August 17, 2020 • 40 mins
Once you begin to exercise consistently, you will see some rather drastic improvements over a relatively short period of time. All of the physical and mental changes make you feel all sorts of positive feelings! After some time though, you will inevitably experience a plateau. It's the moment when you stop seeing incremental improvements; you may feel like you are in a rut. You may not even feel as great when you exercise as you did when you started. The good news is that this phenomenon happens to everyone who sticks to an exercise program long enough. In this episode, Tom gives you some advice on how to work through the plateaus of your program.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland, and this is fitness disrupted. Plateau,
a state of little or no change following a period
of activity or progress when it comes to losing weight,
(00:24):
when it comes to your exercise program. This is the
dreaded plateau. This is that point that you have experience
just about everyone who has started a fitness program, a
weight loss program, and I'm here to tell you that
you can break through it. I'm gonna give you the
reasons why it happens, but I'm also here to tell
(00:45):
you that it happens. It happens. I did a show
recently about the scale and weight loss, and I've talked
about it on numerous other podcasts. Weight loss is not linear.
In other words, the line doesn't go down every single day.
You do not step on the scale and see weight
loss every single day. If you did, it would be easy.
(01:07):
If you did, everyone would do it. But there are
reasons why you plateau. There are reasons why you don't
see the weight loss or progress that you are trying
to achieve. And that's what this show is about. As
I was preparing my notes for this show, I realized
that just about every podcast I have done is about
(01:27):
just this. It's about getting you results right. It's about
avoiding the plateau, about not seeing results. So I could
literally just list off all the shows I have done
up until this point and talk about them, because they
are all about that. This whole show is about exercise science,
doing it right, busting through those myths, making sure that
(01:49):
you don't make those mistakes right off the bat, and
follow programs and advice and diets that are not going
to get you the results you want. And you know,
it's quite often called hacks, and I hate that term,
and I hate the word hate, but they're not hacks.
It's science. So all of the tips and the shows
(02:12):
I have done on all the specific elements of exercise
and nutrition are for the show to make sure you
see results. And the term I use and is the
like overarching philosophy that I, you know, put out there,
it's excessive moderation. And I'll talk about that. Excessive moderation
(02:35):
doing a little of everything a lot, not doing a
lot of one thing a little bit. And that's how
you avoid sticking in a plateau, because they're gonna happen.
They're gonna happen. And that's what we're talking about. You
know what a plateau is. It's your body telling you
you need to change something. It's that simple. It happens,
(02:57):
and it happens at different times for different people for
different reasons. But that should be good news that when
you hit that plateau, it's not the end of the
world and it doesn't mean you quit. And that is
the most important part of this show, that you don't quit,
that you never quit, that you say, Okay, I'm gonna
(03:18):
apply the principles Tom talks about to get through this,
but it happens to everyone. Weight loss is not linear,
and I should say that as well. Plateau of what
you know. Quite often all these articles out there, they
don't talk about the specific So you're plateaung what is
your goal? Is your goal strength? And I'll talk about
(03:40):
that like to to to improve you know, your performance,
whether it's you know, strength training, cardiovascular type, exercise, sports plateaus,
or your body telling you something. And I'm gonna get
to that. The science of it, right, there are three
basic points that are connected to your plateau, and this
(04:01):
is science. People overload adaptation and progression and then keep
it simple so you can take the advice and the
science and apply it right away. Okay, So we're gonna
talk about overload, We're gonna talk about adaptation, We're talking
about progression, and then I'm gonna give you all of
the other reasons that are connected to that that you're
(04:22):
not seeing results, because that's what I'm here to help
you do. Get you the greatest results in the shortest
amount of time with the least likelihood of injury. That's
my job. Quick break. When we come back, overload, adaptation, progression,
and how to get through that plateau that we all
(04:43):
myself included experience. We'll be right back. We're talking about plateaus.
And as I record this show, I just got back
from a two week vacation and I've done this vacation
(05:05):
for decades, and usually within this vacation I do a camp.
I've talked about it before. One of the greatest things
I have ever done in in the fitness industry for myself,
because it came out of nothing. I created it, it
took years to get started. I operated in the red
and it's just turned into an amazing, amazing thing. But
I wasn't able to do it this year, so it's
(05:26):
a two week beach fitness camp on Nantucket Island. It's
turned into this incredible thing. I've literally seen you know,
kids who started at thirteen fourteen in this camp, and
it's a mix of adults and and teenagers, mostly adults,
but I've seen them grow up. Because I've done this
camp for over twenty years, I couldn't do it this
year thanks to COVID. And I tell you that just
(05:48):
because I had the opportunity now because it was every day,
week days, and you know, uh, it took took time
in the morning, and now I could get different workouts
in for myself. And so it goes to plateaus, it
goes to mixing it up, and it goes to the
principles I'm going to talk about, especially adaptation, especially adaptation.
(06:16):
So I got in bike rides and runs. I ran
with my wife almost every day. Now we haven't been
able to do that because of work and family and
things like that, but it's all connected to this adaptation
and plateau principle that this show is all about. So
first and foremost, we have to go to your goals
and your expectations. If weight loss is the goal, and
(06:40):
that's the primary concept of plateaus. People say, I've been
losing weight and I'm stopped. I've stopped seeing weight loss,
And first and foremost, you need to realize that that's
going to happen. That weight loss is not linear, and
day to day, if you weigh yourself every day, I
just did a show on that, so many things can
affect that can affect what you see on the scale
(07:02):
day to day. I lose four pounds of fluid in
one hour of a hot Cardiovascar workout. So you need
to realize that if weight loss is your goal, that
it's not linear, and that you didn't gain all the
weight in a week or a month, and you're not
gonna lose it quickly. You don't want to lose it quickly.
(07:25):
People are always shocked. Back when I was a trainer,
and I would say that to the clients, like, I
don't want to see uh, three pounds of weight loss
a day. I know that that's fluid. I want the
steady progression. And you need to have the long term
approach to health and wellness and weight loss. And when
you do that, it actually becomes easier when you don't
(07:48):
expect weight loss of epic proportions in a week or
two weeks or even a month. And when you see
programs that promise that, they are absolutely flawed from the start.
And that's what the show is about. When it comes
to the goal expectations and plateaus and getting discouraged. You
can't start with one of those programs and expect to
(08:09):
be successful long term. You just can't because they're unsustainable
and they do negative things to your body and your
your psychology when it comes to sticking with a program.
All right, so you have to be honest and follow
a balanced program from the start. Okay. So when we
(08:31):
talk about diets, it's numbers. It is simple numbers, and
then you take into account all the daily fluctuations. So
in other words, they pound us thirty fred calories. Generally speaking,
weight loss is taking out two hundred fifty five hundred
(08:51):
calories per day expenditure, so that's exercise and diet. So
a goal weight loss of one to two pounds a
week is awesome and sustainable and doable and meaningful. If
you tell me you lost eight pounds in a week,
I go, okay, that was primarily fluid, because no amount
(09:14):
of exercise is going to get you eight pounds of
fat loss in seven days. Okay, So you just have
to be honest about those goals and the expectations from
the start, and then it becomes easier. Okay. So the
plateau is going to happen when I lose weight for
(09:36):
my races, talked about that, did a whole show about that.
