The phenomenon of the plateau is well-known
to practically all athletes, fitness experts, and most people who take the time
to read about exercising. The word itself, plateau, is a French word and
basically means platter, or when it is used in geology, an area of highland
which is made from flat terrain. It is used in relation to exercising because
of one was to chart the progress they were making before and after reaching the
plateau, it would look like a mountain which suddenly becomes flat at the top.
In any case, the weight loss plateau is a state in which the body gets used to
whatever exercising regime it is being subjected to and stops responding to it.
Even if you increase the intensity and frequency of your exercises, the
improvements you will notice will only be ever so slight.
How the Weight Loss Plateau Works
And so how precisely does the weight loss
plateau work? Well, in many cases when people are trying to lose weight they
make an exercising program for themselves which they believe they can follow
for the entire duration of the process. However, losing weight is more of a
long-term project, and in many cases it takes people months to reach their
desired goals. Needless to say, doing the same exercises month after month
gives the body plenty of time to adapt to them, so much so that they actually
become easy to perform. At that point, the body is expending very little energy
on the workouts, and so few calories are burned, not to mention your muscles
aren’t developing either.
How to Overcome the Plateau
And so the plateau effect has plagued the
lives of countless people… how is one to overcome it? Well, as was mentioned
above, the effect is born as a result of doing the same exercises over and over
again, giving your body the ability to adapt to them. The simple solution to
overcoming this effect is to change up your exercises. You can still focus on
the same muscle groups as before, but the specific exercises used to train them
should be different.
For example, if you have been jogging for
the past few weeks (or months), then try cycling and jump rope instead of it;
your will still be working out the same muscle groups, but your body won’t be
used to the movements it has to perform, expending more energy on them, thus
going back to burning calories like before.
The best way to find alternative exercises
to defeat your weight loss plateau is to simply look for them online; there are
many free charts which present you with dozens upon dozens of different
exercises you can use without having to purchase any extra equipment.
Alternatively, there are actually some weight loss systems which have taken the
plateau effect into account, offering pre-made workout routines specially
designed to keep the weight loss results coming as fast as ever without having
to worry about hitting any kind plateau whatsoever.
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