I've been at a plateau for about a month now. I've heard that to break a plateau you need to switch things up and do something different. That got me thinking about the different types of cardio and how alternating them would help to break the plateau. I normally do 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 times per week. Sometimes it's the stair climber, or the elliptical trainer, or the stationary bike, or fast walking on the treadmill. Should I do one type of cardio for a few weeks, then switch things up, or switch things up within the same week? For example, how about something like this-

Tuesday-stationary bike
Wednesday-elliptical trainer
Thursday-stair climber
Friday-walking on treadmill
Saturday-stationary bike

Or is breaking the plateau about switching things up when it comes to weight training? Maybe one week with high weight/low reps and the next week low weight/high reps?

I've been at a plateau for about a month now. I've heard that to break a plateau you need to switch things up and do something different. That got me thinking about the different types of cardio and how alternating them would help to break the plateau. I normally do 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 times per week. Sometimes it's the stair climber, or the elliptical trainer, or the stationary bike, or fast walking on the treadmill. Should I do one type of cardio for a few weeks, then switch things up, or switch things up within the same week? For example, how about something like this-

Tuesday-stationary bike
Wednesday-elliptical trainer
Thursday-stair climber
Friday-walking on treadmill
Saturday-stationary bike

Or is breaking the plateau about switching things up when it comes to weight training? Maybe one week with high weight/low reps and the next week low weight/high reps?

I usually stall 1-2x/month but it's not that big of a deal, I just try not to think about it. I'm not an expert by any means, but what are you eating? Maybe that could be a key to your stall. Also i'd probably throw some weight training in their in combination with the cardio, it will definately put your body into "shock" and probably jumpstart the process again. Again supply more details

cz

I'm doing 30 min. of weight training and 30 min. of cardio 4-5 times per week. Weight training alternates between working biceps, triceps and chest one workout, and legs and abs the next workout. As you can see by my signature, I've lost 27 pounds since February, I'm doing things right, I just need to break this plateau. I eat something about once every 2-3 hours to keep my metabolism up. I eat no fast food, no cookies, donuts, chocolate, pizza, butter, mayonnaise, etc. I drink no pop, diet or otherwise, and drink about 80 oz. of water each day. I don't eat the same diet every day, but some staples of my diet include-lots of fruits and veggies, yogurt, cottage cheese, turkey sandwiches on whole grain bread with mustard, frosted shredded wheat cereal with skim milk, soup, salad with fat-free dressing, etc. So, I know what to eat and what to stay away from, I'm just wondering if the key to breaking the plateau is changing the cardio or the weight training, and how often to change them.

One other thing I forgot to mention-my daily caloric intake is about 2200 calories. Eating this amount has enabled me to lose 27 pounds so far, so it must be about right. I've cut out ice cream all together, and instead of a chocolate bar, I have a Genisoy bar, which provides lots of protein, carbs, soy, vitamins and minerals. I know that some people say to eat ten times body weight. But for me that would be 243x10=2430 calories per day. I'm close to that. But at 270, I wasn't eating 2700 calories. That's way too much. There are so many theories on breaking the plateau. Some say to eat more, others say to eat less. Some say to work out more, others say work out less. Some say to keep doing everything the same, and just be patient and wait for the weight to come off. Some say that going off the sensible diet for a week provides the shock needed to lose. Others say to stop working out for a week, and then starting up again will provide the shock to the metabolism. Which theory is right, or does it just depend on the person and should I try them all to see which one works? :rolleyes:

I don't know if this can help, but I have hit a plateau during 5 weeks, my weight was still the same not moving anymore I was getting desesperate (have lost from now 29.5 pounds) so I decided to take a big break during 1 1/2 weeks, no more training and getting very relax about my eating plan, eating more and treat my self a little. When I came back into the gym and re-start my program, SURPRISE, the week after I have lost 2 pounds and since that break, I'm still on my way for dropping fat again. Every weeks now I'm still losing, sometimes 0.5 pounds, sometimes 1 pound. I guess, I just reset my metabolism and gave him a brake from all those 5 months working very hard. And my body appreciate it.

Well that's me, maybe you need to give a little break to your metabolism and body and bring him back to his normal maintenance. Well it has worked for me.

Only my 02.cents here, got to trick your body somewhere

I don't know if this can help, but I have hit a plateau during 5 weeks, my weight was still the same not moving anymore I was getting desesperate (have lost from now 29.5 pounds) so I decided to take a big break during 1 1/2 weeks, no more training and getting very relax about my eating plan, eating more and treat my self a little. When I came back into the gym and re-start my program, SURPRISE, the week after I have lost 2 pounds and since that break, I'm still on my way for dropping fat again. Every weeks now I'm still losing, sometimes 0.5 pounds, sometimes 1 pound. I guess, I just reset my metabolism and gave him a brake from all those 5 months working very hard. And my body appreciate it.

Well that's me, maybe you need to give a little break to your metabolism and body and bring him back to his normal maintenance. Well it has worked for me.

Only my 02.cents here, got to trick your body somewhereMentally it's difficult to take a break sometimes, but you're right - it can be pretty helpful.

rwkates, it depends what plateau you're trying to break. If you're trying to break a fat loss plateau I would suspect that changing up your cardio, as long as the calories burned are similar, won't be very helpful. Your fat loss cares about calories in and calories out, and won't care much whether that was from a bike or a treadmill. If you were on a fitness plateau, then it could help because different those machines will work you to different levels, or if you're at a muscle-growth plateau, changing your program could be beneficial for the same reason. Change the sets, reps, frequency, excercises, etc.

Some people need to lower calories to break a fat loss plateau, but at your weight and current calories, that may not be the ticket.

Do you take any cheat days? Have you considered taking a week "off"? That would mean forget your normal diet and training routing. Don't totally slack off on diet though, because a week can be very damaging, but perhaps go up to 2800 calories/day or 3000 - just a maintenance level.

I just read once again what you are currently doing to make sure I haven't miss anything. And the things that Knock me :d_eek: about what you are doing is eating less then 10 x times your bodyweight which for me is not good, you need to eat more.

Usually it is not recommended on a cut to beging with 10 x times your bodyweight, cause when your gonna hit a plateau, you will have no more rooms to play with. It's better starting a cut with 12 x times your body weight, to give you room to play with your intake calories. Now you are under 10 x times under your calories intake. You have no more room and your body probably don't like that and decided to keep all your calories you give him to survive. What I will do, is raise up now your calories, not all in once it's not gonna be good, but raise it slowly, maybee 200 more cal/per days until you get where you should be. For me your are not eating enough.

All the other things that you do seems to be good.

Once again only my .02 cents here but let see what the pro are thinking.

Up your cardio from 30 mins to 45 everyday, then watch what happens.

~SC~

I'll take a week off from the gym, then up the cardio to 45 min. when I get back. As far as calories, I'm hesitant to eat more since I've lost 27 pounds by eating 2200 calories per day, but I may give it a shot just to see what happens.

Up your cardio from 30 mins to 45 everyday, then watch what happens.

~SC~

Sound advice. Worked like a charm for me. Sometimes I do cardio twice a day (on non-lifting days) at 45-50 min per session. I got ridiculously lean from doing it. Keep in mind, that I do lower intensity cardio (~70-75% max HR) during these sessions. Also, doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach has produced amazing results.