Hello everyone. Today’s article is a guest post from Mariana Ashley – a freelance writer who works for http://www.onlinecolleges.net/.
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The slump. The plateau. The why-aren’t-I-losing-weight-like-I-used-to? It goes by many names, but no matter what you call it, it stinks. After starting an exercise regimen and sticking to it for many weeks, people are often very disappointed (to say the least) to find that they aren’t losing weight or gaining muscle at the rate that they were when the exercising started to pay off.
Many people are convinced when they hit this fitness plateau that they have simply reached the lowest weight (or maximum muscle mass) possible for them—this is just not true. The truth is that after a period of time, even if you’re working out as hard as you can, your body will acclimate to the demands you put on it if you aren’t mixing up you’re routine.
As you become more and more fit, it becomes more and more difficult to challenge your muscles and continue to burn fat using the same exercises. This means that you can’t just add more weight or make your runs longer to continue on your journey to fitness, but instead means that you have to surprise your body by doing something completely different.
So, what’s one excellent way to totally surprise your body? It’s called sprint training. Adding higher intensity periods of exertion during exercise, even if the total workout time is shorter, will give you explosive results in your training. It confuses your muscles by not allowing them to find a rhythm, and by so doing, keeps your metabolism high. It also builds muscle in a way that regular exercise won’t—and more muscle makes for a higher metabolism as well.
If you’ve hit that plateau, and are ready to keep burning fat, try this workout and you’ll be surprised by how explosive you can be. Alternate these workouts doing each only once in a week, and change the order in which you perform them every week.
Week 1
• Jog 1 mile
• Sprint 200 yards at 50% of your maximum pace
• Jog 200 yards
• Sprint 100 yards at your fastest pace (100%)
• Jog 200 yards
• Sprint 200 yards at 75% of your maximum pace
• Jog 1 mile
Week 2
• Sprint 400 yards at 100%
• Rest
• Lunge walk for 100 yards
• Rest
• Do 3 sets of 10 pull ups
• Rest
• Sprint 200 yards at 100%
• Jog 1 mile
Week 3
• Run 2 miles at your fastest jogging pace (approximately 50% of your maximum sprinting pace)
• Rest
• Bear crawl for 100 yards
• Rest
• Do 5 sets of 10 push ups
• Rest
• Jog 1 mile
If these exercises prove too difficult at first, cut the numbers in half, but keep the workouts the same. And, of course, if they’re too easy, you can always add more, or combine the workouts in one day. The point is: be explosive, and always keep changing your routine.
About the Author:
Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.