I know, And if I if this were a TV
show where I could do visuals, I could show you
my weight loss and there are peaks and valleys, and
it goes up and it goes down. But here is
the thing that I have seen over decades working with
(09:56):
thousands of people. Right at the point most people are
going to see the results really kick in is when
they quit. Is when they quit because you see those
sudden you know the results, you get quickly, right, You
get motivated, whatever the reason is, New Year's you've got
an event coming up, whatever it is. You're motivated, You
(10:20):
change your diet, you do a bunch of workouts, and
the way it comes off, and then that motivation changes
or waynes and the plateau happens. It's just about exactly
what I have seen for so many years. And white
people go to the gym for six, eight, ten weeks
(10:43):
and then stop. It's all connected. It's all connected, all right.
So when I would tell clients just keep showing up,
just keep showing up, I promise you you will see
those results. And if you take every single podcast that
I've done and all the changes and the science, and
(11:05):
I'll call them tips, tricks, whatever you want. I don't
like those terms, but it just, you know, clarifies it
for most people. When you take all of this stuff
and you put it together, you constantly get results, not
always on the scale. And that's how I'm going to
finish the show, because so many of these shows come
(11:26):
back to it's not all about weight loss. You're you're
not hitting a plateau when it comes to doing good
things for your body, and that is so important. I'm
gonna leave that to the end of the show, all right,
So let's go to the science. Talked about overload, adaptation, progression.
Those are the three things you need to know when
(11:47):
it comes to your strength training and cardio program. And
so many of the shows I have done are all
about that. So overload overload principle so simple to kind
of grasp when it comes to strength training and also cardiovascular. Okay,
and here's the Here's one of the definitions I pulled
for this very reason. It says so overload. They defined
(12:13):
it as, in order to improve, athletes must continually work
harder as their bodies adjust to existing workouts. I say, no,
not harder, smarter, But there is truth to that. So
overload principle means you need to challenge your body. You
know the I say all the time that so many
(12:33):
of the solutions, the answers are right there on Instagram,
all of the memes people post. People just don't follow them. Okay,
if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. But
challenge doesn't mean it needs to hurt. Challenge doesn't mean
it needs to be ridiculously heavy or ridiculously hard. It
needs to be Here's the term. If there's one thing
you take away from this show when it comes to
(12:54):
adaptation and overload, it's different. Different. Okay, how many times
some people said, hey, Tom, you should take this bar class,
this pilates class, something I haven't done before. When I
do that that different workout, that different type of exercise,
I am ridiculously sore. Now I exercise a lot, I run,
(13:19):
I bike, I swim, I strength trained, anything different challenges
the body, so it doesn't have to be ridiculously heavy.
You don't need to put yourself at risk of injury
to overload and to prevent the plateau. And that is
so important. But when it comes to strength training in
(13:43):
simple terms, you can't continue to use the same lightweight
over and over and expect to see the results because
the body needs to be challenged. So that is a
simple start to the overload principle. But it's not about harder,
it's about smarter. I can say to you, sure, go
do a hundred perpies, do a hundred push ups, you know,
(14:05):
lift this ridiculously heavy weight or tire whatever. That's not
how I do it, and that's not how uh you
do it safely and you progress, which will be the
final of these three exercise science concepts. All right, so overload,
but yes, so for those of you who are worried
about bulk. One of the first shows I did for
(14:27):
Fitness Disrupted, you need to challenge your muscle. If it
doesn't challenge, it doesn't change. The body is a very
smart machine. It adapts to any stressor imposed upon it.
And the question is how long. And I did the
show on muscle confusion. Generally speaking, when you are strength
training ten to fifteen repetitions for most of you, now
(14:50):
there's strength and power and stuff like that. For people
who are trying to change body composition, get a little stronger,
prevent injury. The vast majority of you, and by the way,
even those of you who are you know, performance athletes,
still holds true to a large degree, ten to fifteen
repetitions of an exercise where the final few repetitions are
difficult without losing form. I have said those words for
(15:14):
decades and they still hold true. Ten to fifteen repetitions squats, bicept, curls,
chest press, lat, pulled down, shoulder raises, by and large,
that is going to challenge your muscle and change your muscle.
Add metabolically active lean muscle, which is so important when
it comes to weight loss, when it comes to being healthy,
(15:37):
when it comes to functional fitness. So that's not harder,
it's smarter. So at that point, if you're doing ten
repetitions in a set fifteen, when those last few are easy,
time to go up. Time to go up. If there's
top ten, call it secrets because you don't have better terms.
(16:02):
Two success in your exercise program. That is one the
last few repetitions need to be challenging. If you're doing
fifty repetitions of something with a super lightweight, yes it burns,
but it's not changing the muscle. Is changing the endurance
capabilities of the muscle, but you're not building that strength.
(16:23):
You're not asking the but you're not overloading it and
asking the body to adapt the way most of you want.
And that leads right into number two. Adaptation. I've already
talked about it. So you have to overload the muscle,
and that's adding more weight or more sets. By the way,
you can do one set, two sets, three sets. It's
(16:44):
a common question how many should you do? And I
say short answer is one is good, two is a
little better, and three you're gonna get even more results.
Personally speaking, after all these years, I do two sets.
I would rather d do several different exercises than resets.
It's mind numbingly boring for me to do that third set.
So if I'm doing chest, I'm gonna do two sets
(17:07):
of dumbbell chest presses, and then I'm gonna do two
sets of maybe machine a machine. But I would much
rather do that than third I personally can't get to
that third set anymore I used to. So one, two, three,
that's overloading. That's volume, and make sure that those last
(17:27):
few reps are challenging. Okay, And so adaptation, here's a definition.
When you do do exercises or load your body in
a different way, there's that term. Your body reacts by
increasing its ability to cope with that new load. I
love it. So it's got everything in there load overload, right.
It It reacts by increasing its ability to cope with
(17:50):
that new load, and increasing the ability is building more muscle,
adding you know, connections, the neuromuscular connections to your muscles,
the mind and the muscle connecting as I've talked about. Okay,
So adaptation, excessive moderation, mixing it up. How many times
(18:11):
do I talk about variation for this very reason? Because
our bodies are such smart machines, and if we don't
continue to challenge it, it stops changing. That's the plateau,
and so many people that's the plateau. We're talking about
exercise here. But as soon as I'm done with this,
we're gonna talk about the diet. We're gonna be honest. Okay,
(18:33):
But that's the second really important factor in plateaus. You've
gotta overload the muscle more sets, more reps, heavier weight.
And when I say more reps, that's ten of fifteen
again for most of you. And then you need to
constantly challenge your body in different ways. Just did a
show about that. Now you want to spend for many
(18:58):
people four six, eight week you know, doing that type
of routine, because that's how you You can't continue to
overload your muscle if you're changing it around every day.
Now you can in different ways. Is where it gets
really tricky. But I would rather you overload your muscles
(19:20):
and mix it up as long as it's challenging. And
when I say challenging, I don't want that risky chance
of injury type of challenging for the vast majority of you.
If you're not a professional athlete, why are you're risking it? Okay,
you don't have to. You don't have to. That's the thing,
all right. So adaptation, when you do new exercises or
(19:43):
load your body in a different way, your body reacts
by increasing its ability to cope with that new load.
