HITTING A PLATEAU

In the last post we discussed the forms of workout schedule. Let's elaborate a bit more on the workout plan. Sticking to a particular workout schedule for long often results in tapering down of results. Our body has this great adaptive mechanism, when subjected to similar kinds of stress over a period of time, body accalimatizes to the schedule and hence the results are not as pronounced as seen earlier.
When you start a workout regime(be it weightloss or weight gain), people often see good results in the beginning. But gradually the results taper off. This is known as hitting the plateau in the sense that growth first follows an upward path and then becomes stagnant. The reason that the growth halts is that body becomes used to the regime and metabolism rate tends to get set according to that particular schedule.
Hence it is very important to keep a close tab on your progress. When a stagnation point is reached, this is a signal to change your workout plan. Give your body a shock every now and then. Force it to behave as if something new has happened. e.g: I have seen good bodybuilders doing only pushups(in the range of 200-300) on a day just to induce the muscle into growth. Similarly for cardio having the same intensity workout for a long period of time will not give optimum results. Change the intensity and form of workout at regular periods to keep the body guessing.
Also changing the diet is necessary so that MBR does not get set. This can be achieved through 'Cheat Days', a concept explained in earlier posts.



Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you've got!!!