Ep. 98 Feeling Stuck? 5 Ways to Push Through a Fitness Plateau

In this episode, I share five powerful strategies to break through fitness plateaus—whether you're stuck with fat loss, strength, or energy. I walk you through how to reassess your workouts, clean up your nutrition, implement a deload, reduce inflammation, and explore root causes like hormone or gut imbalances. Plateaus are a normal part of progress, not a failure. If you’ve been consistent but feel stuck, this episode will help you get back on track!

For next level fat loss strategies, hormone/gut health help, serious performance goals and unparalleled support, apply for Mountain Metabolic coaching. Learn more HERE.

For more free wellness resources, hiking/travel guides, and other blog posts, check out my website HERE. 

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What is Fit for Hiking?

Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!

Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a longtime fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. And combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host, Brady, and today we are talking about what to do when you're feeling particularly stuck when it comes to your fitness progress. So whether that's kind of body composition related or you're just not seeing the benefits that you feel like you should be seeing based on your efforts. Um, so we're talking about five ways to push through a fitness plateau. And I want to kind of preface this by saying. You can really only get into a plateau if you are doing things consistently. So this is definitely not for kind of like newbie, um, exerciser or someone who is really sporadic with their efforts. Um, maybe you have been doing things super often on, like you're on the wagon for a few weeks, then you're off the wagon. Um, this is more for someone who has made this a lifestyle. You're in it. You've been doing the things for months on end or even years, and yet you've hit a point where you're no longer seeing the progress that you want to see. Okay. So that is who this episode is for. And also plateaus are physiologically normal and actually expected. So if you have hit a plateau, just rest easy knowing that this is natural. This is part of the process because our body is so adaptive. Our metabolisms adapt, our muscles adapt. Um, so it's normal and actually you really should expect to experience. Plateaus in your fitness journey. That's just a sign that you have made progress. And now we need to just kind of tweak some things to continue seeing the results that you want to see. Okay. So if you're hitting a plateau it does not mean that you are failing. Actually quite the contrary. It means that you have been consistent enough to hit a plateau, which is a huge win. Um, so let's get into it. And also I want to say, before we get started, that it's important to make sure that you have clear outcomes that you're expecting. Um, so get really clear on your goals before you decide that you've hit a plateau. Um, because if you just have kind of these vague goals of like, well, I want to like lose weight, feel better, be healthier. How are you really measuring that? And how do you know if you've hit a plateau? Right. How do you know if you're still seeing progress? If everything is very vague and kind of surface level. So have some clear outcomes that you're expecting to see before you announced that you feel like you're in this huge plateau or you're feeling stuck, um, maybe you actually aren't stuck. You just haven't really been properly defining the outcomes that you want to see or measuring your progress. That's another part of this equation is actually, um, having some ways to measure your success. Have some progress metrics. Um, you know, if your main goal is fat loss and all you're looking at is the scale, that's kind of not really giving you a whole lot of the picture. So I definitely recommend this is what we do with our clients. We not only look at the weight, but we also do, uh, measurements in specific areas and progress photos. Um, you can also do like some, uh, body fat testing. However, the most accurate, accurate form of that is the underwater testing, um, which is a little bit harder to find. I wouldn't really just trust like random scales or things that tell you your body fat percentage because how are they really measuring that? Right? So, um, it's important to not just go with BMI or weight. Um, when you're especially when you're starting out strength training. Um, so having some clear progress metrics that go along with the outcomes that you're wanting to see so that you can actually assess, have I hit a plateau or am I just maybe seeing progress in these different ways that, um, you know, I haven't really been measuring. Um, okay. So let's get into it. Five ways to push through a plateau. Number one is to start by. Really closely evaluating your workouts. Um, and I want to also state that this is kind of in order of how I would go about this. Um, from top to bottom. So number one is like the first thing that you should do. Number five is going to be the last thing that you should look at. So number one is evaluating your workouts closely. So really looking at what am I doing as far as difficulty intensity frequency and duration. Those are some really big aspects of your workouts