So that can be just changing the angle or the grip,
like if you're doing a lap poll down. How many
different attachments are there. You've got the wide bar, you've
got the close grip, you've got a rope. So you
can take that same exercise lap pulled down and change
(20:07):
the thing you are using, the handle, the attachment, and
that is variation enough adaptation. Your body has adapted to
pulling that straight bar down. If you've done it for
four six weeks. Okay, you're using the same muscles in
a different way now and it's more fun. So you
can sit at that lat pulled down, do two sets
(20:30):
with the wide grip bar. And by the way, you
can change your hand position wider, closer, facing you, facing away,
supine grip, pronated grip. These are all the ways to overload,
to prevent your body from adapting, and to progress. You
change the type of exercise and your body will continue
(20:54):
to adapt. And those subtleties are everything all right. Finally,
progression talked about it. It's all connected more weight, more sets,
more reps. So when you progress, you overload your body,
you keep it from adapting. But this is one of
the most crucial parts because most people either don't progress
(21:16):
enough or they progress say with me too much, too quickly.
They get hurt. You get hurt, it becomes about ego,
specially when you're competing with other people in the gym.
I don't compete with anyone. I don't care. I don't
care how much the guy next to me is lifting,
or the woman. There's some really strong you know. I
love it seeing women lifting everyone. I've been trying to
(21:37):
get that out there for years. But don't progress too much.
Get hurt, you're done. You're out for a certain amount
of time. And especially as we get older, the body
doesn't bounce back the way it used to. So take
those three concepts to heart, overload at adaptation, and progression,
and they're all connected, and I can and need to
(22:00):
talk about them in much more specific forms in shows
to come, and in many of the shows I have done.
As I have said, that's exactly what I've been talking about. Variation,
keeping your body, challenge, doing exercises correctly with proper form
(22:21):
so the plateau so often here it goes. I was
in Nantucket, as they said, it's COVID time the gym
was open. That I have gone to their friends of
mine who own it, Dave and Sandy Schultz and Nantucket,
great people have owned this gym. Small gym hasn't changed
much over the years, although it has for COVID, they
did some great new kind of changes to to you know,
(22:44):
be able to um open their doors and accommodate the changes.
But there are very few people as expected with COVID
and vacation to begin with. But I have to say this,
I got there early couple of days. You know, it
worked out at the hym a couple of days. I
wanted to mix it up do everything while I was
on vacation. And it's also research for me. I'm there
(23:06):
super early to other guys come in super early with
me and just sat and texted for the most part,
did a couple exercises. I'm looking at them thinking, you
can't tell me your body has plateaued. You can't really
even say you're going to the gym and not getting
results because they're not doing the work. And I'm not
(23:28):
being harsh here. This is just this is honest. So
this is a super important part of everything when it
comes to plateau and it goes for your exercise and
your nutrition. Are you really following a plan? Are you
really doing the work. And when I say work, this
is not hard stuff excessive moderation is not challenging. Excessive
(23:49):
moderation is doing a little bit of everything. Changing your diet,
you're healthy, eating patterns, a little bit, consistently, doing a
little bit of exercise. But you can't go to the
gym and not do workout routine and expect results, especially
when most people are going to the gym two to
three times a week doing the workouts that I see
(24:11):
most people doing at the gym. They are not challenging
their muscles in ten to fifteen repetitions, or they're going
too heavy, or they're doing you know, super specific spot
reduction type exercises. Again, all the shows I've done up
until this point, it's all connected to the plateau. It's
all connected to getting you results. So you've gotta be honest.
(24:33):
You have to follow the recipe, all the stuff I
talk about going to the gym, taking all the techniques
and science and putting that into play, because that is
going to get you through that plateau that we will
all experience. All right, let's talk diet. You know what
quick break, Gonna talk diet because when it comes to
(24:56):
exercise and losing weight, it's what we put into our
mouths that change us the most. How many times do
I love to say it is exponentially easier to keep
five cowries out of your mouth than it is to
burn it off through exercise. Final break, We'll be right
back when it comes to weight loss. When it comes
(25:31):
to plateaus, quite often the easiest way to continue to
see results is through what we eat. Because I said,
as I said before the break, exponentially more difficult to lose,
to burn five hundred calories than it is to keep
(25:51):
it out of your mouth. That is an hour of
exercise for most people. And I have to say this,
if you truly want, it's gonna it's gonna depress you.
But this is this is what the show is about
science getting you results. Take the caloric expenditure that you
see on your watch on the machine, cut it in half,
(26:14):
cut it in half. I saw someone post recently on
social media that they had done a twenty seven minute
workout with a certain I'm not gonna name the brand,
exercise whatever, and that they burned twenty seven minutes possible, Yes,
probably not a chance, not a chance for what I
(26:34):
knew about whatever the specifics, So two fifty in twenty
seven minutes. If weight loss is your goal, and you
are a counting numbers, are accounting calories and following numbers,
which I don't want you to do long term. That's
closer that's going to get you the results because most
(26:57):
CLOrk expenditure numbers are way overestimated, way and that shouldn't you.
That's then I'm not gonna do it. I get it.
You're gonna Well, then why am I even bothering? Because
it's way more than just weight loss. When it comes
to exercise, so diet. When you exercise, and I've seen
(27:21):
this phenomenon and it's not talked about enough. When you exercise,
you burn that let's call it, two hundred calories in
twenty seven minutes. You generally then make better food choices.
After you feel better about yourself, you make better food choices,
You move more throughout the day. It is all connected.
So when it comes to weight loss plateaus, you need
(27:43):
to be honest about what you're eating, and you need
to take that three pronged approach of cardio, strength training,
and healthy eating. When you do all three of those
things consistently, it does not change your life from raatically,
you will consistently get results. Some scene, some unseen. But
(28:08):
when you stick to those three prongs for a lifetime
strength training, and then you mix it up and you
overload and you progress. When you do cardio, and how
many shows have I done on all the ways to
mix up your cardio routine, you will progress, and nevermore
so than with your healthy eating. You will get healthier
(28:30):
and healthier and progress and the weight will come. Okay,
but let me just give you one study. So what
what kind of studies do I do? I give on
weight loss plateaus? Well, there is this, you know, these
theories that are thrown out there that you know the
set point principle about weight loss, that your body just
(28:51):
fights to the death to hold onto that fat. Now,
of course, the body does really smart things when it
comes to keeping you healthy. When food is not as plentiful,
but not eating for a couple of days, or I
should say eating a little better for a couple of days,
your body doesn't go into starvation mode. And the really
(29:13):
easy example I give. Do you ever watch Survivor where
they put people on an island of all different body
types ectomorphendo morph, meso morph. What happens? All of them
lose a ridiculous amount of weight because they're moving all
the time and they don't have access to the food
that they normally would regardless of body type. So one study,
so people say, here's some theories thrown out when it
(29:36):
comes to especially weight loss and you know, hitting that plateau.
