The biggest bang for your buck in plateau breaking will be when you make changes to your exercise routine. Nothing causes results to grind to a halt faster than an exercise routine that never changes.

First, if you're not doing both aerobic and strength exercises as part of your routine, then it's time to start. Training with weights is at least as important to weight loss as are diet and aerobic exercise. This is because it has a much longer lasting effect on boosting your metabolism than does aerobic exercise. Conversely, doing aerobic exercise will help your body learn to use fat as a fuel source, and therefore reveal all that hard earned muscle.

Next, you'll need to change up both of your

If you've been exercising for any decent length of time trying to either lose or gain weight, you almost certainly have experienced the phenomena of a plateau. If not, then you eventually will. Hitting a plateau can be frustrating and disheartening, but as you will soon read there are things you can do to begin making progress again.

What is a Plateau?

In the world of geography, a plateau is pretty much a really big hill with a very flat top. After climbing to the top part, the plateau, it's time to eat your energy bar and start back down. You've reached the top of a hill that seems as though it should go higher than it does.

In the world of dieting and exercise, the plateau has a similar definition. Whether your goal is to gain muscle, lose fat, or both, you reach a point where the exercise and diet routine you've been following is no longer producing the results that it once did. In other words, you've reached the top of a fitness hill that seems as though it should go higher than it does.

Overcoming a Plateau

The secret for breaking through this invisible barrier to a leaner, healthier body lies in one word. Change. What has actually happened is that, over time, your body has adapted to the diet and exercise programs you've undertaken. Once your body has fully adapted, it no longer has any reason to respond and change when it's continually presented with is the same exact routine over and over.

There are 2 simple steps to follow to overcome this plateau problem, and also to minimize it in the future:

1. Be sure that you're following conventional diet wisdom.
2. Change your exercise program, and do so on a regular basis.

Let's look at these two things in more detail:

1. Conventional Diet Wisdom

Aside from eating a healthy, balanced diet and the proper amount of calories, there are a few other things you can do to aid your cause.

• Eat 5-6 smaller meals per day. I find a good schedule is to eat at 6am, 9am, 12 noon, 3pm, and 6pm. Many people eat only 3 meals a day, and by switching to 5 smaller meals your metabolism will receive an instant boost. Be sure not to add more calories by keeping your meals the same size as when you only ate 3 times per day, otherwise you'll be eating 2/3 more calories!
• Get plenty of protein. Protein is very important for both muscle gain and weight loss. It will also help you be satiated longer after you eat. Be sure to eat a portion of protein with each of your 5 meals.
• Stay away from potentially unsafe supplements. Most supplements that provide any real weight loss benefits are simply different forms of stimulants, and the rest of them simply don't work. Leave the bottles on the shelf of the vitamin store and use diet and exercise instead.

2. Changing Your Exercise Routine

The biggest bang for your buck in plateau breaking will be when you make changes to your exercise routine. Nothing causes results to grind to a halt faster than an exercise routine that never changes.

First, if you're not doing both aerobic and strength exercises as part of your routine, then it's time to start. Training with weights is at least as important to weight loss as are diet and aerobic exercise. This is because it has a much longer lasting effect on boosting your metabolism than does aerobic exercise. Conversely, doing aerobic exercise will help your body learn to use fat as a fuel source, and therefore reveal all that hard earned muscle.

Next, you'll need to change up both of your a

ar definition. Whether your goal is to gain muscle, lose fat, or both, you reach a point where the exercise and diet routine you've been following is no longer producing the results that it once did. In other words, you've reached the top of a fitness hill that seems as though it should go higher than it does.

Overcoming a Plateau

The secret for breaking through this invisible barrier to a leaner, healthier body lies in one word. Change. What has actually happened is that, over time, your body has adapted to the diet and exercise programs you've undertaken. Once your body has fully adapted, it no longer has any reason to respond and change when it's continually presented with is the same exact routine over and over.

There are 2 simple steps to follow to overcome this plateau problem, and also to minimize it in the future:

1. Be sure that you're following conventional diet wisdom.
2. Change your exercise program, and do so on a regular basis.

Let's look at these two things in more detail:

1. Conventional Diet Wisdom

Aside from eating a healthy, balanced diet and the proper amount of calories, there are a few other things you can do to aid your cause.

• Eat 5-6 smaller meals per day. I find a good schedule is to eat at 6am, 9am, 12 noon, 3pm, and 6pm. Many people eat only 3 meals a day, and by switching to 5 smaller meals your metabolism will receive an instant boost. Be sure not to add more calories by keeping your meals the same size as when you only ate 3 times per day, otherwise you'll be eating 2/3 more calories!
• Get plenty of protein. Protein is very important for both muscle gain and weight loss. It will also help you be satiated longer after you eat. Be sure to eat a portion of protein with each of your 5 meals.
• Stay away from potentially unsafe supplements. Most supplements that provide any real weight loss benefits are simply different forms of stimulants, and the rest of them simply don't work. Leave the bottles on the shelf of the vitamin store and use diet and exercise instead.

2. Changing Your Exercise Routine

The biggest bang for your buck in plateau breaking will be when you make changes to your exercise routine. Nothing causes results to grind to a halt faster than an exercise routine that never changes.