that you're going to want to evaluate. So difficulty obviously kind of speaks for itself. Are you actually pushing yourself in your workouts? Are you still using the same weights that you started with three months ago on most of your lifts, or have you been progressively overloading your muscles because your muscles will adapt to the stimuli that you're throwing at them? So if you are still squatting with the same £30 dumbbell, um, you know, months later, probably not really challenging your muscles that much anymore. Okay, so you've got to make sure that you are progressing in the difficulty that you are putting upon your body. Um, next to look at is intensity. So are you really bringing the utmost intensity to your workouts? Um, so instead of just kind of like going through the motions, making sure that you're slowing down your reps, spending time under tension, um, finding ways to make things more challenging for yourself as you get stronger. Your workouts should not get easier. The longer that you are in this game, as you get more consistent. Actually, you should be challenging yourself more. So make sure that you are finding ways. If you're working with a coach, that they are finding ways to make your workouts both more difficult and intense. Are not going to really be able to meet those needs. And that's a big reason why we customize the workouts for each client within Mountain Metabolic Coaching, because you are going to change over the course of three, six months, a year. Whatever time you're in the program, you're going to get stronger. The stimulus is going to need to change. We're going to need to, um, rework this stuff to make sure that you're not hitting plateaus. And that's where, um, just general classes and like, um, you know, app workouts that are made for the masses, they're just not going to accommodate those over time. Also, looking at, um, your feet outside of your workouts, especially if you do have a fat loss goal and you're not looking at the time outside of your workouts. That's definitely an area where you could be kind of missing the mark. So looking at your non exercise activity, are you moving around when you're not in a formal workout? Because if you are completely Sedentary outside of the 30 minutes a day, 45 minutes a day that you are working out, you are still considered sedentary even if you're working out seven days a week. We need to incorporate activity into our day to day lives. Finding hobbies that you enjoy that are active. Finding ways to get more movement in on a day to day, especially in America if that's where you're tuning in from. We unfortunately, are a pretty sedentary culture. There's a lot of places in this country where you can live, even cities that are not very conducive to walking the way that it can be in other cultures, other countries. So we really have to be intentional with this. Um, especially during certain times of the year, to make sure that we don't just accidentally end up walking 3000 steps a day. That's it. Um, and getting workouts in. So also paying attention to what you are doing outside of your workout window and trying to stay active in your lifestyle. Okay, let's move on to number two, which is, to be honest about your nutrition. Um, we really can't separate the conversation of nutrition from fitness, unfortunately, because the two are so intertwined. Um, if you have body composition goals, if you want to just feel good in general, if you want to prioritize your health, optimize your energy, um, you need to be looking at your nutrition. And you can't just say, well, I work out, so I should be seeing results. We got to pair the two together. Okay. So this is where being clear on the outcome that you're looking for is so important. And just having these vague goals of, like, I want to be healthy, um, are not very helpful. So making sure that you have a clear goal in mind before you are looking at your nutrition. And let's just say that you have a goal of muscle gain. Okay, so maybe you want to gain some muscle gain a little bit of weight. Um, that is going to require certain changes to your nutrition. Um, the workouts are about, you know, maybe half of the equation there. Um, if that. And then the other part is going to be. Are you eating enough calories and are you eating the proper macronutrient ratio for that? We could also look at fat loss. Similarly, we have to make sure that we are eating in a calorie deficit that's going to support our fat loss goal, because you can work out till you're blue in the face. But if you're overcompensating in the nutrition department, even if it's with healthy foods, if you're just layering on the oils and butters and the healthy carbs and calories just end up being higher than what your maintenance is, then you're still going to end up gaining weight. So you have to be willing to look at your nutrition. Be introspective. Be honest about where you're at instead of just saying, well, I eat so healthy, I have no idea why I'm not losing weight or I don't know why I'm not gaining weight. Oftentimes, we can either highly underestimate our calorie intake or even overestimate it. Um, depending on kind of where you land on a typical day to day. Sometimes when people are struggling to gain weight and then they actually track their nutrition for a little while, they realize