One of the most frustrating things to body conscious women, especially soon-to-be brides, is the workout plateau. A workout plateau is when your body becomes accustomed to a certain routine and becomes so efficient that your weight loss stagnates. This is why people who are just starting a diet/exercise routine may see results right away, but then get frustrated when those results hit a wall. And when you're looking forward to a big occasion, like a wedding, timing in crucial. So how do you get past the workout plateau and keep the skinny coming? Shock your body!
It's easier for people on the go to develop diet and exercise routines. They're simpler to set up and easier to stick to because they become habit. But they also become habit to our bodies. And since our bodies are marvelous at finding efficient ways to do anything, habitual diet and exercise routines will lead to our body maintaining instead of losing, which creates the all frustrating plateau. So numerous exercise techniques tout mixing up routines on a bi-weekly basis to keep your body guessing and keep the pounds dropping. But if you don't have a personal trainer on hand, how do you keeps designing new routines for yourself every two weeks? The answer may not be in the routine, but in the activities you do. For example, if you go to the gym as your primary source of exercise, you may be limited to the handful of cardio machines, and weight lifting exercises available at your facility. And if you had all the knowledge of a professional trainer, you could find a way to mix and match what's available to really keep your body guessing, but I know I don't have those skills, and I'm guessing you don't either.
Instead of going to the gym five or six times a week, when I really want to shock my body and bust through my weight plateau I find things I've never done before, or haven't done in a really long time. I'm primarily a runner, and my typical workout consists of outdoor or treadmill running, intermixed with a slough of weight training and plyo exercises I've learned over the years. So to shake things up, I've attended bikram yoga classes, a jazz dance class, rock climbing, and spinning, among other things. Some of these are offered at my gym, some at other studios. But since the body shock is short term to get me off my plateau, the cost is relatively small. And it affords me the chance to do things I've always wanted to try.
So what have you always wanted to try? Do you watch shows like So You Think You Can Dance and wish you could have those moves? Then switch up your workout with a dance class. Do you wish you could be more flexible, or just touch your toes? Put in a yoga class to your routine. Anything you can do that your muscles aren't familiar with will help push your metabolism off the edge and keep things going in the right direction. Just be careful that your diet doesn't change too much. A workout shock to your body will make you more hungry because your metabolism with kick into high gear. So just keep your willpower strong and you'll be looking smoking hot in your dress in no time!
