This saying is sooooo true, especially when it comes to weight loss. We get excited about working out. We start eating healthier, we start a workout regimen, and the weight just falls off. Then BAM. The scale won't budge. But why??? You're still following the same meal plan and doing the same gym routine that you were before, why isn't it working anymore??? That right there is the problem.
That's why programs like INSANITY and P90x work. I'm at the point in INSANITY where I'm still working HARD, but the videos are doable now. I can master all the moves now and can keep up with the people in the video. I finish tired and drenched in sweat but not as exhausted as I did in week one. So of course next week I'm doing a new video and the week after that the program is moving onto the "maxed out" section, which according to testimonials I've seen on YouTube, is exponentially harder than the first month. The same goes for P90x. Tony Horton goes for "muscle confusion", which helps keep your body from hitting a plateau. I've noticed that it takes about a month for both programs before they switch it up. This makes sense. If you run two miles everyday for a month, eventually you will be able to maintain but you will not continue to progress. This is also why CrossFit give such great results. The workouts are generally random instead of following a set schedule. It always keeps your body guessing.
This phenomenon in the dancer world is something we call "muscle memory". At first when learning a new move or routine, we have to think before every move and struggle through to hit every count and every motion. But after a few weeks of practice, it becomes easier. By our end of the year show, we can do not only one but 15+ routines while barely even thinking about it, because our bodies are so used to following the pattern we've practiced over and over and over.
If you do the same thing over and over, your body will eventually go into "autopilot", and then you find yourself not trying as hard as you did when that activity was new. That's why in terms of progress, it is always worth switching up your routine every four weeks or so to avoid plateaus. Next week I plan on incorporating weight training and running into my routine (as it is an "off week" from INSANITY) and then hopefully keeping that up. I'm trying to convince my mom to go to the gym with me and help her lose weight. She recently had a friend visit and she looks great. She has lost about 45 pounds since we last saw her. She's a mother of four (two of which are twins that are only a couple years old!) and looks great. I'm jealous of her arm definition. Anyway, my mom was shocked to see how good she looks, and when my mom asked her what her secret was, she replied "I spend about 3 hours in the gym 5-6 times a week". This was no surprise to me. I'm hoping it's a wake-up call for my mom. I'm seriously worried about her health, we have so many risk factors in our genetics working against us already, being overweight only makes those risk factors for stroke and heart disease even worse. I'm hoping to be an inspiration to her by my progress. My dad has already lost about 20 pounds since he started! I want to be a healthy family together. I want my mom to realize that if she wants to change she's going to have to make some radical changes. Because if she does what she's always done, she'll get what she's always got.
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