they're not eating as much as they thought that they were. Very similarly, on the other side of things, when people are trying to lose weight, they think, I'm so healthy, what's the deal here? And then you track your food for a few weeks and you realize that you binge on the weekends or your day to day. Calorie intake is hundreds higher than you thought it was, and that's if you're perfectly tracking most of the time. Food labels are not actually accurately listing things, and you could actually be consuming more than you even thought even after tracking. Okay, so it's important to just be honest with this and be willing to look at it. If you're someone who's like, well, I'm I'm just not willing to track food. If you're not willing to log your food or even look at it. I will say that this is going to be a limitation. It's going to make things harder. If you're not willing to make any concessions about this or make any adjustments, um, you could even just kind of go more of a portion size route if looking at the numbers is really triggering for you, but you need to be willing to at least look at what, how many portions per day of these different macronutrients are you getting, how much processed, really high calorie dense foods are you eating on a regular basis? If body composition is a really big part of this, if you're looking at energy, you have to look at how are you balancing your carbs to your proteins and fats and your meals? Are you eating a ton of highly processed stuff? Are you eating a lot of naked carbs or carbs just by themselves? So be willing to look at all of these different facets. Number three is implementing a D load. This is something that a lot of people don't even think about or really consider when they start out on a fitness journey. Um, but a de load can be very, very vital. Um, when it comes to really getting enough, uh, physiological and mental recovery to see the results that you want to see. Um, you know, oftentimes I'll talk to clients or people who go on vacations or take a little step back from working out and they're like, oh my gosh, I actually lost weight when I was on vacation. Um, or when I took that little break. And oftentimes it's because we are putting too much stress consistently on our bodies and nervous systems, and having that time away is actually crucial. That doesn't mean we should never work out, but we need to make sure we have a proper balance. So especially if you are someone who really doesn't miss weeks like you are in the gym every single week. Um, obviously this doesn't really apply if you are inconsistent to begin with. You have to be doing this stuff consistently for months on end in order to reach a point where you need a de load. But, um, there's a couple of purposes for a d load. One is just basic rest and recovery. Um, both physically and mentally. Over time, we can get to a place of burnout, which is going to put us at higher risk of injury and just kind of reduce our overall performance. If you notice that you're feeling weaker instead of stronger in the gym, or you're just feeling exhausted and you don't feel like you can ever get that energy back, it might be time for a d load, um, muscle repair and growth, making sure that you are balancing training hard with adequate rest, even just within a given week. So I'm not even talking about a d load here. Making sure that you are not working out seven days a week. Crazy hard. You need to give your body a few days to, uh, rest and repair to make sure that you are optimizing what you're doing in the gym. Rest is just as important as the workout. So not only giving yourself a few rest days during each week. Uh, but this is a really beneficial part of ad load. Um, also hormone balance. So when we are training and dieting, especially both together at the same time, this can create quite a bit of stress on the body. Um, especially when we do it for long durations. And this can affect hormones over time, like cortisol, which is associated with fat storage and stress. Um, so taking a load period can help stress levels to drop down, get cortisol kind of back where it needs to be and improve metabolic health overall to optimize fat loss. Okay. So that is a very real part of this equation. If we don't allow ourselves loads or a proper rest, we can get ourselves into a place where we are a bit imbalanced, especially as females, because we are more stressed sensitive. As reproductive beings, we have a lot more going on hormonally to consider. There's also the psychological part of this having a bit of a reset when we feel like we are always in go, go, go mode or diet mode, then we don't really ever feel like we're getting a mental break. And this is why sometimes people really benefit from taking a vacation, and then they come back and they're like, wow, I was so relaxed that I ended up losing weight. During that time, inflammation came down. I was walking a ton. I was eating healthy things, but wasn't really worrying so much about the amount. Um, all of these things can really have a great benefit physiologically, psychologically, if you are someone who is like very type A and you're always, always on it. Um, another aspect of this is restoring your nutrient sensitivity and kind of paying attention to metabolic health. So especially when it comes to the the dieting side of things, if