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Let's dive into what to do when plateaus happen! Everyone's journey is unique, so your plateau might be for something completely different than someone else's. I break down different scenarios and possible causes then go over strategies to help get your goals moving in the right direction again!
To try a free week of my signature Fit for Hiking program to get you fit from the trails (gym AND at-home options) start HERE.
To try a free week of my signature Fit for Hiking program to get you fit from the trails (gym AND at-home options) start HERE.
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.
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. In 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 and welcome back to another episode of the Fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host Brady, and it feels really good to be back on the mic. I actually haven't recorded a podcast in real time for the past month because we have been traveling to Canada. We were doing a big long road trip in our van as a family to Alberta, British Columbia, a ton of the national parks there, and then down through Montana and Glacier National Park. And while we were on the road, I didn't record at all because I knew that would just be pure chaos trying to do that in the van, between trying to juggle my one year old, our dog, all the other components of the business, this and being so on the go. 1s So I actually just batch recorded before I left so you guys could have some episodes while I was on the road. And now here we are. I'm back home after a crazy, amazing month. I might do an episode just about that trip because I've gotten so many questions about what all we did, favorite parts of the Canada parks and things like that. So let me know if that would interest you guys. I'm kind of thinking about it, but today we are going to be jumping into a topic that I really like to talk through because plateaus are such a big topic of conversation in the fitness world, if you've been exercising for any amount of time, there's a chance that you've probably thought, wow, why am I stuck? I feel like I've hit a plateau. So we're going to be talking about what to do when you hit a fitness plateau and some of the questions that you should really get honest with yourself and ask yourself so that you can kind of move through that season of feeling stuck, because we've all been there. And it can definitely be frustrating when you're like, I feel like I'm doing the right things or I'm doing things that worked previously that are no longer working. So what is a plateau, essentially, when progress seemingly is at a standstill despite your continued efforts that previously were creating change. So maybe you were a beginner and when you first started a program or just starting to implement a few healthy behaviors, you were like, wow, okay, I'm seeing awesome results from this. This is amazing. And now a few months later, the things that were working for you before and you noticed big changes from aren't really cutting it anymore. This can be super frustrating and it's a normal reaction from our bodies. So I just want to start by saying plateaus are not a sign that you're doing something wrong, necessarily. Sometimes they mean like, maybe we could adjust things just to really optimize your efforts, but oftentimes it's truly just because this is our body's compensatory mechanism to new stimuli, to changes. So plateaus are somewhat inevitable if you are on a fitness journey. So here are a few questions that you should really ask yourself if you feel like you are hitting a plateau. The first is, am I really hitting a plateau or have I just not been consistent? I would say that probably 80% of the time lack of consistency is the number one reason why we feel like we're hitting a plateau. And in reality, we just haven't been consistently showing up. I think we're so quick to feel like. Oh, my gosh. Nothing's working for me. My metabolism is broken. I'm hitting a plateau. I'll never see weight loss. I'll never see progress in the gym. I just don't have the body that these other fit people have. We're really quick to play the victim card, and I've totally done this before, actually being honest with myself about how hard have I actually been working? Have I been showing up consistently or have I been doing kind of the bare minimum and expecting A plus results? Right? We can't do D minus or D work and then expect amazing bodybuilder style results, a plus results. So that's the first thing I would really recommend. Before we even get into any of these other more like nitty gritty things, ask yourself, have I really been consistent for at least the past two to three months of working out following an actual program? Not just doing. Like random YouTube or pinterest workouts and Instagram saved workouts, working out three to four times a week and eating for my goals consistently for the last two to three months at a minimum. Oftentimes we expect like, oh, well, I worked out twice this week. Why have I not seen results? I'm hitting a plateau, and we're just not giving ourselves enough time. We oftentimes expect immediate results, even though it took us a year to get in a place where we felt out of shape or maybe uncomfortable with our body composition. So really be patient with the process and actually show up consistently before just labeling yourself as stuck or in a plateau or capable of seeing results. 