This is a posting that I shared with The Herald as a Trainer Tip for the Healthy Challenge. Not sure if they will use it, but thought I'd share it with you!
Starting a new exercise program is a big undertaking. The effort to move the body in the early stages of your program is hard! Mentally you are fatigued and want to stop after five minutes. Your muscles burn during the bout of exercise and ache after. Your heart pumps hard and fast, and your lungs burn. The human body responds to your demands by losing weight, building muscle, and improving cardiovascular response.
And then you plateau. The human body is highly adaptable. The goal of the human body is to avoid stress and become efficient. Therefore, the workout plan you began with is probably not enough to stress, fatigue and change your body today. It worked for the first few weeks, but your body has become wise to your efforts.
It is time to shake up your routine. Now you may be thinking 'Oh my goodness. I'm already exercising so much and so hard.' Think of your workouts in terms of four key criteria: Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type. Then apply change to one or multiple of these areas. Keep in mind it may be that you increase in one area, while decreasing another. For example, increasing the intensity may require that you decrease the time. Another example might be increasing the frequency (exercising several times through out the day), while decreasing the time of each workout (only 10 or 15 minutes each bout of exercise).
A regular evaluation of your F.I.T.T.-ness plan will keep your body guessing, your health will continue to improve, and the results you are seeking will be yours before you know it!
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