you've been in a calorie deficit for months on end or even longer, potentially your nutrient sensitivity can decrease. And so you are going to just not respond as well. Your body adapts, your metabolism is going to kind of shift down slightly over time to compensate for the lack of calories, because that's what it's become used to. So it's important to re sensitize your body to higher calories so that your body doesn't get a chance to adapt downward too much for too long. So this is where being strategic with this, and not just living in a deficit for months on end to years on end, is very, very crucial for overall metabolic health. So how can you actually implement a de load? So from the fitness side of things, it can be as simple as just taking a week off altogether and just go for walks, do some stretching, do some yoga, do activities that you like, you know, maybe you're skiing or hiking or things like that, but you're not going to the gym and doing your normal workouts. You could also reduce the weights that you're using from anywhere from like 50 to 70%. Um, and just cut down training days, maybe only do 1 or 2 days at that lower amount. Um, or you can, like I said, just focus on walking and really kind of do absolutely nothing, especially if you have like a formal vacation that you're building into your daily load and you can just focus on the outdoor activities or whatever you're kind of doing on that trip, instead of saying, oh, I'm going to hit the gym for three days a week on this trip, right? So that's from the fitness side of things, from the diet side of things. Um, kind of moving more towards maintenance calories instead of being in your deficit calories. Um, and I would definitely recommend doing this for at least a week. If you have been in a deficit for several months, your body would probably benefit from being at maintenance for upwards of 2 to 4 weeks before going back into a deficit. This is just going to help keep your metabolism healthy, and make sure that you're still even receptive to the deficit, because your body's no longer responding to the deficit, you're hitting a plateau. Then we need to kind of spend some time at maintenance and and give your body a chance to recalibrate. All right. Number four moving along is to follow some anti-inflammatory protocols. So if you have done all three of those things, you're nailing those. And you're still feeling stuck, you're still not seeing progress. Then I would definitely look at overall inflammation in your life. So a couple things here that can definitely make a difference with inflammation. And this would be if you're just feeling like puffy um, not able to lose weight, you feel like your face is holding on to weight. Um, and you are doing all of the basics really consistently and like nailing them and you're still feeling this way. Um, so one would be diet quality. Um, so apart from the amount that you're eating, really looking at the quality of the foods, are you eating a lot of highly processed things? Lots of caffeine, lots of alcohol, lots of store bought stuff. Um, or are you eating enough micronutrients and really balancing the foods that you're eating. This makes a big difference. A lot of food in our society is very highly inflammatory. Um, especially if you're drinking alcohol regularly, having tons of, like, highly caffeinated drinks. Um, none of that is going to do you any favors when it comes to inflammation. So looking at your diet quality and really cleaning that up for a season, we have an amazing anti-inflammatory protocol that I recommend our clients follow if they're coming off of like a very stressful season. Um, a time of life where maybe like during the holidays, like you just kind of go overboard with the stuff that's not as healthy or if you are wanting to flush out inflammation, if you're feeling puffy and bloated, things like that. Um, this can definitely be really beneficial. Um, next is proper supplementation, making sure that your nutrient needs are being met. If you're struggling to do this just through your whole foods um, then then supplementation done properly when looking at really good quality holistic supplements. I want to state because a lot of the supplements on the market are just filled with so many fillers and crap, and they're not good quality at all. So you want to make sure you're getting good quality supplements. Um, which we can actually help you order, uh, medical grade supplements within Mountain Metabolic Coaching to meet your needs based on what's going on or where there might be deficiencies. Um, but looking at supplementation as well, in addition to your diet quality, to pair those two together is really powerful. Um, next one is stress reduction. Um, we really, really have to look at our total overall stress. Um, when we're talking about inflammation and hitting plateaus. Stress can be the big difference maker between seeing results and not seeing results. It's kind of crazy how much of a role it can play. Um, so if you are just dealing with all kinds of crazy stress and you're adding all these stimuli to your life and you're not actively doing things to reduce stress in areas where you can control, um, then this is going to be a struggle. So stress reduction techniques. Um, this can be things like deep breathing, spending time in nature. Cold