1s The next question I would recommend asking yourself is, am I practicing progressive overload? So progressive overload is really just a fancy fitness term for increasing weights or tension used in your workouts over time. Because if we're using the exact same weights, like, say, we start out, we're doing body weight workouts, that might feel really tough initially when we're deconditioned, and this is a new stimulus for our bodies. But over time, the same body weight squat isn't going to have the same effectiveness as it did initially because we have gotten stronger. This is a great thing, but if we just continue to use the same load over and over and over again without bearing the tension that we're using, the tempo that we're using, the intensity that we're using, then we're really going to find ourselves at a standstill. And this is super common, especially with women. I see this a lot with the clients that I work with and that I've seen over the past ten years of working in the fitness industry that a lot of women are a little bit nervous to ever increase weights. So we just do things really fast. We do these classes where it's like you're using some weights, but you're really just doing cardio with weights. We're just going through really fast circuits and we're never actually progressing from week to week, month to month, year to year. So one easy way to see if you're practicing progressive overload is are you using the exact same weights on, say, like a squat, or a deadlift or a glute thrust, an overhead press, chest press, a row bicep curl, some of these common exercises that are going to be staples in every workout that we're doing. Are you using the same weights that you were using a month ago, two months ago, three months ago, a year ago? And if you are, then you're probably not practicing progressive overload properly or following a consistent program. 1s So I definitely would recommend looking at that component. And you might not have the ability to always keep increasing weights if you're doing at home workouts, but there are other ways that you can vary the intensity. One of them being implementing tempo work. So you're slowing down the tempo, especially in the lowering phase of the exercise. You're implementing pauses, so we're holding at the point of contraction for a few seconds. You can also implement more unilateral exercises, so that would be single leg and single arm work. These things are going to just naturally be a bit more challenging. So you can definitely do some of those things if you don't have the means to constantly increase your load or the weights that you're using over time. But we need to find some sort of way to continuously challenge our muscles, otherwise we're not going to continue seeing progress constantly. So practicing progressive overload in some form or another is going to be really essential to continuing to see changes in your body composition over time. 1s The next question is, are you using the right metrics to determine progress? So really, this has to start with narrowing down what success looks like for you. This is one of the top questions that I ask every single person who's interested in joining the Mountain Metabolic Coaching program. Because if we don't know what success actually looks like, what is going to make you say, wow, I am so happy with my results, I've feel successful. Three or six months down the line, then it's going to be really hard to know if we've done our job, if we are making progress, right? The same goes for even if you're just doing this on your own. If you haven't taken a moment to say, what's going to make me feel successful in my health or fitness journey, then how do you really know if you are making progress? Right? So you might be saying, well, I feel like I'm hitting a plateau, but you're getting stronger, you're increasing your weights, you're feeling better, maybe even your clothes are fitting better. But if you're putting all of your progress in the scale, if success for you in your mind is seeing the scale move, then you're not going to feel successful with these other metrics, even though they might be better determinants of actual progress. So it's helpful to really look at what's it going to take for me to feel successful. If it's the scale, then that's a really good thing to know. Like, okay, I'm not going to feel successful unless the scale is moving. I definitely don't recommend that route because the scale is a pretty poor metric of success. Like I said, you can see your pant size dropping, you can see your clothes fitting differently, massive progress in Photos, but the scale might not move or it might go up. And if you're putting all your stock in the scale, then you're going to feel like you're not making any progress. And that's just probably not the case. So really looking at what does success look like for me? And am I measuring it properly? So making note of like, do I want to get stronger right now? Is that what success looks like? And then, okay, we need to look at are you increasing weights or is it more about your body composition? Is it more about losing a certain amount of body fat, a certain pant size, feeling more confident in your body? And then looking for metrics that really show that, such as Photos, maybe using a pair of pants that feels tight right now and you're hoping that it feels a bit looser. Measurements the scale, potentially. 1s So really, looking at some of those things, your goal is going to really determine your protocol and the metrics that you look at to measure progress over time. All right, number four, look at the big picture. So fitness is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to body composition goals in particular, but just health overall. So if we are expecting for fitness to carry us through every single component of health, that's just not realistic. We also really need to look at nutrition, both quality and quantity. So, meaning your food quality. Are you just eating junk food or are you eating mostly foods that are going to fuel your body, that are healthy, not processed? 