Stopped Seeing Results at the Gym? How to Get Over the Dreaded "Fitness Plateau"

Recently, I received an email that was all too familiar to me.

I’m going to share it with you so that, hopefully, it will help some of you refocus your energy when you’re feeling a little defeated.

Six months ago, Angela decided to change her lifestyle. She began eating healthier foods and more whole grains. She cut out a lot of the sugar and carbs that had been packing on the pounds.

She also started going to the gym regularly. And, to her surprise, she kept it up.

She remembers, “I kind of half expected to just give up after a while like I’ve done every other time. But, I started losing weight almost immediately. It felt so good. It was a huge rush. So, I kept going.

“But lately I feel like I’m losing momentum. I still do all the same stuff I did at first, but I’m not losing weight anymore. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’m so frustrated that I am thinking about just giving up. Help me, Susan!”

Angela’s experience is something that we can all identify with. We’ve all reached points when it just seems to stop working.

In fact, EVERY workout will eventually "stop working" for you.

Because your body gets accustomed to the efforts you give it to complete.

It's called adaptation. And adaptation is essentially fitness improvement.

Lifting weights, running, performing body weight exercises, going to spin class...

When you give your body an effort, movement, or exercise it isn't used to it will immediately start to learn and get better at performing it. Perform this exercise or movement again and again and your body will adapt.

Your body continues to learn, react, and adapt until it's efficient at performing the effort you give it.

Once your body adapts to the effort you give it, you'll reach a plateau.

This is the entire reason you see crash workout programs work so well in the first 2 or 3 weeks but then stop working after around a month.

I often talk to people who haven't lost an inch in months because they've been at the gym repeating the same old bodyweight or treadmill routine.

The truth is, if you repeat the same workouts or efforts over and over again, you'll eventually stop seeing results.

The key to getting over the dreaded "plateau" and continuing to see results from your workouts is to mix things up.

It's the best piece of advice I can give ANYONE who has stopped seeing results:

You need to keep your body guessing in order to keep seeing results. Don't give it a chance to adapt and get used to what you're doing.

Your body is excellent at adapting to workout efforts, so if your goal is to maximize your ability to burn fat, you have to constantly switch up the workout efforts you use to get your body to burn fat.

Focus on just one effort for too long and your body will adapt and you will stop seeing results.