and heat therapy. Um, working to have better boundaries with your phone or technology or people having access to you, um, working on your sleep quality and really, really prioritizing that. Um, so those are just some of the ways that you can look at implementing. Some better stress reduction techniques into your day to day life, and then the removal of toxin exposure. When it comes to inflammation. This is a big one. So um, looking at kind of like the products that you're putting on your your face, your body, your hair, what's in your home as far as cleaning products, your water quality, um, BPA exposure, how you're cooking and preparing your food. Um, as far as, like heating things up in plastic containers versus glass, all of these things really do make a big difference over time. If your toxic load is just constantly building up over time. Um, and we're not doing anything to counteract that. Your liver can really start to get bogged down with trying to sift through all of these toxins that we're exposed to over time. So looking for ways. You know, I like to, like, slowly start swapping things out. So, you know, it's not realistic to do an overhaul overnight because that's going to be so expensive. But maybe if you run out of shampoo the next time you go to buy shampoo, you look for things that are a little bit more on the natural side less artificial coloring, less chemicals, things like that. Same goes for your cleaning supplies. Um, same goes for even like trying to look for organic cuts of meat or organic produce. Um, and knowing which types of produce are the dirty dozen versus the clean 15. Um, which is just another way to say which which forms of your like berries and fruits and veggies are important to prioritize organic versus the ones that it really doesn't matter that much because they have protection or peels or things like that. Okay. And number five, this brings us to the end of our list today. And again, I want to reiterate that this is the thing that you should really take a look at when you've already done one through four thoroughly. Okay. So make sure that you don't just skip to this. I think a lot of us want to just assume that we are the outliers, that we're the ones that have, like the crazy issues going on, when in reality we just haven't really been doing the consistent work that is going to make the biggest difference in actually moving the needle with our progress, with our overall health markers, all of that. So make sure that you don't just skip to this one, but really be diligent with the first four first. Okay. So now let's get into number five. This would be taking a deeper look at root issues. Okay. So if you have been doing one through four for a long time months, years and you're still hitting major plateaus, you're still holding on to a lot of body fat and inflammation, or you're having symptoms that just aren't feeling so good in your body. Um, you know, this could be anything from, like, hormonal symptoms where you're having irregular periods, really painful PMS, maybe some hormonal acne, brittle hair and nails. Your hair's falling out. Um, things like that would be some pretty. Top, uh, hormonal symptoms. Metabolically. Like, maybe you just have no appetite whatsoever, but you're still not losing weight, even though you feel like you're eating literally nothing. Maybe even track. And you are eating hardly anything at all. Um, or perhaps it's more gut related. So you are noticing that you have extreme bloating after you're eating, or you do again have acne. That really doesn't make any sense. That can definitely be linked to the gut, um, irregular bowel movements or just like loose stools, um, things like that are typical common symptoms of gut issues. Um, so those are some of the things that might signal to you, okay, maybe there are some root issues in addition to not seeing the results that you want to see, despite being really diligent with your nutrition, with your workouts, with your lifestyle, with your sleep, all of that. Okay, so a couple areas that might be the culprit. And again, all of these different body systems and areas contribute to our overall metabolic health. That's why our body weight and how we look tend to be affected when one of these systems is off. So that would be things like your gut health, adrenal health. Sex hormones, thyroid, thyroid hormones, liver health and those are the main things that you're going to want to really kind of look at. And if you're like, I have no idea where to even start with that, then that is where you can kind of take some of these next steps. And again, sometimes it's as simple as lifestyle changes done consistently over time to improve some of these areas. If you know that maybe it's your liver that's the culprit, or maybe it's your thyroid or it's your gut. Sometimes it really is just like a few tweaks that make such a big difference from your lifestyle standpoint. Um, but sometimes you have to take a few more kind of deeper measures to get the results that you want. So here are some next steps that you could look into. If you suspect that one of these areas is off, one would be hiring a coach who really is able to pinpoint which area of your health needs to be addressed on a deeper level. And usually that person is going to figure that out through the symptoms that you are