Planks and Plateaus
Strength Starts with Your Core
Often times the core is thought of being just your abs and stomach but in reality your core extends from your shoulders to your knees. Your core is responsible for your stability and balance, so any exercise that challenges those things will in turn work to strengthen your core. There are numerous variations of planks that can truly be full body workouts. From side planks, plank jacks, plank twists, mountain climbers, hip dips, ski jumps, plank side crunches, and many more, planks are a great way to fire up all the muscles in your body. A strong core is essential to the overall strength of your entire body.
Switch Up Your Routine
Your body will start to become accustomed to specific workouts the more often you do them. Often times this can result in plateaus, where the goal your are trying to achieve may just not be going your way be it losing weight, gaining muscle, toning up or something else. Speaking from personal experience, these times can be extremely dejecting. It may seem like all of your work and effort is fruitless and ultimately a waste of time. Do not lose hope as in reality your body could just probably use a good change of pace. Try and keep your body guessing. If you typically do spin classes regularly maybe try and switch to HIIT or Kick boxing. Also, remember that your diet dictates the majority of your fat and muscle index so it is essential to make sure you are paying attention to what you put into your body if you want an expected result out of it. The one thing to always keep top of mind is be kind to yourself and your body. It is you home in all its different shapes and sizes.
Don’t Let the Scale Rule the Day
I’ve thrown away more scales than I can count. There is no more dejecting feeling than getting on the scale after an extended period of time doing high intensity workouts and eating right, only to see your hard work seemingly not reflected on the scale or the even worse feeling of seeing that number go up. I have been there more often times than not. When I was younger I threw away scales because I didn’t like what I believed the number on the scale said about me. I can say now that I choose not to have a scale in my place because I don’t want to let the scale rule the day. Nowadays I focus my attention on how I feel. Do you feel healthy? Are your clothes fitting better? Do you feel strong? There is not a number that can be placed on how you feel so let that feeling be your ultimate goal.
