Why can't I get over this plateau?

Show of hands, how many of you are faithful to your treadmill or elliptical? Okay, now keep your hand up if you are still losing weight at the same rate you were when you started. Ah, I see you all put your hands back down. Wonder why that is.....read on!

Before I answer that question, let me share with you a few things about your heart rate during exercise. There are 5 different zones in which you can expend energy:

Moderate, which brings your heart rate up to be 60% of full capacity. 
Moderate activities include stretching and warm ups, walking or light yoga. If you are new to fitness, this is where you should START. During this stage you can still hold a conversation with your neighbor as you stretch, bend and stroll through the town.

Weight Control, when your heart rate is between 60 - 70% 
Weight Control activities include low intensity/impact cardio, weight lifting or hiking. Your ability to speak is still there but you may find you need to take deep breadths to continue.

Aerobic, which is when your heart rate is between 70 - 80% 
Aerobic type of activity include more intense cardio, long distance running or recreational sports like basketball, baseball or soccer. You can speak but likely won't be able to have long conversations with out getting a little winded.

Anaerobic, when drives your heart rate up to 80 - 100% 
Anaerobic types of activity include high intensity cardio, sprint running or military style drills. Simply put, if you are able to talk, you are not in this zone!


The big difference between Aerobic and Anaerobic is how long you can continue to do that activity. As an example, if you know anyone who has run a half or full marathon, you will hear them say they pace themselves in order to go the long distance. In other words they are not expending all of their energy because they need to store it for the long haul! But those who run sprints, will go all out for the 2-3 minutes that it takes them to run the meters. They are giving it 100% because they have a short time to accomplish a goal.

Now if all you ever did was run the long distance, you would certainly lose weight, gain muscle and look great! But as you get older, and as you continue to run that same lap around your town day after day, your body starts to burn less energy doing that same run - making it less effective at helping you to stay at a healthy rate.

In order to break that, you need to push your body to the next level, and do intervals or what is called a HIIT workout. High Intensity Interval Training is one of my favorite things to do. It keeps your body guessing on what will come next and it helps push you to the next level of intensity, revving your metabolism and helping you to burn calories all day long AND TO BREAK THAT PLATEAU!

Some of my favorite HIIT workouts that I would recommend starting with are TurboFire and Focus T25. TurboFire workouts range from 15 - 55 minutes. Those on the longer side are more Aerobic and those on the shorter side are all Anerobic, and of course, my favorite is the 30 minute work out that combines both!  Now if you do not have 55 minutes, never fear because all T25 workouts are only 25 minutes! And it has that same combination of Aerobic and Anaerobic that will help you body get over that plateau and start to look and feel great again!