sharing. Um, if you already have some prior lab work, that's really helpful. As long as that coach actually knows how to read and interpret the lab work and do something with it. Um, so those are kind of the two main areas that coach then can order labs. Again, it's helpful when it's all the same person and they're looking at it from a holistic standpoint. So this is a cohesive plan. And it's not so discombobulated sometimes when it's like you're going to one person for your workouts, one person for your nutrition, one person for your your like health and labs and stuff like that. Then none of it is working together cohesively to get you the results that you want. So that's really why we created Mountain Metabolic Coaching to bring it all together into a holistic format, to get you the results that you want without having to go through a million different people. So ideally, your coach is then able to order you labs. A Dutch test is a great place to start if you have just kind of general hormone concerns, but you're not really sure what what hormone is off. Um, and then a GI map would be a really great option for a more gut focused lab work to get. Okay, so ordering labs with that coach, someone who can then interpret what is actually being said in those labs and then formulate a plan with you. Um, and then we also have the ability to do things like, um, liver flush and gut protocols. So these are kind of like. Think about it like a, uh, oil change for your body when your liver is just really bogged down over time due to, um, having to process tons of hormones throughout your life, of being on birth control for ten years, or tons of environmental toxins over time. Um, or just like an unhealthy inflammatory lifestyle, maybe you have spent a lot of time eating really highly processed food, drinking a lot of alcohol and caffeine, and your liver just can't really keep up anymore. Well, that's definitely going to affect your overall metabolic rate, since the liver does make up 15% of your basal metabolic rate. Um, so if the liver can't keep up, you're just not going to be meeting your metabolic potential. So this is where a flush is really helpful or a really specific gut protocol to get your gut microbiome to a better spot in order to be receptive to the things that you are adding in, whether it's certain supplements, probiotics, um, prebiotic foods, things that are going to help cultivate a healthy gut. Uh, environment. You really need to make sure that you clean up that environment and that microbiome first. Otherwise you're just kind of adding plants in with the weeds, so to speak. Right. So these are some specialized holistic protocols that we are bringing to mountain metabolic coaching this year. Um, really excited about these for our clients who are experiencing these deeper level issues, um, to clean up liver, improve hormone health, gut health, remove inflammation, things like that. Um, all of these things are just going to help improve metabolic function for better results, but also just help you feel your best. If you're living with some of these symptoms that I've mentioned or other symptoms, you know how debilitating that can be and how frustrating when you feel like you're doing so much for your health, but your body still doesn't feel its best, or you don't feel healthy, you don't feel energized. That's really frustrating. Um, so that is why we are bringing these things in these protocols to mountain metabolic coaching this year, which I'm stoked about. Um, okay. So I hope that all of this has been helpful, as we have discussed, five ways to push through a fitness plateau when you're feeling stuck. Um, again, if you are curious about Mountain Metabolic coaching, if all of this still feels a bit overwhelming to you, you're not really sure how to put it all together. You know that you need some extra accountability, or you know that you need to dig deeper and look at some root issues. That's what we're here for. Um, you can apply at the link in the show notes. Um, it's just an application link. You go there, fill it out super quick. It's just like a quick questionnaire. Nothing crazy. Um, and then after that, we will reach out and get a call scheduled with you just to chat. It's just a discovery call. No commitments necessary. At that point. We just want to hear about what's been going on, what your goals are, what success would look like for you if this is a good fit, and then go over what the program looks like in detail so that we can make a decision on if it's the right thing for you. All right, you guys, thank you so much for tuning in today. As always, I really appreciate you. Um, just taking this time with me. And, um, if you found this episode helpful, you can give us a little shout out on social media. Share with a friend. Um, those are all really helpful ways to spread the word. Um, also leaving a quick rating and review. It takes hardly any time, but it makes me feel really good knowing that this is resonating with you guys, and it helps other people connect with the show as well. So all of those things are very highly appreciated. All right. Thanks so much for tuning in and I will chat with you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this, be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at Pony Tail on a trail.com. Happy and healthy trails.