platue??

I am a Zumba Instructor and I was at a plateau even though I teach 6 classes a week. I added additional cardio to my routine. I workout at 5 am I am either on the elliptical or the treadmill. Once I have completed my combined 6 miles between the two I use free weights for my arms and do crunches.

Then at night I teach Zumba. Keep in mind if you are now lifting you are building muscle which will make it appear as though you have gain weight when in fact you have gained muscle mass.

Happy Workout!

Platues generally occur when the body has become too accustomed to its daily routine. This is usually applied to strength training and cardio rather than weight loss. Something must be going wrong in your methods - this is not a critique, no workout or diet is 'perfect', that is why we need to mix things up.

remember, weight loss is like a set of scales, energy in vs. energy out. You may have just 1 kcal over on the 'energy in' part...but this is still going to effect you and so not lose weight, so it could be a minor change needed.

Here is what I suggest (you may already be doing it too), keep a strict food diary and be honest, also includes what you drink, even bits of milk in a tea. See if you are going wrong in your diet. If not lets look at the exercise.

To lose weight, a superior method is to do interval sprints, ill write some examples at the end. They are superior because you expend so many kcals during it. You increase the so called 'after burn'...kcals being burned after your exercise. You increase your level of anabolic hormones which are positive in developing muscle vs. cortisol - a stress hormone that breaks down muscle tissue, which may explain why marathon runners have small/wasted looking muscles.

Most of all, doing interval sprints will make your half marathon time brilliant. Its always about intensity! I know people who do many 1/2 marathons but rarely improve their times...they do x-number of miles each week often 9 plus. but they are slow and not powerful in their running of distance - they plod and add extra miles thinking this will help them. Their training is not correct. I ask the question...Why and how will increased duration or distance in running improve your fitness, beyond the 6 mile stage?...it wont, because your body will have fallen into a steady state mode (like walking)...no physiological benefits will really occur beyond this mileage. To improve fitness and increase kcal expenditure, you must work your body at a pace that it CANT DO for very long...only then will it adapt to the stimulus.

You must do short and long distance sprints and intervals.

Here is a workout that I did in 2007 for 4 weeks and I became fitter than ever!
jog 1.5 miles at an easy pace - warm up pace
stretch, 3-5min relax and prepare.
run 1.5 miles as fast as you can...<15min, average. <12 min, good. <10.30 very good. <9.30 excellent. <9.00 supreme. (These times have been adjusted for women...<8.30 would be supreme for men)
stretch
run 800metres fast! you want to do this up hill...if you cant find a long hill, find a short one and do repeat sprints up it until you have completed 800m
stretch
10 min easy jog (optional)

I started off unable to run 1.5miles in 11.30 when i started. 4 weeks later i could run it in 9.05. But each time i ran, i ran faster, pushed harder, so hard i thought i would collapse - get that ipod ready, youll need it.

also look into 16-24 hour fasting - the befits are mind blowing, literally. this post is already too long for me to explain. good luck i hope this has given some catalyst for further research and help you improve.

Try eating at maintenance for a week to recharge the hormones. That still gives you 4 weeks to train for the 5k while eating at a slight defecit.