Give Your Workout a Wake-Up Call

Effective Ways to Break a Workout Plateau

Haven’t seen a weight loss lately? Are you truly watching your diet and portions but the scale is not budging? Are you spending hours on the treadmill or outside completing miles and miles of cardio and all you see is the same weight?

Maybe what you are missing is a workout wake up call. A rejuvenating shot of exciting new routines that can help your body spring out of the stagnant plateau and back into the fat-burning zone. Below are some suggestions for some exciting and fresh twists on the same old routine.

Creativity comes along way so feel free to change, modify any routine you see here according to your fitness level:

Outdoors:
Caution: The speed and intensity listed below are for illustrative purpose only. Adjust according to your own fitness level.

• Hit the Beach: Walk 2 minutes on hard sand (by the water) followed by a 2 minute run in the soft sand.
• Go Parks! Look for parks that have an Exercise Course (usually a 1 to 1.25 mile long trail divided by exercise stations) A great option to get some outdoors cardio workout infused with a kick of strength training. Check online for local state parks with fitness trails. Here is  an example here in palm beach county.
• Swim, swim, swim: If the weather is getting hotter, then enjoy this full-body awesome workout. Shoot for 30 minutes. Still too cold outside? Look for indoors swimming pools.
• Go paddle boarding. The sport requires full body engagement in stability and control.
• Go hiking or trail running. The different train and elevation will make you work harder.

 
At the Gym:
Cardiovascular Training - Try the following cardio combos:

• Combo 1: 15 minutes biking at level 5 followed by 15 minutes Rowing at 30+ S/M (Strokes Per Minute) followed by 15 minutes on the Elliptical also at level 5.
• Combo 2: Treadmill walk 2 minutes at 3 mph, followed by 1 minute fast run at 6 mph.
• Combo 3: Walk a comfortable pace for 4 minutes on the treadmill at a 10% incline followed 1 minute of jumping jacks. Repeat for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Combo 4: Run an upright elevation of 5% at 5 mph for 1 minute followed by 4 minutes of 13% at 3 mph.
• Combo 5: NuStep® row 1 minute at level 5 at minimum of 110 Steps per Minute (SPM), followed by 2 minutes at level 10 at minimum of 60 SPM. 
• Combo 6: On the rowing machine, row 500 meters in under 2:30 minutes followed by a Plank for 60 seconds. Repeat 5 times.

 
Strength Training:

• Do a Boot Camp! Where else can you burn 500 calories in 30 minutes?
• Stair Dare: Start a stairs workout. There are stairs everywhere. Do some fast stair sprints followed by wall pushups.
• Try Drop Sets. This is a technique in which you add another set with lesser weights and volume after failure. For example: Set 1 - 100 lbs for 10 reps / Dropset 1: 80 lbs for 8 reps / Dropset 2: 60 lbs for 7 reps / Dropset 3: 40 lbs for 6 reps.
• Supersets! Limit resting time between your weight lifting sets to no more than 20 seconds.
• Go Double! double the number of sets (or reps) you do on your regular weight-lifting routine. For example, if you do 3 sets of squats on your routine, then double that to 6 sets. If you normally do 15 repetitions on any set, then double it to 30 reps.
• Do You Yoga? Don't underestimate the powerful effects of this ancient practice. The benefits are physical as well as mental.
• Try a new DVD workout. Checkout your local public library for free rentals or simply look up thousands of free workout routines on Youtube. 

 
So go ahead and give your workout a jolt this week. This might be the missing ingredient to get that scale to move again.

Happy Healthy Transformation!
Your Trainer,
​Rami