How to avoid the dreaded PLATEAU in your exercise routine

By Jason Johnson

We all have experienced a point in our exercise program in which we stop seeing results. You have worked out consistently for 8 weeks straight and kept your diet clean. You lost weight during this time, your clothes fit better and you’re getting compliments left and right.

But now-your results have stopped. The weight scale is not going down. What happened? You hit the dreaded point of everyone’s exercise program: THE PLATEAU.

It happens to everyone. The human body has an amazing way of adapting to the everyday stress we place upon our it. It’s called muscle memory. You have probably experienced this in your own routines when you perform a new exercise for the 1st time, it feels challenging, maybe a little awkward.

The next day you are sore. But the next time you do the same exercise, it’s a little easier. Still challenging, but it feels more natural. The next day, not quite as sore. And the next time you perform the same exercise for a 3rd time, you breeze right through it.

Then what? No soreness at all. This is due to muscle memory. It’s good news-bad news. Good news because this is how the human body should function.

What can you do to prevent this? Easy: change your routine. The fancy phrase we use in exercise science jargon is called periodization. I would recommend changing your routine every 3-4 weeks. You want to always keep your body guessing “what’s next?” so it never gets too comfortable. I do this all the time with my clients and my own routines. You can change the entire routine, or you can simply change a few variables such as reps, weight or the order of the exercises.

Jason M. Johnson, CPT

JMJ Fitness