Deminishing Returns???

What were your goals when you first joined the gym or set out on your exercise plan? Have you achieved them? If not it could be because you are one of the many exercisers who are stuck in the rut of doing the same exercise routine over and over again and seeing no results or even worse gaining weight, losing strength and getting injuries.

When you first start exercising you will see results fast. As the body goes from doing nothing to something it is shocked into action and responding to the exercise stimulus as your heart rate rises, the blood flow increases, and you begin to breathe faster increasing your oxygen consumption.

Now the body has to adapt to the new workload, rebuilding and repairing the muscles. This all takes extra energy – hence the initial weight loss you will experience along with the increased energy levels, higher self esteem, greater strength and stamina, along with an endless list of other benefits. In short you will feel fantastic!

But at some point your body will stop adapting to the new work load and it will settle at a point where you will no longer burn the extra calories because as you become more effective at performing the exercises the energy expenditure for each movement is less. Like everything the better you become at doing something the easier it is to do. A fitter person will generally burn less calories performing the same moves as an unfit person.

Now in the same way as your body got used to NOT exercising it will adapt to exercising and try to balance the energy in with the energy out

This is where you will hit your plateau and stop losing weight or gaining strength. Research has proven that it takes about 4 weeks for the body to adapt to a new workout or exercise plan. Simply doing more of the same workouts will not bring back those initial results and could lead to injuries from the repetitive movements and strains on your joints.

Now you need to shock your body! Shaking up your routine will kick start your results again!

So here are some pointers on how to keep your workouts fresh and the results coming!

1. Keep your body on its toes – if the exercise is getting too easy then crank it up to the next level
2. Move your body in different ways, ie, swap squats for lunges, running for rowing, weight machines for dumbbells – keep it guessing
3. Try to renew your workout every few weeks
4. Beware of overtraining as this can also cause your body to conserve extra energy leading to diminishing returns and injury! Take time to allow the body to recover
5. Alter the intensity, frequency and duration of your workouts

NEVER LET IT GET EASY!!!!!!!!!

Check out the Babes on the Run website for more fat loss tips and info