First, if you're not doing both aerobic and strength exercises as part of your routine, then it's time to start. Training with weights is at least as important to weight loss as are diet and aerobic exercise. This is because it has a much longer lasting effect on boosting your metabolism than does aerobic exercise. Conversely, doing aerobic exercise will help your body learn to use fat as a fuel source, and therefore reveal all that hard earned muscle.

Next, you'll need to change up both of your

t routine over and over.

There are 2 simple steps to follow to overcome this plateau problem, and also to minimize it in the future:

1. Be sure that you're following conventional diet wisdom.
2. Change your exercise program, and do so on a regular basis.

Let's look at these two things in more detail:

1. Conventional Diet Wisdom

Aside from eating a healthy, balanced diet and the proper amount of calories, there are a few other things you can do to aid your cause.

• Eat 5-6 smaller meals per day. I find a good schedule is to eat at 6am, 9am, 12 noon, 3pm, and 6pm. Many people eat only 3 meals a day, and by switching to 5 smaller meals your metabolism will receive an instant boost. Be sure not to add more calories by keeping your meals the same size as when you only ate 3 times per day, otherwise you'll be eating 2/3 more calories!
• Get plenty of protein. Protein is very important for both muscle gain and weight loss. It will also help you be satiated longer after you eat. Be sure to eat a portion of protein with each of your 5 meals.
• Stay away from potentially unsafe supplements. Most supplements that provide any real weight loss benefits are simply different forms of stimulants, and the rest of them simply don't work. Leave the bottles on the shelf of the vitamin store and use diet and exercise instead.

2. Changing Your Exercise Routine

The biggest bang for your buck in plateau breaking will be when you make changes to your exercise routine. Nothing causes results to grind to a halt faster than an exercise routine that never changes.

First, if you're not doing both aerobic and strength exercises as part of your routine, then it's time to start. Training with weights is at least as important to weight loss as are diet and aerobic exercise. This is because it has a much longer lasting effect on boosting your metabolism than does aerobic exercise. Conversely, doing aerobic exercise will help your body learn to use fat as a fuel source, and therefore reveal all that hard earned muscle.

Next, you'll need to change up both of your

ll receive an instant boost. Be sure not to add more calories by keeping your meals the same size as when you only ate 3 times per day, otherwise you'll be eating 2/3 more calories!

Get plenty of protein. Protein is very important for both muscle gain and weight loss. It will also help you be satiated longer after you eat. Be sure to eat a portion of protein with each of your 5 meals.

Stay away from potentially unsafe supplements. Most supplements that provide any real weight loss benefits are simply different forms of stimulants, and the rest of them simply don't work. Leave the bottles on the shelf of the vitamin store and use diet and exercise instead.

2. Changing Your Exercise Routine

The biggest bang for your buck in plateau breaking will be when you make changes to your exercise routine. Nothing causes results to grind to a halt faster than an exercise routine that never changes.

First, if you're not doing both aerobic and strength exercises as part of your routine, then it's time to start. Training with weights is at least as important to weight loss as are diet and aerobic exercise. This is because it has a much longer lasting effect on boosting your metabolism than does aerobic exercise. Conversely, doing aerobic exercise will help your body learn to use fat as a fuel source, and therefore reveal all that hard earned muscle.

Next, you'll need to change up both of your

The biggest bang for your buck in plateau breaking will be when you make changes to your exercise routine. Nothing causes results to grind to a halt faster than an exercise routine that never changes.

First, if you're not doing both aerobic and strength exercises as part of your routine, then it's time to start. Training with weights is at least as important to weight loss as are diet and aerobic exercise. This is because it has a much longer lasting effect on boosting your metabolism than does aerobic exercise. Conversely, doing aerobic exercise will help your body learn to use fat as a fuel source, and therefore reveal all that hard earned muscle.

Next, you'll need to change up both of your aerobic and weight training routines.

To change your aerobic routine, try the following things:

• Change the length of your workout. Go longer with less intensity, or shorter with more intensity.
• Cycle your intensity during the workout, alternating high intensity for 30 seconds with low intensity for 30 seconds.
• Do different things on different workout days. Bike some times, run other times, and play sports like basketball or tennis when you're able to.
• Try working out early in the morning. Your body's primed for fat burning in the morning.

To change your weight training routine, try the following things:

• Vary the different types of exercises you do for each body part. If not every workout, at least every few weeks you should rotate the exercises you perform.
• Don't just vary the type of exercises you perform, but also vary the number of exercises, sets, and reps you do as part of those exercises. If you usually do 2 exercises for your bicep muscles, try doing 3. If you do 3 sets of an exercise at a specific weight, do 5 sets and use lighter weights with more reps. Or you could do the opposite, and perform 2 sets with heavier weights and fewer reps. Just be sure to mix things up.
• Vary the number of times per week you work a particular muscle group. To do this, use shorter workouts with fewer exercises and sets, but work each body part two times per week instead of one.
• Learn to do supersets. That basically means one exercise immediately followed by another exercise for that same body part. An example of this is to do one set of bench presses, followed immediately by one set of dumbbell flyes. Then take a short, 60-90 second break and do it all over again.

Conclusion

The only healthy way to get past the frustration of fitness results that have slowed or stopped is to change what you do. This will result in forcing your body to continually adapt to new challenges, and therefore continue to make fitness gains. After all, it's been said that if you continue to do what you've always done, you'll continue to get what you've always gotten.