Thirtysomething

Plateau

I've hit a bit of a fitness plateau. I put on a couple of post-wedding pounds, but I've resumed working out regularly, so I'm not sure what the heck the problem is. I still hit the gym every day but there are definitely more days that I don't do my twice-a-day routine. It's summer, people and frankly, there are more fun things to do in the summer than spend time in a gym.

Usually when you plateau, fitness gurus suggest you switch up your routine. The problem is I already switch up my routine. Some days eliptical, some days weights, some days bike, some days treadmill. Hell, sometimes I even throw the stairmaster in there. I do pilates at least once a week, sometimes twice, and power yoga once a week. So my routine is pretty varied already. The only thing is that for the most part, I use any of these machines for about 30 minutes. Occasionally, I'll do 40 minutes, but usually it's 30. If I go to the gym in the morning and in the evening, I do 30 minutes each visit. The only thing I can think of doing differently is trying to do 45-50 minutes regularly, and elmininating the second visit to the gym entirely. I dread the thought of that though. I get really, really bored at the gym after 30 minutes. I've tried switching up machines before during a workout, like 20 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes on the treadmill, and it helps my boredom somewhat, but my body knows when it's hit the 30 minute mark.

My two "problem" areas are my upper arms and my lower stomach. I need to tone these two areas and so far, what I'm doing isn't cutting it. Part of the upper arm issue is that I've been lax lately on lifting weights. I'm at a complete loss about the stomach. I mean pilates should have whipped that into shape. It's frustrating.

But not so frustrating that I'm laying off the cheese fries and beer. Mmmmm....beer.

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 8:57 AM