So one theory is that the body adapts to weight
loss and defends itself against further weight loss, defends itself. Okay,
I love that. Okay, that's one. Secondly, the metabolism slows
down if a person loses way quickly. Now talked about
studies about that. Your body doesn't suddenly stop earning calories. Okay,
(30:02):
do your metabolism slow down. The main reason your metabolism
slows down because you go on a crash diet and
you lose muscle. You lose a little bit of fat,
a lot of water and muscle. Your metabolism slows down
because the most metabolically active part of your body that
can help you with weight loss twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week, you have gotten rid of. You
are lowering your metabolism through weight loss, through muscle loss.
(30:27):
And then finally, the third theory, and this is one
unfortunately that I would argue, is the most truthful people
stop following their diets after a few months. And first
of all, I hate the term why are you following
a diet? A crash diet. Of course you stop after
a few months, that's all it's meant to be. But
I would also say that you need to be honest
(30:48):
about what you're eating, and it needs to be consistent.
So many people, and this is the tough love people.
So many people think that if you eat healthy or
make one change in one day, that you should expect
to see exponential change on that scale. It's not. It's not.
It's gonna take time. And that's one of the final
(31:09):
takeaways as well. But the study so about you know,
people thinking, you know, and there's so many articles about
what I just talked about. Study was in the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition September two. This is a complicated
one and I pulled it because it's just it's worth noting.
Uh title is the effect of dietary adherence on the
(31:31):
Body Weight Loss Plateau, a mathematical model incorporating intermittent compliance
with energy intake prescription. Super complicated, not the best one
in the world. But there aren't a lot of studies
about plateaus, especially when it's connected to strength training and
cardio and all that stuff. But the conclusion is an
intermittent lack of diet adherents, not metabolic adaptation, is a
(31:55):
major contributor to the frequently observed early weight law plateau.
Really important. An intermittent lack of diet adherents. So there's
so much the show. The show is complicated, but it's not.
It's not. It goes to everything I talk about. You
(32:19):
need to find the healthy foods you enjoy, not a
crash diet that you don't. And I tend to eat
the same thing for three, four, six months, whatever, same
type of foods. Then I get bored, sick with what
I'm eating, and I change it up, so I find
another healthy alternative for my breakfast or whatever. Those you're
(32:40):
gonna have to change. You're gonna change what you eat,
You're gonna change your workouts. And this is why I
constantly hammer home variation, variation with your diet, variation, with
your exercise program. You're gonna get bored, and you don't
beat yourself up. You're gonna plateau. You don't beat yourself up.
What did I start the show by saying plateau is
your body telling you you need to mix it up
(33:02):
psychologically as well as physiologically. And this goes to the
shows I did on Breakfast. You know, when I would
have clients that wanted to lose weight, and I'd say,
what are eating for breakfast? And They'd say, I don't
I'm not hungry, But this person is punds overweight whatever.
Maybe you need to change. Maybe what you're doing isn't working.
(33:25):
And maybe when you take all of these little behavioral
changes and incorporate them slowly and consistently, you will see change.
The body is a really smart machine. It adapts and
you don't quit because it adapts, you change. And the
(33:50):
most exciting thing that I want to leave you with
is that, my my hope for all of you listening,
is that you you flip the switch and you get
to the point where it's just you exercise, you eat
healthy because it's your lifestyle, and the scale will go
(34:11):
where it needs to go because you're doing the right
things and you're not counting calories all day, you're not
counting macros, you're not talking about the next diet you're on.
You're eating healthy foods because they make you feel good
you're exercising because first and foremost, it makes you feel good.
(34:31):
And probably one of my favorite shows and topics that
I've done is why you don't look at the scale
as the be all, end all of your fitness routine,
of your success. Because just because you're plateau ing, here's
(34:51):
how we're and in the show, just because you're plateauing,
doesn't mean that all of those workouts that you're doing,
all of the healthy eating that you're still doing, are
not benefiting you. You are seeing you, i should say,
you are achieving results that you're just not seeing. It's
(35:14):
not what you see in the mirror. It's not what
you see on a scale. It's how you feel. It's
what you give off your energy. People always say to me,
you're you got way too much. That's because of eating healthy,
that's because of the exercise, because of getting up earlier
than most to do it. And I want to and
(35:37):
you can too. So the plateau complicated, but not change.
Change change. Do your exercises correctly, and you know, consistently,
find the foods the eating plan that works for you,
not something that's going to end in four weeks or
six weeks. That's extreme. This is not going to help
(35:59):
you avoid a plateau. It's going to actually put you
on track to one. And I didn't want to overload
you with the science here, but give you just enough
overload adaptation and progression. Any personal trainer, fitness person worth anything,
(36:19):
that's like day one. That's probably the first chapter, first
couple of chapters in most of the books overload, adaptation, progression.
And I want to throw the consistency thing in there
because it's so important. You gotta overload your muscles, you
get challenge them. You gotta gotta avoid the adaptation and
(36:40):
that is the plateau by changing your routine around, and
you need to progress those routines, adding weight, changing the
type of exercise you're doing. This is the show of
all shows, taking It's so interesting. It's a takes everything
(37:01):
I talked about and brings it together when it comes
to how to vary your routines, why you shouldn't you know,
spot reduce. All of those things are to continue to
get you results. But I'm just gonna leave you with this.
You don't quit because the scale stops moving. You don't
(37:22):
quit because what you see in the mirror or your
clothes stop changing. And that very moment. That is that
is the mountain. People. When you break through that, when
you here's how you bust through the plateau, you don't quit.
You take a look at your program, you say, am
I being honest? Have I been been consistent? And if not,
(37:45):
don't beat yourself up? Continue on enough enough. I sweat
when I do these shows because I get worked up.
I want you to continue to see those result and
I want you to have the right mindset towards exercise
and nutrition, and that has not been what has been
(38:06):
put out there. All right, if you want more again,
I say, the thing I'm selling on this show is
getting new results. But I also have a new book
so that it can be another thing that can help
you and give you just specifics because so people say,
tell me what to do it Well, the micro workout
plan filled with exercises everything I've talked about, and that
can be another resource for you if you so choose.
(38:28):
Thank you so much for listening. I know this show.
It's tough. It's tough because this is what it's all about.
It's so interesting how the plateau is everything when it
comes to results, it's it's people quit because they don't
see results. They hit that plateau, and you hit that
plateau for all the reasons I've talked about, and go
back if you haven't listened to the earlier shows. It's
(38:50):
all connected. It's all connected. Thank you for listening. And please,
if you have not rated the show, I'm gonna go.
I have goals. I need more rating. I am here
and it takes you one second, So rate the show. Please.
I love hearing from you. My gosh. Since I started
the show, you're reaching out, you're giving me. This was
this was actually received a comment actually on Apple podcast
(39:14):
and it said this person had plateau and I have
a whole list of show topics to do that I
need to get to. I said, I'm doing that one next. Alright,
So tom h Fit is Twitter and Instagram for me.
Tom h Fit the Right to Fitness disrupted the website.
Email me through that as well, and rate the show
as I said, and leave a comment if you can.
(39:35):
And I appreciate all the feedback. And again, I know
I can be all over the place, but it's because
these things are all connected in a in a crazy
way that you don't get in most articles from people
who haven't done this for a living. For a really
long time. Enough. All right, go out get your exercise
in today. I gotta get mine. Go eat a healthy whatever,
(39:58):
and remember it's about you. You're not competing with anyone else.
And we control three things. How much we move, what
we put into our mouths, and our attitudes. We control
all three of those things. Control them, change them, Enjoy
the fact that you can and believe in yourself. Fitness
(40:25):
Disrupted is a production of I heart Radio. For more
podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland, and this is fitness disrupted. Plateau,
a state of little or no change following a period
of activity or progress when it comes to losing weight,
(00:24):
when it comes to your exercise program. This is the
dreaded plateau. This is that point that you have experience
just about everyone who has started a fitness program, a
weight loss program, and I'm here to tell you that
you can break through it. I'm gonna give you the
reasons why it happens, but I'm also here to tell
(00:45):
you that it happens. It happens. I did a show
recently about the scale and weight loss, and I've talked
about it on numerous other podcasts. Weight loss is not linear.
In other words, the line doesn't go down every single day.
You do not step on the scale and see weight
loss every single day. If you did, it would be easy.
(01:07):
If you did, everyone would do it. But there are
reasons why you plateau. There are reasons why you don't
see the weight loss or progress that you are trying
to achieve. And that's what this show is about. As
I was preparing my notes for this show, I realized
that just about every podcast I have done is about
(01:27):
just this. It's about getting you results right. It's about
avoiding the plateau, about not seeing results. So I could
literally just list off all the shows I have done
up until this point and talk about them, because they
are all about that. This whole show is about exercise science,
doing it right, busting through those myths, making sure that
(01:49):
you don't make those mistakes right off the bat, and
follow programs and advice and diets that are not going
to get you the results you want. And you know,
it's quite often called hacks, and I hate that term,
and I hate the word hate, but they're not hacks.
It's science. So all of the tips and the shows
(02:12):
I have done on all the specific elements of exercise
and nutrition are for the show to make sure you
see results. And the term I use and is the
like overarching philosophy that I, you know, put out there,
it's excessive moderation. And I'll talk about that. Excessive moderation
(02:35):
doing a little of everything a lot, not doing a
lot of one thing a little bit. And that's how
you avoid sticking in a plateau, because they're gonna happen.
They're gonna happen. And that's what we're talking about. You
know what a plateau is. It's your body telling you
you need to change something. It's that simple. It happens,
(02:57):
and it happens at different times for different people for
different reasons. But that should be good news that when
you hit that plateau, it's not the end of the
world and it doesn't mean you quit. And that is
the most important part of this show, that you don't quit,
that you never quit, that you say, Okay, I'm gonna
(03:18):
apply the principles Tom talks about to get through this,
but it happens to everyone. Weight loss is not linear,
and I should say that as well. Plateau of what
you know. Quite often all these articles out there, they
don't talk about the specific So you're plateaung what is
your goal? Is your goal strength? And I'll talk about
(03:40):
that like to to to improve you know, your performance,
whether it's you know, strength training, cardiovascular type, exercise, sports plateaus,
or your body telling you something. And I'm gonna get
to that. The science of it, right, there are three
basic points that are connected to your plateau, and this
(04:01):
is science. People overload adaptation and progression and then keep
it simple so you can take the advice and the
science and apply it right away. Okay, So we're gonna
talk about overload, We're gonna talk about adaptation, We're talking
about progression, and then I'm gonna give you all of
the other reasons that are connected to that that you're
(04:22):
not seeing results, because that's what I'm here to help
you do. Get you the greatest results in the shortest
amount of time with the least likelihood of injury. That's
my job. Quick break. When we come back, overload, adaptation, progression,
and how to get through that plateau that we all
(04:43):
myself included experience. We'll be right back. We're talking about plateaus.
And as I record this show, I just got back
from a two week vacation and I've done this vacation
(05:05):
for decades, and usually within this vacation I do a camp.
I've talked about it before. One of the greatest things
I have ever done in in the fitness industry for myself,
because it came out of nothing. I created it, it
took years to get started. I operated in the red
and it's just turned into an amazing, amazing thing. But
I wasn't able to do it this year, so it's
(05:26):
a two week beach fitness camp on Nantucket Island. It's
turned into this incredible thing. I've literally seen you know,
kids who started at thirteen fourteen in this camp, and
it's a mix of adults and and teenagers, mostly adults,
but I've seen them grow up. Because I've done this
camp for over twenty years, I couldn't do it this
year thanks to COVID. And I tell you that just
(05:48):
because I had the opportunity now because it was every day,
week days, and you know, uh, it took took time
in the morning, and now I could get different workouts
in for myself. And so it goes to plateaus, it
goes to mixing it up, and it goes to the
principles I'm going to talk about, especially adaptation, especially adaptation.
(06:16):
So I got in bike rides and runs. I ran
with my wife almost every day. Now we haven't been
able to do that because of work and family and
things like that, but it's all connected to this adaptation
and plateau principle that this show is all about. So
first and foremost, we have to go to your goals
and your expectations. If weight loss is the goal, and
(06:40):
that's the primary concept of plateaus. People say, I've been
losing weight and I'm stopped. I've stopped seeing weight loss,
And first and foremost, you need to realize that that's
going to happen. That weight loss is not linear, and
day to day, if you weigh yourself every day, I
just did a show on that, so many things can
affect that can affect what you see on the scale
(07:02):
day to day. I lose four pounds of fluid in
one hour of a hot Cardiovascar workout. So you need
to realize that if weight loss is your goal, that
it's not linear, and that you didn't gain all the
weight in a week or a month, and you're not
gonna lose it quickly. You don't want to lose it quickly.
(07:25):
People are always shocked. Back when I was a trainer,
and I would say that to the clients, like, I
don't want to see uh, three pounds of weight loss
a day. I know that that's fluid. I want the
steady progression. And you need to have the long term
approach to health and wellness and weight loss. And when
you do that, it actually becomes easier when you don't
(07:48):
expect weight loss of epic proportions in a week or
two weeks or even a month. And when you see
programs that promise that, they are absolutely flawed from the start.
And that's what the show is about. When it comes
to the goal expectations and plateaus and getting discouraged. You
can't start with one of those programs and expect to
(08:09):
be successful long term. You just can't because they're unsustainable
and they do negative things to your body and your
your psychology when it comes to sticking with a program.
All right, so you have to be honest and follow
a balanced program from the start. Okay. So when we
(08:31):
talk about diets, it's numbers. It is simple numbers, and
then you take into account all the daily fluctuations. So
in other words, they pound us thirty fred calories. Generally speaking,
weight loss is taking out two hundred fifty five hundred
(08:51):
calories per day expenditure, so that's exercise and diet. So
a goal weight loss of one to two pounds a
week is awesome and sustainable and doable and meaningful. If
you tell me you lost eight pounds in a week,
I go, okay, that was primarily fluid, because no amount
(09:14):
of exercise is going to get you eight pounds of
fat loss in seven days. Okay, So you just have
to be honest about those goals and the expectations from
the start, and then it becomes easier. Okay. So the
plateau is going to happen when I lose weight for
(09:36):
my races, talked about that, did a whole show about that.
I know, And if I if this were a TV
show where I could do visuals, I could show you
my weight loss and there are peaks and valleys, and
it goes up and it goes down. But here is
the thing that I have seen over decades working with
(09:56):
thousands of people. Right at the point most people are
going to see the results really kick in is when
they quit. Is when they quit because you see those
sudden you know the results, you get quickly, right, You
get motivated, whatever the reason is, New Year's you've got
an event coming up, whatever it is. You're motivated, You
(10:20):
change your diet, you do a bunch of workouts, and
the way it comes off, and then that motivation changes
or waynes and the plateau happens. It's just about exactly
what I have seen for so many years. And white
people go to the gym for six, eight, ten weeks
(10:43):
and then stop. It's all connected. It's all connected, all right.
So when I would tell clients just keep showing up,
just keep showing up, I promise you you will see
those results. And if you take every single podcast that
I've done and all the changes and the science, and
(11:05):
I'll call them tips, tricks, whatever you want. I don't
like those terms, but it just, you know, clarifies it
for most people. When you take all of this stuff
and you put it together, you constantly get results, not
always on the scale. And that's how I'm going to
finish the show, because so many of these shows come
(11:26):
back to it's not all about weight loss. You're you're
not hitting a plateau when it comes to doing good
things for your body, and that is so important. I'm
gonna leave that to the end of the show, all right,
So let's go to the science. Talked about overload, adaptation, progression.
Those are the three things you need to know when
(11:47):
it comes to your strength training and cardio program. And
so many of the shows I have done are all
about that. So overload overload principle so simple to kind
of grasp when it comes to strength training and also cardiovascular. Okay,
and here's the Here's one of the definitions I pulled
for this very reason. It says so overload. They defined
(12:13):
it as, in order to improve, athletes must continually work
harder as their bodies adjust to existing workouts. I say, no,
not harder, smarter, But there is truth to that. So
overload principle means you need to challenge your body. You
know the I say all the time that so many
(12:33):
of the solutions, the answers are right there on Instagram,
all of the memes people post. People just don't follow them. Okay,
if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. But
challenge doesn't mean it needs to hurt. Challenge doesn't mean
it needs to be ridiculously heavy or ridiculously hard. It
needs to be Here's the term. If there's one thing
you take away from this show when it comes to
(12:54):
adaptation and overload, it's different. Different. Okay, how many times
some people said, hey, Tom, you should take this bar class,
this pilates class, something I haven't done before. When I
do that that different workout, that different type of exercise,
I am ridiculously sore. Now I exercise a lot, I run,
(13:19):
I bike, I swim, I strength trained, anything different challenges
the body, so it doesn't have to be ridiculously heavy.
You don't need to put yourself at risk of injury
to overload and to prevent the plateau. And that is
so important. But when it comes to strength training in
(13:43):
simple terms, you can't continue to use the same lightweight
over and over and expect to see the results because
the body needs to be challenged. So that is a
simple start to the overload principle. But it's not about harder,
it's about smarter. I can say to you, sure, go
do a hundred perpies, do a hundred push ups, you know,
(14:05):
lift this ridiculously heavy weight or tire whatever. That's not
how I do it, and that's not how uh you
do it safely and you progress, which will be the
final of these three exercise science concepts. All right, so overload,
but yes, so for those of you who are worried
about bulk. One of the first shows I did for
(14:27):
Fitness Disrupted, you need to challenge your muscle. If it
doesn't challenge, it doesn't change. The body is a very
smart machine. It adapts to any stressor imposed upon it.
And the question is how long. And I did the
show on muscle confusion. Generally speaking, when you are strength
training ten to fifteen repetitions for most of you, now
(14:50):
there's strength and power and stuff like that. For people
who are trying to change body composition, get a little stronger,
prevent injury. The vast majority of you, and by the way,
even those of you who are you know, performance athletes,
still holds true to a large degree, ten to fifteen
repetitions of an exercise where the final few repetitions are
difficult without losing form. I have said those words for
(15:14):
decades and they still hold true. Ten to fifteen repetitions squats, bicept, curls,
chest press, lat, pulled down, shoulder raises, by and large,
that is going to challenge your muscle and change your muscle.
Add metabolically active lean muscle, which is so important when
it comes to weight loss, when it comes to being healthy,
(15:37):
when it comes to functional fitness. So that's not harder,
it's smarter. So at that point, if you're doing ten
repetitions in a set fifteen, when those last few are easy,
time to go up. Time to go up. If there's
top ten, call it secrets because you don't have better terms.
(16:02):
Two success in your exercise program. That is one the
last few repetitions need to be challenging. If you're doing
fifty repetitions of something with a super lightweight, yes it burns,
but it's not changing the muscle. Is changing the endurance
capabilities of the muscle, but you're not building that strength.
(16:23):
You're not asking the but you're not overloading it and
asking the body to adapt the way most of you want.
And that leads right into number two. Adaptation. I've already
talked about it. So you have to overload the muscle,
and that's adding more weight or more sets. By the way,
you can do one set, two sets, three sets. It's
(16:44):
a common question how many should you do? And I
say short answer is one is good, two is a
little better, and three you're gonna get even more results.
Personally speaking, after all these years, I do two sets.
I would rather d do several different exercises than resets.
It's mind numbingly boring for me to do that third set.
So if I'm doing chest, I'm gonna do two sets
(17:07):
of dumbbell chest presses, and then I'm gonna do two
sets of maybe machine a machine. But I would much
rather do that than third I personally can't get to
that third set anymore I used to. So one, two, three,
that's overloading. That's volume, and make sure that those last
(17:27):
few reps are challenging. Okay, And so adaptation, here's a definition.
When you do do exercises or load your body in
a different way, there's that term. Your body reacts by
increasing its ability to cope with that new load. I
love it. So it's got everything in there load overload, right.
It It reacts by increasing its ability to cope with
(17:50):
that new load, and increasing the ability is building more muscle,
adding you know, connections, the neuromuscular connections to your muscles,
the mind and the muscle connecting as I've talked about. Okay,
So adaptation, excessive moderation, mixing it up. How many times
(18:11):
do I talk about variation for this very reason? Because
our bodies are such smart machines, and if we don't
continue to challenge it, it stops changing. That's the plateau,
and so many people that's the plateau. We're talking about
exercise here. But as soon as I'm done with this,
we're gonna talk about the diet. We're gonna be honest. Okay,
(18:33):
But that's the second really important factor in plateaus. You've
gotta overload the muscle more sets, more reps, heavier weight.
And when I say more reps, that's ten of fifteen
again for most of you. And then you need to
constantly challenge your body in different ways. Just did a
show about that. Now you want to spend for many
(18:58):
people four six, eight week you know, doing that type
of routine, because that's how you You can't continue to
overload your muscle if you're changing it around every day.
Now you can in different ways. Is where it gets
really tricky. But I would rather you overload your muscles
(19:20):
and mix it up as long as it's challenging. And
when I say challenging, I don't want that risky chance
of injury type of challenging for the vast majority of you.
If you're not a professional athlete, why are you're risking it? Okay,
you don't have to. You don't have to. That's the thing,
all right. So adaptation, when you do new exercises or
(19:43):
load your body in a different way, your body reacts
by increasing its ability to cope with that new load.
So that can be just changing the angle or the grip,
like if you're doing a lap poll down. How many
different attachments are there. You've got the wide bar, you've
got the close grip, you've got a rope. So you
can take that same exercise lap pulled down and change
(20:07):
the thing you are using, the handle, the attachment, and
that is variation enough adaptation. Your body has adapted to
pulling that straight bar down. If you've done it for
four six weeks. Okay, you're using the same muscles in
a different way now and it's more fun. So you
can sit at that lat pulled down, do two sets
(20:30):
with the wide grip bar. And by the way, you
can change your hand position wider, closer, facing you, facing away,
supine grip, pronated grip. These are all the ways to overload,
to prevent your body from adapting, and to progress. You
change the type of exercise and your body will continue
(20:54):
to adapt. And those subtleties are everything all right. Finally,
progression talked about it. It's all connected more weight, more sets,
more reps. So when you progress, you overload your body,
you keep it from adapting. But this is one of
the most crucial parts because most people either don't progress
(21:16):
enough or they progress say with me too much, too quickly.
They get hurt. You get hurt, it becomes about ego,
specially when you're competing with other people in the gym.
I don't compete with anyone. I don't care. I don't
care how much the guy next to me is lifting,
or the woman. There's some really strong you know. I
love it seeing women lifting everyone. I've been trying to
(21:37):
get that out there for years. But don't progress too much.
Get hurt, you're done. You're out for a certain amount
of time. And especially as we get older, the body
doesn't bounce back the way it used to. So take
those three concepts to heart, overload at adaptation, and progression,
and they're all connected, and I can and need to
(22:00):
talk about them in much more specific forms in shows
to come, and in many of the shows I have done.
As I have said, that's exactly what I've been talking about. Variation,
keeping your body, challenge, doing exercises correctly with proper form
(22:21):
so the plateau so often here it goes. I was
in Nantucket, as they said, it's COVID time the gym
was open. That I have gone to their friends of
mine who own it, Dave and Sandy Schultz and Nantucket,
great people have owned this gym. Small gym hasn't changed
much over the years, although it has for COVID, they
did some great new kind of changes to to you know,
(22:44):
be able to um open their doors and accommodate the changes.
But there are very few people as expected with COVID
and vacation to begin with. But I have to say this,
I got there early couple of days. You know, it
worked out at the hym a couple of days. I
wanted to mix it up do everything while I was
on vacation. And it's also research for me. I'm there
(23:06):
super early to other guys come in super early with
me and just sat and texted for the most part,
did a couple exercises. I'm looking at them thinking, you
can't tell me your body has plateaued. You can't really
even say you're going to the gym and not getting
results because they're not doing the work. And I'm not
(23:28):
being harsh here. This is just this is honest. So
this is a super important part of everything when it
comes to plateau and it goes for your exercise and
your nutrition. Are you really following a plan? Are you
really doing the work. And when I say work, this
is not hard stuff excessive moderation is not challenging. Excessive
(23:49):
moderation is doing a little bit of everything. Changing your diet,
you're healthy, eating patterns, a little bit, consistently, doing a
little bit of exercise. But you can't go to the
gym and not do workout routine and expect results, especially
when most people are going to the gym two to
three times a week doing the workouts that I see
(24:11):
most people doing at the gym. They are not challenging
their muscles in ten to fifteen repetitions, or they're going
too heavy, or they're doing you know, super specific spot
reduction type exercises. Again, all the shows I've done up
until this point, it's all connected to the plateau. It's
all connected to getting you results. So you've gotta be honest.
(24:33):
You have to follow the recipe, all the stuff I
talk about going to the gym, taking all the techniques
and science and putting that into play, because that is
going to get you through that plateau that we will
all experience. All right, let's talk diet. You know what
quick break, Gonna talk diet because when it comes to
(24:56):
exercise and losing weight, it's what we put into our
mouths that change us the most. How many times do
I love to say it is exponentially easier to keep
five cowries out of your mouth than it is to
burn it off through exercise. Final break, We'll be right
back when it comes to weight loss. When it comes
(25:31):
to plateaus, quite often the easiest way to continue to
see results is through what we eat. Because I said,
as I said before the break, exponentially more difficult to lose,
to burn five hundred calories than it is to keep
(25:51):
it out of your mouth. That is an hour of
exercise for most people. And I have to say this,
if you truly want, it's gonna it's gonna depress you.
But this is this is what the show is about
science getting you results. Take the caloric expenditure that you
see on your watch on the machine, cut it in half,
(26:14):
cut it in half. I saw someone post recently on
social media that they had done a twenty seven minute
workout with a certain I'm not gonna name the brand,
exercise whatever, and that they burned twenty seven minutes possible, Yes,
probably not a chance, not a chance for what I
(26:34):
knew about whatever the specifics, So two fifty in twenty
seven minutes. If weight loss is your goal, and you
are a counting numbers, are accounting calories and following numbers,
which I don't want you to do long term. That's
closer that's going to get you the results because most
(26:57):
CLOrk expenditure numbers are way overestimated, way and that shouldn't you.
That's then I'm not gonna do it. I get it.
You're gonna Well, then why am I even bothering? Because
it's way more than just weight loss. When it comes
to exercise, so diet. When you exercise, and I've seen
(27:21):
this phenomenon and it's not talked about enough. When you exercise,
you burn that let's call it, two hundred calories in
twenty seven minutes. You generally then make better food choices.
After you feel better about yourself, you make better food choices,
You move more throughout the day. It is all connected.
So when it comes to weight loss plateaus, you need
(27:43):
to be honest about what you're eating, and you need
to take that three pronged approach of cardio, strength training,
and healthy eating. When you do all three of those
things consistently, it does not change your life from raatically,
you will consistently get results. Some scene, some unseen. But
(28:08):
when you stick to those three prongs for a lifetime
strength training, and then you mix it up and you
overload and you progress. When you do cardio, and how
many shows have I done on all the ways to
mix up your cardio routine, you will progress, and nevermore
so than with your healthy eating. You will get healthier
(28:30):
and healthier and progress and the weight will come. Okay,
but let me just give you one study. So what
what kind of studies do I do? I give on
weight loss plateaus? Well, there is this, you know, these
theories that are thrown out there that you know the
set point principle about weight loss, that your body just
(28:51):
fights to the death to hold onto that fat. Now,
of course, the body does really smart things when it
comes to keeping you healthy. When food is not as plentiful,
but not eating for a couple of days, or I
should say eating a little better for a couple of days,
your body doesn't go into starvation mode. And the really
(29:13):
easy example I give. Do you ever watch Survivor where
they put people on an island of all different body
types ectomorphendo morph, meso morph. What happens? All of them
lose a ridiculous amount of weight because they're moving all
the time and they don't have access to the food
that they normally would regardless of body type. So one study,
so people say, here's some theories thrown out when it
(29:36):
comes to especially weight loss and you know, hitting that plateau.
So one theory is that the body adapts to weight
loss and defends itself against further weight loss, defends itself. Okay,
I love that. Okay, that's one. Secondly, the metabolism slows
down if a person loses way quickly. Now talked about
studies about that. Your body doesn't suddenly stop earning calories. Okay,
(30:02):
do your metabolism slow down. The main reason your metabolism
slows down because you go on a crash diet and
you lose muscle. You lose a little bit of fat,
a lot of water and muscle. Your metabolism slows down
because the most metabolically active part of your body that
can help you with weight loss twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week, you have gotten rid of. You
are lowering your metabolism through weight loss, through muscle loss.
(30:27):
And then finally, the third theory, and this is one
unfortunately that I would argue, is the most truthful people
stop following their diets after a few months. And first
of all, I hate the term why are you following
a diet? A crash diet. Of course you stop after
a few months, that's all it's meant to be. But
I would also say that you need to be honest
(30:48):
about what you're eating, and it needs to be consistent.
So many people, and this is the tough love people.
So many people think that if you eat healthy or
make one change in one day, that you should expect
to see exponential change on that scale. It's not. It's not.
It's gonna take time. And that's one of the final
(31:09):
takeaways as well. But the study so about you know,
people thinking, you know, and there's so many articles about
what I just talked about. Study was in the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition September two. This is a complicated
one and I pulled it because it's just it's worth noting.
Uh title is the effect of dietary adherence on the
(31:31):
Body Weight Loss Plateau, a mathematical model incorporating intermittent compliance
with energy intake prescription. Super complicated, not the best one
in the world. But there aren't a lot of studies
about plateaus, especially when it's connected to strength training and
cardio and all that stuff. But the conclusion is an
intermittent lack of diet adherents, not metabolic adaptation, is a
(31:55):
major contributor to the frequently observed early weight law plateau.
Really important. An intermittent lack of diet adherents. So there's
so much the show. The show is complicated, but it's not.
It's not. It goes to everything I talk about. You
(32:19):
need to find the healthy foods you enjoy, not a
crash diet that you don't. And I tend to eat
the same thing for three, four, six months, whatever, same
type of foods. Then I get bored, sick with what
I'm eating, and I change it up, so I find
another healthy alternative for my breakfast or whatever. Those you're
(32:40):
gonna have to change. You're gonna change what you eat,
You're gonna change your workouts. And this is why I
constantly hammer home variation, variation with your diet, variation, with
your exercise program. You're gonna get bored, and you don't
beat yourself up. You're gonna plateau. You don't beat yourself up.
What did I start the show by saying plateau is
your body telling you you need to mix it up
(33:02):
psychologically as well as physiologically. And this goes to the
shows I did on Breakfast. You know, when I would
have clients that wanted to lose weight, and I'd say,
what are eating for breakfast? And They'd say, I don't
I'm not hungry, But this person is punds overweight whatever.
Maybe you need to change. Maybe what you're doing isn't working.
(33:25):
And maybe when you take all of these little behavioral
changes and incorporate them slowly and consistently, you will see change.
The body is a really smart machine. It adapts and
you don't quit because it adapts, you change. And the
(33:50):
most exciting thing that I want to leave you with
is that, my my hope for all of you listening,
is that you you flip the switch and you get
to the point where it's just you exercise, you eat
healthy because it's your lifestyle, and the scale will go
(34:11):
where it needs to go because you're doing the right
things and you're not counting calories all day, you're not
counting macros, you're not talking about the next diet you're on.
You're eating healthy foods because they make you feel good
you're exercising because first and foremost, it makes you feel good.
(34:31):
And probably one of my favorite shows and topics that
I've done is why you don't look at the scale
as the be all, end all of your fitness routine,
of your success. Because just because you're plateau ing, here's
(34:51):
how we're and in the show, just because you're plateauing,
doesn't mean that all of those workouts that you're doing,
all of the healthy eating that you're still doing, are
not benefiting you. You are seeing you, i should say,
you are achieving results that you're just not seeing. It's
(35:14):
not what you see in the mirror. It's not what
you see on a scale. It's how you feel. It's
what you give off your energy. People always say to me,
you're you got way too much. That's because of eating healthy,
that's because of the exercise, because of getting up earlier
than most to do it. And I want to and
(35:37):
you can too. So the plateau complicated, but not change.
Change change. Do your exercises correctly, and you know, consistently,
find the foods the eating plan that works for you,
not something that's going to end in four weeks or
six weeks. That's extreme. This is not going to help
(35:59):
you avoid a plateau. It's going to actually put you
on track to one. And I didn't want to overload
you with the science here, but give you just enough
overload adaptation and progression. Any personal trainer, fitness person worth anything,
(36:19):
that's like day one. That's probably the first chapter, first
couple of chapters in most of the books overload, adaptation, progression.
And I want to throw the consistency thing in there
because it's so important. You gotta overload your muscles, you
get challenge them. You gotta gotta avoid the adaptation and
(36:40):
that is the plateau by changing your routine around, and
you need to progress those routines, adding weight, changing the
type of exercise you're doing. This is the show of
all shows, taking It's so interesting. It's a takes everything
(37:01):
I talked about and brings it together when it comes
to how to vary your routines, why you shouldn't you know,
spot reduce. All of those things are to continue to
get you results. But I'm just gonna leave you with this.
You don't quit because the scale stops moving. You don't
(37:22):
quit because what you see in the mirror or your
clothes stop changing. And that very moment. That is that
is the mountain. People. When you break through that, when
you here's how you bust through the plateau, you don't quit.
You take a look at your program, you say, am
I being honest? Have I been been consistent? And if not,
(37:45):
don't beat yourself up? Continue on enough enough. I sweat
when I do these shows because I get worked up.
I want you to continue to see those result and
I want you to have the right mindset towards exercise
and nutrition, and that has not been what has been
(38:06):
put out there. All right, if you want more again,
I say, the thing I'm selling on this show is
getting new results. But I also have a new book
so that it can be another thing that can help
you and give you just specifics because so people say,
tell me what to do it Well, the micro workout
plan filled with exercises everything I've talked about, and that
can be another resource for you if you so choose.
(38:28):
Thank you so much for listening. I know this show.
It's tough. It's tough because this is what it's all about.
It's so interesting how the plateau is everything when it
comes to results, it's it's people quit because they don't
see results. They hit that plateau, and you hit that
plateau for all the reasons I've talked about, and go
back if you haven't listened to the earlier shows. It's
(38:50):
all connected. It's all connected. Thank you for listening. And please,
if you have not rated the show, I'm gonna go.
I have goals. I need more rating. I am here
and it takes you one second, So rate the show. Please.
I love hearing from you. My gosh. Since I started
the show, you're reaching out, you're giving me. This was
this was actually received a comment actually on Apple podcast
(39:14):
and it said this person had plateau and I have
a whole list of show topics to do that I
need to get to. I said, I'm doing that one next. Alright,
So tom h Fit is Twitter and Instagram for me.
Tom h Fit the Right to Fitness disrupted the website.
Email me through that as well, and rate the show
as I said, and leave a comment if you can.
(39:35):
And I appreciate all the feedback. And again, I know
I can be all over the place, but it's because
these things are all connected in a in a crazy
way that you don't get in most articles from people
who haven't done this for a living. For a really
long time. Enough. All right, go out get your exercise
in today. I gotta get mine. Go eat a healthy whatever,
(39:58):
and remember it's about you. You're not competing with anyone else.
And we control three things. How much we move, what
we put into our mouths, and our attitudes. We control
all three of those things. Control them, change them, Enjoy
the fact that you can and believe in yourself. Fitness
(40:25):
Disrupted is a production of I heart Radio. For more
podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.