Blog

Author: Dr. Payton Busker, PT, DPT

Picture this: You’ve been working out consistently for about 12 weeks. You had been progressively increasing your weight over that time period, feeling stronger as the weeks went on. But now you’re here and you’re feeling muscle aches you haven’t felt or you’re missing that satisfying muscle burn you’ve come to crave in class. 

You feel like you’re hitting a plateau. 

Let’s talk about what you might have done in the past when you’ve reached this point and why we should avoid these tendencies now.

What people mistakenly do when they reach a plateau. 

1. Mix up their routines
2. Increase the volume of their workouts 
3. Add in more cardio or faster movements 

Mixing up your routine.

Oftentimes this feels like the right call. You mix up your lifts or exercises and then experience soreness the next day. However, soreness is not a good indicator of effective muscle activation. More...

Now that we've covered both HIIT and steady-state cardio, let's go over the main differences between the two.

The difference between steady-state and HIIT is that a HIIT workout is where the individual exerts their max effort , which can't be sustained for a long time. Whereas steady-state cardio is a low-to-moderate effort that can be maintained for a longer period of time.

During HIIT, your heart rate is close to its max, maybe around 160 bpm, depending on who you are, and sustained for a brief amount of time, maybe 15-30 seconds. 

After that brief, intense bout, you recover for a short period of time and repeat. HIIT is pretty brutal, but the good part is, it's brief and time-effective. It has benefits, as I talked about in the last podcast. But it's not for everyone. If you are new to exercise, have cranky joints, hormone imbalances, etc., HIIT might not be your exercise of choice until you get those things under control. 

Additionally, if you HATE that type of...