1s Good sources of protein, veggies, fruits, non processed carbohydrates, things like that? And then your food quantity as well. Because if you have a fat loss goal and you're not looking at the amount of food that you're taking in, then you're probably going to feel stuck for a really long time, and that's going to lead to a plateau. Even if you are working out seven days a week, if our amount of food isn't matching up with our goal, then we're going to feel stuck. So looking at the food quality and quantity, looking at sleep quality as well, it's not even just about the amount that you're getting, but are you actually entering into some deep REM cycles and getting good quality of uninterrupted sleep? Obviously, this is not always possible. I have a one year old and we still struggle with sleep sometimes. So as parents. It's not always under your in your control, but you can always try to do your best to set yourself up for success with a really solid nighttime routine. Trying to minimize light exposure before bed, especially blue light exposure. So blue light blocking glasses I've talked about before on here and just minimizing screen time. Maybe doing like a brain dump journal before bed or having a good bedtime routine that gets you kind of into a sleepy state where you can turn off your brain. Stress management. This one is absolutely massive. And so underrated a lot of times we think we have to do more and more and more and instead of looking at maybe I should be removing some things from my life in order to increase my health, we always think we need to add and that's not always the case and can really backfire. I've definitely personally experienced this and seen this really affect clients ability to have body composition changes, hormone health, metabolic health, all these different things. So really looking at what's my total stress load right now and am I doing anything to bring myself out of a stressed out state and move towards rest and digest which we will talk about a little bit in our next point. So stress management very important and then also daily movement. We can't just expect to do like a 30 minutes workout a couple of times a week and then be sedentary, sitting at work, sitting in the car, sitting on the couch the rest of the time and feel our best or maybe continue to see body composition changes if that's your goal. So we really need to look at how all these things work together and whether you have a weight gain goal of trying to gain muscle weight loss performance, just getting stronger, your food, your sleep, your stress management and your daily movement outside of your workouts are all going to affect any one of those goals. So we really can't just compartmentalize exercise in one category and then forget the rest. We have to look at the big picture. 1s Okay, the next is stress. Really looking at stress. And one question I would ask myself here is, have I taken a Deload week? And this is something that not everybody even understands or knows about, but this is something that we implement with our Mountain metabolic clients at least about every three months. If you're consistent, that's the caveat. So if you are kind of like, oh, I did two workouts this week and then I didn't really do any, and then I did another like three the next week, then this probably doesn't apply to you. But if you are someone who really shows up consistently at the gym, you're pushing yourself, you're increasing weights, you're giving that good intensity. You really need to be implementing Deload weeks. So this is a time to give your central nervous system and your muscles a bit of a break. And so it's really just about lowering your training volume for about a week 1s and going for walks, maybe doing one or two workouts, but really bringing that overall volume down. Nothing super intense. And focusing on rest recovery and lowering stress. Give yourself a break. We have to do this. And studies have actually shown that implementing Deload weeks, you're going to continue to see the same rate of progress. If there's like two control groups, one is implementing Deload weeks and one is not, they actually made the exact same progress at the same rate as each other, even though one was getting regular breaks. So breaks really do help us fully recover and come back stronger and less inflamed more rest. Always a good thing. So particularly if you are a higher stress, high strung type A individual, we really need to take a look at your overall stress load and how exercise might be affecting that, because it's not one size fits all. One person could be super laid back and they can go for a run four days a week, go lift in the gym another three to four days a week, and they recover great. They don't have any metabolic implications, no hormonal issues, and they're totally fine. And then other people like myself, who I personally experienced this, I was trying to do a lot of exercise and my body did not like it. It really backfired for me. And I have found that minimal effective dose of exercise is much more effective for me. So really doing the bare minimum to still elicit changes, keep me healthy, keep me mentally healthy, strong, all of these things, but not pushing the line of constantly feeling like I need to do more because for me, more was not better. And that's something I've really had to learn about myself because it just was the tipping point of my stress cup, if you will. And it really pushed me over the edge. So that's something that you need to kind of look at for yourself. If you are a very high stress individual, or even if you're just going through, like a crazy kind of life, maybe you're a new mom, or you just started a really high stress job, or you are a working mom with multiple kids, or you just are in the middle of a move or emotional stress, a tumultuous relationship. All of these things are very much intertwined with your workouts because your body. 1s Does not separate emotional stress and mental stress from physical stress. So it all really adds up and compounds with each other. So it's important to look at that for yourself. And maybe you're just in a time of life where you need to lower your training volume. If you are constantly having injuries, like even small injuries that are popping up all the time, you aren't seeing strength gains despite following program and really pushing yourself. Or you find yourself just constantly being tired and you're like, oh my gosh, I need coffee. 