Working through a Plateau

My friend Mike called me yesterday to talk about his consistent struggles with weight loss and the recent plateau he has hit. Mike is 32 years old, was a great athlete in high school and college and was always in fantastic shape. However since his days on the Gridiron have come to an end he has struggled to stay in shape and has gained weight. He has become a yo-yo dieter and a “seasonal” workout kind of guy - consistently inconsistent is what I would call him. He usually starts working out in January, drops a few pounds, hits a plateau, gets discouraged and quits around May. Then he gains all the weight he lost back, plus a few extra pounds.

This year Mike was determined to try something new. He started working out every day taking only Sundays off way back in November. He has also made better choices with his food consumption, smaller portion sizes, and fewer “cheats”. I give him credit, he’s been working his tail off and he’s dropped about 20lbs to go along with a few notches in the belt loop. However, Mike has not seen any changes over the last four weeks and he hasn’t done anything differently. Why has he hit this plateau?

The problem is that Mike has fallen prey to two obstacles that so many others have also succumbed to:

Obstacle #1: The myth that is cardio training in your “Fat Burning Zone”; the common belief is that you must train within this zone in order to burn more calories for fat loss. Look, almost any kind of exercise is beneficial for your health, but if you’re looking to lose body fat, training within your “Fat Burning Zone” isn’t going to get you very fast or very good results. Fat loss is all about total caloric expenditure during exercise and perhaps more importantly, at rest. It doesn’t matter what kind of calories you are burning; fat loss is predicated on total calories burned. Craig Ballantyne is the founder of a cutting edge fat loss program called Turbulence Training. He hits the nail on the head with his explanation of why training in the fat burning zone is a bust. You can find his explanation here http://www.fitnessforlifenetwork.com/heartrate.html.

Obstacle #2: Falling into the repetitive trap of performing the same boring workout routine over and over again… Our bodies are similar to that of a chameleon; they will adapt to a repetitive stimulus over time. In this case the repetitive stimulus is low intensity cardio training in the “Fat Burning Zone”. Change up your workout routine and add some strength training exercises to your plan. When I am working with my clients, I take four factors into consideration when updating a routine for both cardio and strength. They are as follows: Frequency – how many days per week we are exercising; Intensity – the speed, tempo, or resistance of the exercise; Type – the activity you are performing; and Time – the duration of the exercise. This is commonly known as the F.I.T.T. Principle.

If you are going to take anything away from this post today, take this. Exercise should be fun and challenging. Working at a low intensity over and over again in your “Fat Burning Zone” is neither fun nor challenging. Change things up and have fun doing it.

Burn it Up!

Marc Nespoli
http://www.fitnessforlifenetwork.com/