Busting Through Plateaus
Normally when you hit a plateau, either with your diet or training, it is time to change something up.
DIET
Assuming you are eating 6-10 well balanced meals and are staying under your maintenance calorie level, it might be time to change some foods in your diet. My saying is, "Its only food, why not eat right and look good?". If you are having trouble staying on your diet and constantly cheat, then you need to realize what good food does for you and how little of bad food can wipe away all your progress. If you don't cheat, then maybe its time to change your ratios to keep your metabolism stoked. The main way to do this is by carb cycling. There are many ways to cycle carbs, but it is normally a good practice to go with a 40/40/20 (C/P/F) on non lifting days and a 50/40/10 or higher carbs and lower fat on lifting days. You can also go the opposite direction and do 10/40/50 (C/P/F) during the week and (50/40/10) on weekends (known as Ketogenic Diet). This should get your metabolism ramped up and ready to burn stored fat.
TRAINING
Another way to break out of a rut is to switch up your training routine. Try super sets, giant sets, drop sets, rest-pause sets, circuit training, plyometrics, etc. Whatever it takes to do something different. Another part of training is cardio. If you don't, do your cardio in the morning on an empty stomach. This ensures that you will be burning fat, since there will be no nutritional calories to burn. For cardio, change up the exercises you are doing. If you run, try the Stairmaster. If you bike, try a treadmill on an incline. Try the interval or hill training. This will bring your heart rate up and down and get your metabolism moving.
SUPPLEMENTATION
Another trick is to incorporate thermogenics. These will ramp up your heart rate into the fat burning zone, even when you are sitting at your desk at work. They are very efficient in burning fat and can also serve as a mental focus enhancer as well as a stimulant for a pre-workout energy boost. Supplements should only be used after you get your diet and training down pat.
MINDSET
If you just cant get yourself to eat that chicken and rice or even get up to go to the gym, then you need some mindset changes. Often plateaus are because of lack of effort. What motivates you? Getting 20" arms? Impressing that girl at your work? Fitting into size 30 jeans? Realizing your goal will take you a long way in actually transforming your body. Create short term goals for that day/week and month. Create long term goals for that year and 3-5 years from now. Write them down, look at them every day and stick to them. You will find your confidence in yourself and your abilities will increase with each goal accomplished. Every day, every week, every month, every year.
Related Tags: diet, training, motivation, goals, supplement, cardio, stuck, mindset, rut, plateau, mind-muscle
Written by Jeff Harding 12/27/2006 Copyright 2006 Mind-Muscle Supplements All content is proprietary and based on the author's personal knowledge www.Mind-Muscle.com
www.Mind-MuscleSupplements.com
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