Shake Up Your Fitness Routine

Does this sound familiar? You're doing well on your diet, getting proper nutrition, you've been working out steadily, and all of a sudden the weight stops coming off. What gives, right? It's likely that you've hit a plateau; a frustrating thing that almost anyone who has embarked on a weight loss journey is far too familiar with. Plateaus happen when your body becomes accustomed to the type and amount of exercise you are doing each day. Your body no longer has to work as hard to burn as many calories, leading to a stoppage of weight loss.


The fact is, after week of doing the same repetitions with the same amount of weight, our body doesn't respond as well and we stop recruiting muscle fibers to do the work. Your body literally "loses" interest. A good rule of thumb is to change out your routine every two to three weeks. You should also consider taking a week off every third or fourth month. Avoid taking it off completely, however, as you don't want to break your new and healthy habit of exercise. Replace your harder workouts with a long walk or yoga.

Switching up your fitness routine provides much more than just avoiding a plateau - you'll reap numerous health benefits as well! Cardiovascular exercises build respiratory strength while weight training helps to build and maintain muscle as well as build bone density. Alternating between the two can help prevent injuries by allowing your body time to heal and repair certain muscle groups before you work them again. For example, a total body workout that includes arms, chest, legs, back and core exercises is recommended three days per week with a 48-hour recovery between workouts.

Word of caution: overusing the same muscles and joints may put you at risk of developing painful and even debilitating conditions such as tendonitis or bursitis, which cause tenderness and swelling around the tendons or joints. If you are between the ages of 40 and 60, you are most at risk for developing tendonitis because of the loss of elasticity in your tendons. To prevent these injuries, maintain a well-balanced workout under the supervision of a personal trainer who can make sure you are performing the exercises properly. If a trainer isn't in the cards, check around locally, as some trainers offer free sessions to get you started on the right track.

Get Moving Outdoors!

Brisk Walking - gives you the same heart pumping benefits as jogging without the wear and tear of your muscles and joints. This is a great activity to do while walking your do or catching up with friends. Try walking meetings at work as well to promote a healthy work environment!

Jogging - a great cardiovascular workout that can be done at your own pace and at any intensity level. Try intervals where you run slowly for 5 minutes and pick up the pace for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Not only are the cardiovascular and fat burning benefits amazing, but it helps to keep your workout interesting as well!

Biking - a fun activity you can do while spending time with your friends or family. It provides a low impact workout for those who may not be able to handle the high impact workout of jogging or who have knee injuries.

Swimming - a great activity for stretching and strengthening your muscles, all while getting an awesome aerobic workout. Swimming is also a great calorie burner. Did you know you can burn over 200 calories in just a half hour of swimming?

Gardening - gets you outside to soak up some Vitamin D while tending to your plants. Did I mention you're burning calories at the same time! The best part of gardening is you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor!