Fitness stagnation occurs when your body adjusts to your workout demands and you stop seeing noticeable results, despite performing your workouts correctly. You feel like you’ve stopped making progress, causing you to feel unmotivated or bored.
Signs that you’re overtraining include insomnia, low energy levels, fatigue, and in some women, period loss. Other causes of fitness stagnation are failure to get enough, quality sleep, consuming insufficient protein, doing too much cardio, dehydration, and stress. Here’s how you can power through fitness stagnation.
1. Focus on your nutrition plan
What you eat affects your results and fitness level and may contribute to stagnation. With a balanced nutrition plan, your body gets the optimal nutrients necessary for boosting your performance. Getting enough carbohydrates, proteins, healthy fats, and other micronutrients for quick recovery and enhanced muscle building. You may also consider taking nutritional supplements from Healthyroo to complement your diet and cover any insufficient nutrients and minerals.
2. Make changes to your routine
Making small gradual changes in your workout routine can help you power through stagnation. If you want to encourage training responses to occur, consider increasing sets, weights, reps, intensity, sessions completed in a week, and the amount of rest you take between sets. Regular small changes will encourage your body to keep building strength using the same workouts. For example, if you perform your tricep exercises without weights, consider introducing them then gradually increase them for better results.
3. Remember your goals
When stagnation hits your fitness journey, remember why you began in the first place. Examine yourself to see what you’ve accomplished so far. Although you might have fulfilled some of your goals, reminding yourself of the end goal will keep you going. Remembering your dreams, especially when you falter, will help you overcome stagnation.
4. Take time to recover
One of the causes of stagnation is the failure to get enough rest which necessitates recovery. Getting enough sleep and getting proper rest are essential as they help your muscles recover before you subject them to further training. Recovery enables you to overcome stagnation, and you may even begin to see results from your workouts. Rest days help you replenish your energy stores and allow your muscles to grow and become stronger. You may also consider having your muscles massaged every once in a while to enhance relaxation.
5. Stay hydrated
Muscle recovery and performance greatly rely on good hydration. Taking enough water boosts your heart health and digestion system. Poor water intake causes headaches and poor concentration, affecting your performance. You can also supplement your water intake with smoothies, water-dense fruits, and vegetables such as watermelon, cucumber, and tomatoes.
6. Track your progress
Tracking your progress is the only way to determine whether your fitness routine is bearing fruits. To track your fitness, consider using a fitness tracker, taking progress photographs, participating in a fitness challenge every two to four weeks, and adding all your workouts in a fitness journal. This helps you determine whether you’re experiencing stagnation and how you can overcome it. Consider using different tracking methods to see where you aren’t making progress.
Endnote
Choosing a workout lifestyle you enjoy and adding variations to it will help you overcome stagnation. This is because you’ll find it easy to maintain and know when to intensify to see results.
