“I am doing the same workout that has helped me lose 10 pounds initially, but I can’t seem to be able to lose any more weight.  How come I have stopped seeing results?”

This is a common question that I hear all of the time. This is something that can happen after a few months on the same program and doing the same thing every time you go to the gym.

One thing about the human body is that it has an amazing ability to adapt to whatever stresses that you put on it.

Initially, you may have seen some great results when you started your exercise program, because the exercises program was new.  Your body was not use to the new program and was under more stress that what its use was to.

In order to get stronger you must overload the muscles and give them more work that what they are use to. As a result the muscles will grow and become stronger as a way of adapting to the stimulus.

What happens in many cases is that most people begin an exercise program and initially they get instant result, but after a few months on the same program using the same amount of weight, sets, reps, time, or intensity levels the body adapts and you will hit a plateau and stop seeing results.

In order to get over this plateau you must change some of the variables. Here are a few changes to help you get over the hump so you can start getting results again quickly.

• Change the exercises
• Change the order of exercises
• Change the weight
• Change the sets
• Change the reps
• Change the rest time
• Change the tempo
• Change your program- circuit training, split routines, total body

This does not mean that you should switch your workout up every time that you come to the gym. No, the key is to give your muscles a chance to adapt before you switch up your program. Usually I will switch up the workouts every four weeks. This gives your muscles enough time to adapt and grow stronger from the new workout, but not enough time to for your muscles to hit a plateau.
By Benjamin Petitpas, CSCS
Fitness Boot Camps in Connecticut

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1. 8 Ways to Get More From Your Workouts by Connecticut Boot Camp Coach, Benjamin Petitpas
2. 5 Tips To Crank Up Your Metabolism So You Can Burn More Fat

Having an increase in your metabolism means that there is an increase in the amount of calories that your body is burning to maintain its normal functions. If you have been having a difficult time burning fat and losing weight these 5 tips can help you get over the hump and help you maximize your metabolism and have you burning more calories all day long even while you are resting.

1. Strength Training

Strength training can help increase your metabolism in a few different ways. The first way is from the calories that you will burn during the workout itself. The second way is from the afterburn effect strength training has on your body, known as Excessive Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). EPOC can be described as an increase in your body’s metabolic activity following a strength training workout as your body is trying to recover and return itself to a pre-exercise state.   A third way strength training increases the metabolism, is because it builds build lean muscle mass. This is important because the more lean muscle mass that you have, the more calories it takes for your body to maintain it. So as a result it causes an increase in your metabolism, so even will you are resting, your body will be burning more calories to support your lean muscle mass.

2. Interval Training

Similar to strength training, interval training also places the body in an anaerobic training state. The high intensity levels used during interval training can cause the body to have an oxygen debt which leads to an increase in EPOC following a workout. Similar to strength training, interval training also creates an afterburn effect, as your body recovery from the workout. The higher the intensity of the workout is the longer the after burn effect will last. This means the more calories your body will burn as your body recovers from the workout.

3. Small Frequent Meals

Since it requires energy for your body to digest and absorb the nutrients from foods, there is an increase in metabolic activity every time you eat. Eating small frequent meals every 3 hours will help to keep your metabolism burning at a higher speed all day long as it is using calories to break down the calories from the foods you consume. In addition to eating small frequent meals throughout the day, it will help to keep your insulin and blood sugar levels stable which will help to increase your energy levels and decrease the amount of extra calories your body wants to store as fat to be used as a source of energy later on.

4. Never skip Breakfast

Eating breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As we just previously discussed the importance of eating small frequent meals throughout the day, breakfast is the first meal to get your metabolism jump started for the day. While you are sleeping at night your body’s metabolism slows down as a way to conserve energy. Eating breakfast is important because it gets your metabolism started for the day.

5. Eat a lean Protein with every meal

As we already discussed, every time you eat, it requires calories to digest the calories that you consume. This is known as the thermic effect of food. Each of the different nutrients that you consume through your diet has a different thermic effect. Out of all of the nutrients protein has the highest thermic effect. Approximately 25 percent of the calories consumed from protein are burned during the digestive process, compared to only 15 percent of the calories from carbohydrates during the digestion process. Fats on the other hand have little to no thermic effect and as a result they should not be your main source of calories.

What this means for you is that consuming a source of lean protein with every meal will help to increase your metabolism because of the natural thermic effect it has during the digestion process.

Putting it all together

It’s important to add strength training, interval training, small frequent meals, eating breakfast, and eating protein with every meal into your current routine to help you maximize your metabolism, help you burn more calories on a daily basis, increase your energy levels, and help you burn off fat faster.

