How to change things up to get results

momtobe06

I have been working out five days a week for the past 8 months. I have lost 13 lbs & 8 inches.. now I just feel stuck in a rut. I am not sweating like I used to. I have not lost anymore weight or inches. I am not getting the results I want. I feel as if my body has adapted to my routine and I don't know how to switch things up. I work out from home on a treadmill/elliptical ( I also have a Nordic track skier) and I have a weight bench and wide assortment of free weights, curl bar & kettle balls.

currently I alternate the treadmill and elliptical... sometimes I power walk on an incline, other days I run at 5.5 to 6.4 mph. I devote 30 min to cardio and about 20 min on weight training. Three days a week I do upper body & abs after cardio- using heavy weights. I was considering hiring a personal trainer but that is not in my budget at the moment. I am still getting sore for sure after I workout with weights and I try to increase when I can. 10 lbs are often too easy while 15 lbs is too hard for some exercises. I need a 12 lb set of free weights stat. I just seem to be stuck.I got the book new rules of lifting and have adapted some of those exercises using the equipment I have.


What can I do with the equipment I have? I am not interested in purchasing DVD's or anything. How can I change things up?

P.s- I think my diet is ok...... could improve I suppose. ( open diary)

ValerieMomof2

Interval training--alternate speed in your cardio or do a circuit training type with weights and cardio to change things up. You could also add in plyometric training as well

momtobe06

thanks... going to check out pinterest/ google and get some books from the library....

alpine1994

Interval training--alternate speed in your cardio or do a circuit training type with weights and cardio to change things up. You could also add in plyometric training as well

Yeah I was going to suggest interval training too. Are you on pinterest? If you go to the Health and Fitness section I always see pins for HIIT on treadmills and ellipticals. I'm sure you can google it too. I know you said you aren't interested in DVDs, but if you change your mind, Jillian's videos seriously changed my body/life.

_reno_

There are basically 3 variables you can manipulate

Frequency: (how often you are working out) You could safely add a 6th day to your routine.

Intensity: How hard you are working. The interval training is a very good idea. Try adding this one day a week. You will need to shorten the duration of that session:Rowing machines, and stair steppers are great for interval workouts. You can also add incline, or speed up the tread mill. The trick here is that you want to go hard REALLY hard. You should only be able to sustain the pace for about 1 minute. You should feel like you physically have to stop at the end of the interval. Aside from interval training going outside and hiking hills or running are great ways to change up the intensity of your routine

Duration:
Try to increase the duration of one of your workouts every week. Make this your 'long day' increase the duration by 5-10% weekly. I think you would see the best bang for your buck by increasing the duration of both your cardio and strength sessions.
Try doing cardio 3-4 times per week targeting 60 minutes. Then do a full body strength routine 2-3 times per week, again around 60 minutes with stretching and warmup.

momtobe06

thank you.. that is very helpful

stephv38

There are free you tube videos too so you dont have to buy. Jillian Michaels as well as zumba/dance, Tracy Anderson and Zuzana. If using minutes to watch is a problem there is a free "YouTubeDownloader" that you can get to put them on your hard drive.

ash8184

BUY A HEART RATE MONITOR! This got me out of my plateau. Along with interval training, you'll be able to see how hard you're working AND more accurately figure calories burned.