Winter Blues and Plateaus

The dreaded cold weather season is fast upon us and if you're like me, you don't want to get out of bed in the morning, you feel really tired, and you lack energy. Is this you? Some of our challengers are beginning to hit plateaus. I believe this is because of the lack of motivation due to the change in the weather. Beat the blues and focus on burning off your energy or gaining energy for some by changing things up.

If you have hit a plateau, change things up a bit. Change your calories by shaving 200-300 calories off of your daily calorie intake for the next 7 days. This will make your body react. Also, change up your routine; change your workouts if you are doing the same workout over and over again your body gets used to the same thing and it will stop showing you results. I have started adding a lot of cardio to my daily workouts and I have even started doing two workouts a day. They might be 20 minutes one time and maybe 45 minutes the next but my body isn't used to two a days so it's catching on and making changes. I also started a jump rope exercise program. There are DVD's at Target called Rope Sport by Eric Neis. The first one should include the workout and two ropes, a weighted rope and a speed rope. The beginner is a fifteen minute workout and there is an instructional DVD to show you the different types of jump rope techniques. It's the fastest 15 minute workout ever! I did it twice just because I couldn't believe it was over so quick. Jumping rope is a great cardio workout as well as a total body workout.

Boxing is another great total body workout and requires great cardiovascular fitness as well. Grab a bag, some gloves, and spend an hour boxing. Do 3 minute drills and after every minute take a 30 second break, after the 3 minute drill (rounds) is up then do things like, 30 lunges, 30 sit ups and 10 push-ups, and continue on with your rounds. If you can't buy a bag find a partner and practice with each other. I'm not saying go all out and box I'm saying practice sparring against each other and working on various boxing moves. Before every boxing workout start by jumping rope. Boxers and kick boxers jump rope before every workout and sometimes in the middle of their workouts. At my kickboxing club we jump rope every time before any workout just to get the blood flowing and warm up. You can pick up boxing gloves at Dick's Sporting Goods or go online to Amazon.com and you can find expensive gloves. Maybe purchase some focus mitts for your partner to wear as you box.

If you want a great workout click on the link regarding kickboxing and check it out. You can make changes and you can break free of the plateau you just have to be creative and get your body guessing what's going to happen next.