20 ways to break plateaus in your program

20 ways to break plateaus in your program

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It should be understood that the rules of nutrition and the 4 components of fitness are the foundation in seeing great results. If you are not following these principles, it will probably be difficult for you to follow the 20 ways to break plateaus.

1. 1. Increase the difficulty of exercises.
      1. Choose compound exercises that require movement of many joints.
      2. Use more free weights (again with compound movements i.e. bench press, free squats, cable rows etc.)
      3. Try to stay away from machines
      4. Get your heart pumping and lungs burning during resistance training.
         1. This releases fat burning hormones and increases your metabolism.
      5. Increase your workout density.
         1. Increase the workload, and shorten the time of the workout
         2. Supersets
         3. Circuit training
         4. Interval training
         5. Decreased rest between sets
   2. Experiment with cardio in the morning on an empty stomach
      1. If you are concerned with losing lean mass, consume a protein shake before beginning.
   3. Mix up your cardio.
      1. Do 1 minute fast 1 minute slow interval training
      2. Do the stepmill instead of the treadmill and elliptical
      3. Do Sprints outside (must be in good shape)
      4. Run stadiums
   4. Keep meals at night light
      1. Keep dinner and the before bed meal low calorie.
      2. Keep starchy carbs low and focus more on green fibrous carbs and protein
   5. Taper your calories
      1. Eat larger meals earlier in the day when generally people are more active.
      2. Eat smaller meals later at night.
   6. Taper your carbs
      1. Eat no starchy carbs after 3 pm or so. Remember to eat lots of green fibrous carbs instead.
   7. High low days.
      1. Take 3 days with calories of 60% of maintenance
      2. Carbs will drop to like 30 % of meal plan, and protein and good fats will take the rest of the percentage
      3. On the 4th day have a high carb (60%), high calorie (80% of maintenance) day.
   8. Experiment with removing wheat from your diet.
      1. Some people have gluten sensitivities that cause bloating and make fat loss more difficult with wheat.
         1. Cut wheat out of your diet and focus instead on other healthy carbs
   9. Experiment with removing dairy from your diet.
      1. Some people are lactose intolerant or have dairy allergies and do not know it.
   10. Live and die by the Glycemic index.
       1. You should always follow the glycemic index from day one. You can always Google the glycemic index of a food if you are unsure. Try to find a food lower than 50.
   11. Eat low calorie high bulk fruits
       1. Eat apples, grapefruit, or oranges instead of fruits like bananas. They have fewer calories.
   12. Eat more green fibrous veggies.
       1. 30 % of total daily caloric expenditure can come from digesting foods. Green fibrous veggies like celery are negative foods, because it takes more calories for your body to process than are actually in the food item.
   13. Drink tons of water.
       1. You need to drink at least a gallon of water a day
       2. No soda
          1. Even diet soda has carbonation that can mess with your body’s ph level, making it difficult to lose fat.
       3. No alcohol
          1. Alcohol lowers testosterone levels with is important for fat-loss.
   14. Do not eat any protein bars or shakes.
       1. While there is a time and place for bars and shakes, engineered foods are easily broken down by the body, thus not allowing us to maximize the full 30% digestion expenditure in calories we would like to achieve.
   15. Get some sleep
       1. You need minimum 8 good hours of sleep a night for recovery and rebuilding.
       2. 90 percent of your natural production of growth hormone comes at night when you are in deep REM sleep.
   16. Take a week off
       1. As mentioned earlier if you have been training for 3 months consistent you need to take a week off to recover.
       2. Calories should be a little lower during this week to compensate for lack of activity.
       3. If you are a consistent trainer and haven’t rested for months and months this rest week will do wonders for your endocrine and muscular system.
   17. Look at your before pictures, or a picture you want to look like. Re-commit to your goal
   18. Cut back on cheat meals.
       1. Although cheat meals at times are good, cut back and instead focus on a clean strict diet.
   19. Check hormones.
       1. Last resort.
       2. Hormones will usually just influence the measurements from water retention and water weight gain, and can often be frustrating.
   20. Work Hard
       1. A lot can be said about good old fashioned hard work! If you don’t like to work, you will fail. If you have troubles motivating yourself schedule a workout with a trainer or someone who will push you!Increase the difficulty of exercises. Work hard.