Drag Yourself Out of a Plateau By Avoiding These Pitfalls!
When you’re putting your all into your health and fitness, it can be disheartening when you stall or ‘plateau’ and are unable to reach the next level. You might be going to the gym every day and working hard, and feeling like you’re doing everything right. However, there are a few common mistakes you might be making that are holding you back. Make sure you avoid these pitfalls!
Pitfall 1- Not Eating Right
Eating right is the single best thing you can do to boost your workouts. If your goal is weight loss then exercise alone is unlikely to achieve this, you absolutely have to decrease your calories from food too. If your goal is strength, you need to ensure you’re eating enough protein and other nutrients for your muscles to repair and grow. Even if your goal is just to get fitter, eating the right foods will fuel you allowing you to train longer and harder and get the very best from your sessions.
Pitfall 2- Not Taking Supplements
Along with a healthy diet, it can be beneficial to take supplements too. This is because it’s difficult to get the high doses of some nutrients we need from food alone. If for example, you want to repair and grow muscle, supplements like creatine, beta-alanine, whey protein and amino acids are all beneficial. Most people will benefit from a daily multivitamin as an insurance policy to make sure your body has everything it needs. This allows your body to be performing at its best potential.
Pitfall 3- Neglecting Resistance Training
If you’re hoping to lose weight, it’s easy to hop on the treadmill, bike or elliptical and start powering through. It seems like the most logical plan of action. However, while cardio is fantastic (and everyone should aim to do at least 150 minutes a week) it only burns calories while you’re exercising. Muscle on the other hand burns calories at rest, which essentially boosts your metabolism as your body uses more calories to maintain itself. Resistance training to strengthen muscles also helps to give you more stability and allows you to work harder with your cardio exercises too. For example it makes sense that strong legs will allow you to run faster and for longer! Both strength and cardio exercise is important. If you’re a woman there’s no need to worry that lifting weights will make you bulky. People don’t ‘accidently’ get incredibly muscly, it takes a lot of dedicated exercise and the right diet to achieve! Plus, women don’t have the testosterone levels needed to build large muscles like men.
Pitfall 4- Not Switching It Up
When you first start out on an exercise regime, anything you can do is beneficial. Most people get into the gym and find a couple of pieces of equipment they like to use and stick with them. This is great at first as it allows you to build up a foundation level of fitness in a way that feels comfortable to you. But when you want to start setting and smashing goals, you have to switch it up. Your body will quickly become accustomed to certain exercises, and once they’re no longer difficult, you’re not getting the benefit from them. Why not try a class like Insanity (you can find insanity schedule here) or book in a few sessions with a personal trainer so they can guide you on what to do to achieve your next goals. Otherwise, switch up what you’re doing. Play a sport or start using different pieces of equipment in the gym. You’re sure to feel the benefit shortly afterward.
Pitfall 5- Neglecting Flexibility
Stretching to improve your flexibility is another important element to add to your exercise regime. The more flexible you are, the greater range of motion all of your muscles has- this means you’re far less likely to sustain a pull or tear injury from other exercise. End up with a bad injury, and you could be out of commission for weeks or even months, massively setting back your progress.
