Have you ever been discouraged about your exercise program?
Maybe you've been working out 5 or 6 days a week for the past couple of months and don't notice a significant physical change. Seeing the effects of physical activity depends on a number of factors, such as age, effort level, lifestyle habits, and the state of your body & health when starting to shape up.
Every body is different! Age plays a role in workout results due to the metabolic and hormonal changes which happen as we get older - it's important to remember that every body is different and responds to changes at a different rate and with varying outcomes. It can take longer to develop muscle tone and shed excess weight, though that doesn't mean it's time to give up working out after a few weeks!
You WILL see results if you commit to a routine and get your body in the habit of physical activity. By joining our currently monthly challenge you can make the commitment to those results! You will get a new workout to crush every single day! What are you waiting for?!
When starting a healthy exercise routine, some people can notice benefits in their physique even before seeing numbers drop on a scale. That's because sweating and replacing the lost water with proper hydration can lead to noticeable de-bloating within a day or two. It's not actual fat lost, but de-bloating is great for giving people a boost of motivation, since statistically significant weight loss and muscle gains do take time to set in: about eight weeks.
When it comes to results, some people under estimate the importance of workout recovery. If you don't take care of your body post workout, you can actually hurt your body! Here are a few tips on making sure that you keep your body feeling and preforming its best after a workout.
Workout Recovery - This will effect your results!
- Warm Up / Cool Down: You must always warm up and cool down before a workout! It is so important. It’s going to raise that body temperature during the warm up and by raising your temperature it will help make sure you don't damage anything. The increased blood flow will result in a decrease of muscle soreness. Always make sure you always cool down afterwards to relive that post workout muscle tension and to bring those muscles back to their original place. The BTES App has full 28 minute workouts with both a warm up and cool down for this exact reason!
- Post Recovery Shake: You guys hear me say this all the time—a healthy lifestyle is 80% nutrition and 20% fitness. So if your not having a post recovery shake after you workout your not going to fully repair those muscles.
- Sleep & Rest: Probably the most important part as far as recovery. This is when your body is going to start getting those energy sources back and you need to give your muscles time to repair and recover. So if your doing a leg workout every single day you're actually not going to build the muscle. You need to have at least 24-48 hours off so your body has that time to repair. So doing an ab or leg workout everyday isn't actually going to get you those results, you need to have that rest and recovery in there as well.
- Stretch Regularly: I cannot stress enough how much you need to stretch. Because when your sitting at your desk or doing something where your not opening up your shoulders or not elongating your spine- your shortening and contracting. You have to keep making sure that you have movement in your joints so if your sitting down for a while every hour or so maybe just stand up and stretch it out! Remember: we want to keep lengthening our muscles rather than shortening them!
- Hydrate: This is something that's actually going to help you lose weight and feel better. So many people do not drink enough water which is going to help with your recovery. All of our cells and our organs need so much water to work efficiently. So even if your a little dehydrated that's actually when your body isn't going to be able to recover as well as it could. So always make sure you have a nice big jug of water next to you and that you're filling it up regularly. Proper hydration makes every function of the human body more efficient. Drinking water during and after your workout helps rid your body of waste products and prevents dehydration. Dehydrated muscles are more likely to be injured and often can result in painful cramps and spasms.
- Fuel with Food: You will not recover properly without restoring your body with the nutrients it needs. Think of your body as a plant, when you put the plant outside; it will grow. So imagine that as your body at the gym. If you don't give your plant some water --it's going to die. And the same goes with giving your body the essential nutrients it needs. So you want to make sure after you do a workout you first- have that post recovery shake and second-make sure you're still feeding your body all those proteins, complex carbs, good fats, vitamins and minerals to help your body recover.
- Don't Over-Train: Maybe the focus of your fitness is thigh-slimming exercises or arm fat-blasting moves, and it's good to keep a goal in mind! What's important is that you avoid overexerting one muscle group. You need to match your intense workouts with time off! The recovery phase begins after a workout, and this is when your body rebuilds muscles for optimal results. Serious injuries can happen if you don't take a break or balance a routine with activity for other areas of the body.
Changing up elements of your fitness routine can help you progress towards feeling stronger & getting more fit when you hit a plateau. Try out these 5 things when you stop seeing results with your workouts.
Switch Up Your Position
Even minor changes to a workout move can engage different parts of the body and lead to amplified toning results. For example: if you are used to doing standard squats, take your feet a little closer together or even a little farther apart to activate various muscle fibers that might not get as much attention in your regular fitness activities.
Try Resistance
For an added challenge, incorporate some resistance bands into your routine - a lot of moves, ranging from arm, booty, and leg exercises, can be easily modified to safely practice resistance. Even a basic workout will feel new, and there are bands for every skill level!
Practice Balance
There are plenty of ways to include balance in your daily workout by throwing in a foam roller, a ball, or inflatable disc. Just standing on one leg, whether single-leg deadlifts or flamingo-style bicep curls, will make you think more about the movements and shifting muscle groups while doing that exercise.
Combine Workouts
You can add a new dimension to your routine AND save time by focusing on more than one area of the body during a single workout session. Your body will burn more calories with this kind of metabolic conditioning so you're making the most out of dedicated workout time!
Increase Weights
You definitely shouldn’t be using the same weights for over 6 months if you work out regularly and want to boost the tone - chances are you aren’t progressing to your body's fullest potential! Try adding a little bit more weight every so often and avoid stepping it up too much at once to avoid injury.
Challenge yourself with new or different exercise forms and you'll see a better fitness outcome - enhanced training means increased strength, endurance, and shaping. Make sure to listen to your bod and practice safety when trying new things; look up proper modifications for moves and allow for plenty of muscle recovery time!
Everyone will hit a plateau at some point in their fitness journey. When you do, try out these 5 things and see what happens! See you on the next LIVE workout!
xoxo Rebecca
