In recent years, an increasing number of people are recognizing the importance of fitness. There are many proven benefits of investing in your health, but there are also many challenges that you need to surmount in order to gain and maintain these benefits. The fitness plateau is one challenge that every fitness enthusiast needs to overcome. If you find yourself stuck in a fitness plateau, here are some ways that you can break free:
Increase Your Training Intensity
Fitness plateaus are the result of your body adjusting to the stress and tension that it is regularly subjected to. Your body strengthens itself to meet your physical demands to the point that it becomes accustomed to your workout.
When this happens, you have to increase the intensity of your workouts to trigger muscle hypertrophy once again. Remember that muscle growth only occurs if the muscle receives enough stimulation. Your muscles will only begin to repair themselves if they sustain enough microtears.
Diversify Your Training Regimen
Another way to break from your fitness plateau is to add advanced workouts to your training regimen. You may even want to put some variations on basic workouts. You can even alter the average bench press by age and body type to maximize its effects on your body. A diverse training program will target different muscle groups, as well as supporting and secondary muscle groups. These workouts will activate varying combinations of muscles for a much more thorough result. Check with a trainer and see what workout programs are best-suited to your needs.
Adjust Your Rest Habits
As you increase the load, intensity, and diversity of your training regimen, your body will also need more time to recover from the tension it is subjected to. Remember that you’re subjecting your body to more stress than it’s used to, making the risk of overtraining high.
If you overwork your muscles, you could be making your fitness plateau worse. You can even increase the risk of injury, which will significantly set back your progress. Even when your primary goal is to trigger muscle hypertrophy, it’s important to give your body time to recover and to strengthen itself. The stronger you get, the easier it will become to break through your fitness plateau.
Increase Your Caloric Intake
Nutrition is another factor that could be preventing your growth. Your caloric requirements will vary depending on what you’re trying to achieve. If you’re trying to lose weight, you need to stick to a caloric deficit. If you’re trying to break through a plateau, your old diet won’t work, as your body will be undersupplied once you adopt a more intense training regimen.
Consider adopting a protein-rich diet that includes lean meat, eggs, and legumes. Depending on your nutritional needs, it’s important that you consume the right amount of dietary fiber. If you’re not sure which diet is best for you, reach out to your trainer and ask for advice.
You may also want to consider using dietary supplements to aid in the development and recovery of your muscles. Those who need to break from their plateaus need to increase their caloric intake, not only to sustain their daily caloric requirements, but also to exceed them so that the body has nutrients it can use to support muscle growth.
A fitness plateau is more disheartening than it initially seems. Many people fail to overcome it, and end up quitting their fitness journey completely while those who are able to overcome it enjoy an increased physical, mental, and emotional growth.