24/7 just to function. You're tired and wired, meaning you feel exhausted. But then when you go to lay down at night, you can't turn your brain off and you can't get good sleep. Then your training volume might actually be causing you too much stress at this time, and it might be something to look at and might be something you need to scale back on and just do maybe like one or two workouts a week. And then the rest of the time you're walking and doing yoga and doing some stress management work. It doesn't mean it's forever, but it means that in this season of life, it might be the best thing that you can do to support your health and your body. All right, next one. Number six. Do you ever vary your stimulus? Hey, so really what this means is a stimulus is just a signal that you're sending to your body. So, for instance, if you are always doing fast paced hit style classes where you're not resting much, but you're also not putting a ton of load on your muscles, meaning, like, you're using weights that you feel like you could do 20 reps with and you could do all day, then that's going to be a different stimulus than really pushing yourself to complete six to eight reps of a lift. And you cannot possibly do one more lift like your muscles are giving out. That's a totally different signal. And oftentimes we stick with one form of exercise that feels comfortable. Maybe it's a class that we love or just something that we tend to enjoy and we kind of ignore the other stimuli that we could be doing. And oftentimes what you aren't doing is potentially what could move the needle because it would be a new stimulus for your body. So I would just encourage you if you are always like a hit girly or always a cardio bunny. You love the classes. I love group classes. I think they're so fun. But for me, I had to veer away from that in order to really start to see some changes because it wasn't serving my body in that time and I was just overdoing it. I needed to phase out of that for a little while. And again, it doesn't have to be forever, but it's something just to look at doing some periodization, phasing your workouts and not always doing the exact same type of stimulus for months and months on end. Okay, next one. And it's our last one here is, is it time to level up? So what this means is as a beginner or someone who maybe is a little bit more overweight, or someone who has been sedentary for a while, you can do very little and elicit changes. So this is like a phenomenon called newbie gains. I know it sounds so scientific sounding, but it's something that has been recognized in individuals who have been quite sedentary for a while. They can do very little and still lose fat and gain muscle at the same time and make awesome changes. Whereas someone who's been exercising consistently could do that exact same thing. Or maybe they have been doing that exact same thing and not see any changes at all. It's all about the novelty to your body. So that's why some people can cut out soda and drop ten pounds, but maybe you never even have a drop of soda and you find it really difficult to lose weight. It's all about what's new to you and kind of where your starting point is. So maybe you're at a point now where you are a little bit more advanced. You've been working out for a while. 1s Similarly, as you get smaller, your body's going to start to fight against more change. It's a natural survival mechanism, compensatory mechanism in the body called adaptive thermogenesis where as you get smaller or as the body starts to sense that maybe you've been in a calorie deficit for a long time, it kicks into a bit of a survival mode and it just kind of slows down a bit. So it's going to slow down your processes. You're going to naturally burn less calories doing activities that maybe you burned a little bit more calories doing before. This is not a bad thing. This is our body's natural process to keep us alive. It's just something to be aware of that as you get smaller or as you get more fit, as you get stronger, you're going to have to do a little bit more to continue to see progress. That's why there's very few people who are walking around with visible ABS because it takes a lot more from us to get to that place versus losing. 1s Extra 20 pounds and getting to a place where you're just kind of a normal body weight is not going to be as tough as achieving and keeping visible ABS year round is going to be. It's not going to require as much sacrifice from us. So it's just worth noting that if you want to get to another level, you're going to have to level up a bit. Might be time to have a more advanced strategy. Consider working with a coaching team if that's something that you're wanting to do. But you also have to know that it will come with more sacrifice. You might need to be more meticulous with keeping track of your calories and macros. You might need to look into just some more advanced things and it's going to require more of you. So you have to really get honest with yourself of am I content with where I am or do I want to have to do what it takes to reach that next level? Personally, I have found that I don't have this need to have six pack ABS year round because I don't want to have to meticulously track my macros. I don't want to have to live in a calorie deficit for half of the year. I want to just live a full life and I'm happy with my body weight where it is. I'm not going to be the leanest coach that you've ever seen in your life, but that's okay. I'm fine with that because I'm happy and healthy and I know that if I push it too much with dieting, I'll lose my cycle. I'm not going to be as hormonally healthy. And those are just some things that you need to consider. So I hope that all of these tips and questions that you can ask yourself if you feel like you're hitting a plateau have been helpful. As always, if you are in a place where you're just unsure of what to do next and you're tired of playing the guessing game and you want some help from a team of professionals, this is exactly why I created Mountain Metabolic Coaching. This is exactly what we do and we're really good at it. And we've helped so many women kind of push through places where they just feel like they're stuck and we help them kind of uncover where they're getting stuck troubleshoot and create an awesome protocol and strategy to get them to where they want to be. So if that's something that interests you, you can check the show notes and the link for the application is there. We have a bit of a waitlist right now, but you can always hop on the waitlist and then whenever we have some openings, I'll be reaching out to get on a call with you. All right, you guys, I hope that this episode has been enlightening and I will see you in the next one. Thanks for tuning into 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 ponytail. Happy and healthy trails.