By Benjamin Petitpas, CSCS
Fitness Boot Camps in Connecticut

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1. 8 Ways to Get More From Your Workouts by Connecticut Boot Camp Coach, Benjamin Petitpas
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It seems as though most people feel like they need to spend an hour or two at the gym 7 days a week in order to get any real results. Well this simply is not true. The real problem is that people don’t know how to use their time efficiently in the gym.

This is the biggest problem I see at the gym. People walk around aimlessly doing a one set of an exercise and then spending the next 5 minutes resting or talking with friends before they do another set. No wonder why you can see the same people at the gym every day, but you never notice any changing in their bodies.

I am going to share a few of my training secrets with you so you can use manage your time more efficiently. This way you can spend less time in the gym and more of your time doing the things that you enjoy. The best part is that you will burn more fat, lose more weight, and get some serious results in less time.

When it comes to using your time in the gym efficiently the two main factors are the intensity of your workout and having a solid workout plan.

 Here are 8 tips to get you started

1.    Get yourself started on a workout program. Have a plan of what you are going to do before you get to the gym. Having a plan will eliminate wasted time. If you know exactly what you’re doing for your workout, it easier to focus on what you have to do to get it done.

2.    Get away from the crowd. When I am training clients or working out myself, I always find an area away from the crowd. A place where I can bring all of the equipment that I will need for the workout. This way you don’t have to wait for other people and you can move from one exercise to the next very quickly.

3.    Work out with a purpose in mind. It is important that you keep in mind what your goals are and focus on putting all of your energy in to each and every workout. Look at every set and reps as taking another step toward getting closer to your goals. This will help motivate and inspire you to get more out of your workouts.

4.    Make sure that you are using weight that are challenging. Get rid of your little pink weights, they are not going to help you build lean muscle and burn fat. In order to get stronger you must overload the muscles and give them more work than what they are use to.

For example if you are doing an exercise were you trying to get 10 reps, you should only be able to do 10 and no more. If you can do more than 10 reps you need to increase the weight because is to light and you are not challenging the muscles enough to get any real changes.

           You have to push yourself in order to get results!

5.    Use your time efficiently by pairing your exercises together and move from one exercise to the next. There are a few different ways to do this. My two favorite ways are circuit training and pairing two or three exercises together. This way I can move from one exercise to the next with a built in rest period. I am able to get through my workouts quickly because there is very little time is wasted in between.

When circuit training I will often use choose 6 to 10 exercises. I quickly go from one exercise to the next until I complete the entire circuit. Then I take a short rest at the end before repeating.

 When pairing exercises I will pair two or three exercise together. I will often pair a pushing, pulling, and an ab exercise together. Sometimes I will pair an upper body exercise with a lower body exercise.

6.    Reduce your rest time between sets. One of the best ways to increase your intensity is to limit your rest time between sets. This is a great way to keep your heart rate elevated and it helps to crank up your metabolism. I use a stop watch to monitor my rest time. I usually only give myself one minute or less in between sets when I am training. Sometimes I will even jump rope in between set as an active rest period.

7.    Instead of wasting your time walking on the treadmill for an hour, start interval training. By using interval training you will be able to burn the same amount of calories, if not more in half of the time. Interval training is short period of a high intensity activity followed by a short active recovery period.

For example you will run a sprint at an 8 mph pace on the treadmill for 30sec. immediately after finishing the sprint you would decrease the speed to 3.5mph and walk for 30secs as an active recovery period.  After 30 sec you would increase the speed back to 8mph and repeat.

If you can’t sprint you can jog at a slow pace then walk for your recovery. Another way is to power walk on an incline then decrease the incline and walk at a slower pace as a recovery. The goal is to push yourself to get better every day.

8.    Keep a workout journal. Write down your workout. Include the sets, reps, weights, and rest time. It is also a good idea to write down how you felt during the workout.

You should already be keeping a food journal so it should not be a problem to for you to keep a workout journal as well. I often recommend keeping both the food log and workout log in the same book. This way all of your information is in the same place and it is easy to look back and assess your results.

Another reason why you should keep a journal is so that you can look back at what you did in your previous workout and know exactly what you did and how you felt. This will help you push yourself to do a little better every time you workout. The goal is to get a little better every day.

There are my 8 tips to help you use your time in the gym more efficiently.

Now it is up to you to start putting them into effect and start getting some real results!  

By Benjamin Petitpas, CSCS
Fitness Boot Camps in Connecticut

Related posts:

1. Connecticut Boot Camp Coach Benjamin Petitpas Reveals How To Avoid Weight Loss Plateaus
2. 5 Tips To Crank Up Your Metabolism So You Can Burn More Fat