5 Easy Changes to Break Through Your Workout Plateau
ABSTRACT
Hit a workout plateau? Learn five easy changes to boost your results and revitalize your fitness routine—personal trainer tips to amp up your workouts.
Keywords
Workout plateau
Fitness plateau
Boost workout results
Revitalize fitness routine
Personal trainer tips
Amp up workouts
Five easy changes
Increase exercise intensity
Break through barriers
Improve workout results
Fitness Workout / Photo: Elina Fairytale
Introduction
Have you hit a plateau in your workout interest and results? You may need to amp them up with these five easy changes.
CHOOSE A SET NUMBER OF REPS AND BE CERTAIN YOU PERFORM EACH SET UNTIL FAILURE.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: Whether on a work project or in a relationship, you never want to “just go through the motions.” It is a status quo approach that rarely enhances your life or helps you achieve your goals. This especially applies to your fitness program. I often see people incorporate the quantity of time in the gym (e.g., five days per week, 60 minutes per day) but rarely the quality (e.g., low intensity instead of moderate to high….and sweating isn’t the indicator of this effort). Are you “just going through the motions” for each exercise you perform? Can you barely complete the remaining two reps of a given set? If you’re shooting for 12 reps and can perform 15-20 reps, you may rob your muscles of the appropriate challenge to rebuild firmer and toner. Instead, do a check-in on the 3rd rep of the set and ask yourself, “Can I perform 12 more reps (or whatever number you chose) at this point (for a total of 15 instead of 12)?” If so, you may want to increase the weight and push that muscle to exhaustion.
PERFORM YOUR FITNESS ROUTINE WITHIN A CIRCUIT WHILE FOCUSING ON MORE THAN 2 MUSCLE GROUPS.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: Many eager gym rats grew up performing the traditional workout program: Choose a muscle group (e.g., chest) and 3-5 different isolated exercises (e.g., presses, flyes, pushups, etc.) and then perform each for 3-4 sets with a 1-2 minute break in between. While you will certainly build strength and size in this format, you are missing muscular and aerobic endurance development….elements of a workout program necessary for optimal health. To avoid this shortfall, perform consecutive exercises while focusing on more than one muscle group. Performing exercises within a circuit (e.g., 5-10 exercises without a break) will increase your heart rate and improve your aerobic capacity while increasing your muscular endurance with the constant demand on your muscles. By focusing on several muscle groups, you can give one muscle active recovery while you work on the next (e.g., band chest press followed by a step-up with a dumbbell hammer curl). Since there is an aerobic element to this format, you may not achieve a 100% max strength output (e.g., bench press for 1-2 reps) due to this type of fatigue, and you can still build your strength with lesser a weight (e.g., bench press for 12 reps at 70% output). An approach that can achieve many facets of physical health!
ADD BALANCE TO YOUR PROGRAM.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: Even with an effective routine, you might quickly lose interest in any particular exercise and approach each exercise less intensely. Occasionally, you may need to adapt the exercise to bring a new stimulation level. If you dread your next set, throw it off balance….literally. If you plan to squat, perform a cable row as you stand from the squat. If you plan to perform a dumbbell chest press on the bench, lunge forward as you perform a standing press with a resistance band instead. By adding instability to your exercise, you not only increase your heart rate by firing other muscles, but you also recruit new stabilizers and increase your laser focus to complete the movement. With this being said….
SWAP OUT THE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT FOR EACH EXERCISE.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: Although you perform relatively the same movement to fire a particular muscle (e.g., Presses and flyes for chest, rows, and pulldowns for back, etc.), the type of equipment you choose can completely change how and which muscles are recruited. For example, you swapped your stable, isolated dumbbell chest press on the bench for the standing resistance band press above. Even without an added lunge, you are changing the dynamic of this movement. Both chest exercises involve the press movement, but substituting the dumbbells for the resistance bands will force you to fight a counterforce that didn’t exist while lying on the bench. As you press forward with the bands, their rubberband effect throughout the movement will force you to recruit more back and shoulder muscles to counter the force. Using cables, medicine balls, kettlebells, and other attachments can add a little spice to your normal routine.
CHANGE YOUR WORKOUTS FROM 60 TO 30 MINUTES.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: How do you effectively and efficiently use the time you allot for fitness? Most people schedule 60 minutes for a fitness session. What are you doing during that time? I’ve seen people take different lengths of breaks, aimlessly walking from one exercise to the next. Why not move with intent and cut out the fluff? If you intend to only exercise for 30 minutes, why don’t you complete it within 30 minutes? This could be the answer to maintaining a higher level of intensity and interest, too.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: MICHAEL MOODY, PERSONAL TRAINER
As an author, a personal trainer in Denver, and podcast host, Michael Moody has helped personal training clients achieve new fitness heights and incredible weight loss transformations since 2005. He also produces the wellness podcast "The Elements of Being" and has been featured on NBC, WGN Radio, and PBS.
Michael offers personal training to Denver residents who want to meet at the 2460 W 26th Ave studio….or in their homes throughout LoHi (80206), LoDo (80202), RiNo (80216), Washington Park (80209), Cherry Creek (80206, 80209, 80243, 80246, 80231), and Highlands (80202, 80211, 80212). Michael also offers experiences with a personal trainer in Jefferson Park (80211) and Sloan's Lake (80204, 80212).
If you’re looking for a personal trainer who can curate a sustainable (and adaptable) routine based on your needs and wants, Michael is the experienced practitioner you’ve been looking for. Try personal training for a month…your body will thank you!
