DUDE WHY AM I IN THIS RUT???
Stick with fitness long enough and you are guaranteed to hit a plateau. Whether its because of lack of discipline or lack of focus, your plateau is not due to your body “maxing-out” its ability to adapt and progress. REAL TALK: the issue is you.
That might sound harsh. Maybe it should. I think too often we are too quick to point the finger elsewhere. Blame it on the workouts. Blame it on coaching. Blame it on anything and everything other than what YOU ARE DOING…or not doing! When I say this, I am undoubtedly speaking about myself as well. In reality, I am currently the “least in-shape” I have been in at least 5 years, and the CrossFit Open is definitely proving that, haha. So what are the reasons to why I am not where I was, or where I want to be. I could blame it on 2020, blame it on stress, blame it on the busy nature of the Holley’s. But the truth is, there are way busier, stressed, and pandemic effected than me, who are absolutely crushing it! SOOOO…that leads me to the conclusion that the problem…is me!
Over the last 10 years of coaching others and experimenting with myself, I can say I know some tricks that can help. And you can bet I am using them to help me out of my personal plateau. Here are 3 you can implement today to start punching tickets on the #gainstrain
3 REASONS YOU AREN’T PROGRESSING
1. Goals. You probably have “goals.” But they never leave your head. Sure you’d love to lose 5lbs of fat, but have you told anyone? Have you written that down anywhere?
“Dreams are something you create in your mind that can take any shape or form, while goals are based on taking action. With goals, a lot of focus and attention is needed. Dreams, on the other hand, don’t need that kind of focus.” (read more here).
Here are some things to try:
- Go old school and write your goals on paper then post that paper where you will see it EVERYDAY. Ex) if your goal is weight loss, hang that goal paper on the fridge/cabinet.
- Go new school and put alerts in your phone. You can set the time of day you will receive the alert as well as how many times per day. Ex) again with a weight loss goal, set 3 alerts to your breakfast, lunch dinner times. if you are a late night snacker I would set another for the witching hour
2. Your weekends SUCK! Unfortunately, calories still count Friday-Sunday. When losing weight calories in need to be lower than calories out. So if you eat and drink overabundantly for 3 days that can totally sabotage what you did for the previous 4 days. Now, I am not saying you need to be perfect, but if you are plateaued you need to look at this and accept it. If I told you I drank beer, ate Chinese buffet, and enjoyed cheesecake every Monday- Wednesday you’d probably wonder what the heck was going on, but the truth is we do this all the time because “its the weekend.” Calories still count on the weekends!
Here are some things to try:
- Plan your weekend meals. You can still plan that “treat meal” of beer, Chinese, and cheekcake but leave it at that. the other 8 meals on Friday- Sunday should resemble a balanced whole food approach to nutrition.
- Planning means prepping too. Try to set your weekend up for success by having some items already prepped ahead of the weekend so you won’t get discouraged.
3. You aren’t moving your body enough! Some of us can spend up to half the day sitting! Ever heard of NEAT? It stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, Basically its how many calories you are burning outside of working out. Even if you are working out the 4-5 days a week like we recommend, you likely need to increase your NEAT. Now that doesn’t mean you need to “work out” more or take up long distance running. Rather, look at some ways you can increase your NEAT.
Here are some things to try:
- Have a desk job? Try standing for 15 minutes every hour while you are working. Take regular walking breaks.
- Going shopping? Park the in the furthest space so you have to walk further. And I know this breaks CrossFit code and takes the fun of carrying all the groceries into the house at once, currently Im at 12 bags at once, but what if you only carried 2 bags at a time? More trips, higher NEAT, you are moving more!
- On a typical “rest day” take a walk/hike.
- Play with your kids or take the dog for a walk. This is why we work-out so take advantage of this!
There you have it. Three things you can implement today and start progressing again! As with any goal routine the true key to success is consistency. The more consistent you can be at writing/seeing your goals, not overdoing it on the weekends, and increasing your NEAT, the more progress you will see. If you have questions about your personal plateau or goals I would love to chat with you! email: truefitathletics@gmail.com
Need to see some motivation of these tips applied to real life? Check out these stories!
Crush those goals,
Brandon