need to increase your caloric intake.