Overcome Your Exercise Plateau

In keeping his clients fit and trim, Gunnar advises exercisers against hitting a plateau. A plateau occurs when your body gets used to a certain type of exercise. The more efficient your body gets at doing these moves, the fewer calories it requires to do them. As a result, you begin to complete your workout more easily, but burn less calories.

“Some of my clients hate it when they hit a plateau, but I remind them that reaching a plateau in your exercise plan isn’t always a bad thing,” Gunnar says, “In fact, hitting that wall can indicate that you’re right on track with getting the fitness results you’re hoping for.”

Gunnar gives many tips on keeping your routine effective and interesting, including:

Switching it up! Vary your routine from time to time so that your body doesn’t get used to your workout.
Using everything in one workout. If you want a workout your body will never get used to (or forgive you for) during your trip to the gym, flip-flop between the cardio machines (stationary bike, treadmill, step routing, jump rope, stair climber) every three minutes.
Going slowly once in a while. Ocassionally pick a new activity that raises your heart rate between 50 and 60 percent of your maximum heart rate (MHR). It may seem less effective, but you will last longer and inevitably burn more calories. With most aerobic exercises, you may actually burn more calories at this pace, if you take advantage of the slower tempo and double your workout time.Varying just one component of your aerobic exercise at a time (the intensity, duration, or frequency) can be perceived by your body.
Spot reduction – losing weight in specific areas is one of the biggest lies out there, Gunnar says. It’s impossible to lose weight in one area by doing exercises that target that area.Your body burns fat in a genetically predetermined pattern over which you have no control. But as you get your program underway, you’ll begin to burn fat gradually from all over, including your specific wish list of areas.
For the show Gunnar will demonstrate these exercises:
1. Skater’s lunge with db kickback. Step back into a rear lunge but angle the foot out to the side slightly. As you reach the outstretched position, perform a triceps kickback with the dumbbells. Repeat to opposite side.

2. DB touch and extend overhead. With feet wider than shoulder width, squat down and reach between your legs and touch the floor with a dumbbell. Now, reach up and overhead with the dumbbell arching your back. Return to starting position and repeat.

3. Reaching lunge to front/side raise. Perform a reaching forward lunge and up on returning to the starting position raise one arm out to the side and the other arm out front. Repeat the leg movement and have the opposite arms perform the respective raises.

4. Push-up to t-raise. Perform a standard push-up with dumbbells in your hands. When you reach the top of the movement raise one arm and open your body up to the side. Pause for a beat, return to starting position and repeat.

Gunnar has been into health and fitness all his life. As a young child, Gunnar was overweight. His mother even put him in Weight Watchers when he was 10-years-old. It was a struggle to keep a steady weight. In college, he focused more on fitness and took personal health more seriously. It wasn't until he graduated college that he finally had a more consistent personal program and kept his healthy lifestyle more permanent. He moved to L.A. and continued to pursue health and fitness. He vigorously worked out and took whatever health classes he could. He started seeing the differences between what would work and what didn't and started coming up with his own techniques. He even started being a personal trainer. From that, his expertise and client list grew. Gunnar continues his search to find the most effective techniques that really work.