April 24, 2000
Hitting a workout slump? Time to work harder, says director
By Jennifer McNulty
Like most fitness converts, Katrina Cope has hit a slump. After making dramatic progress
during her first two months of weight training at the campus's new Wellness Center,
her improvement has suddenly slowed. Cope is feeling encouraged by the growing strength
in her legs and some lost inches, but she isn't continuing to make gains she'd hoped
for in upper-body strength.
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| Katrina Cope finds that closing her eyes helps her concentrate on working specific
muscle groups during her lunch-hour "Express Workout" at the Wellness Center. Photo: Jennifer McNulty |
No problem, said Ryan Andrews, manager of the Wellness Center and Cope's instructor during twice-weekly lunch-hour "Express Workouts." Hitting a plateau is common after two to three months of a new workout program, he said.
"Physiologically, when you're lifting weights, you get to a point where you need to do something different to continue making progress," explained Andrews. Fortunately, the solution is straightforward. In Cope's case, Andrews recommends increased attention and concentration during her workouts, and a follow-up evaluation to assess whether she is working at full capacity.
"One of the most common mistakes with beginners is they learn the motion of the exercise, but they don't know why they're doing it. They don't know what muscles they're working," said Andrews. Consequently, it's easy to slip into what he calls "robot mode," simply going through the motions without focusing on specific muscles.
"Most of us have stressful jobs, and we come in here to turn off our minds, but you need to stay focused on what you're doing," said Andrews. "It's like anything else. If you turn your mind off, you'll stop pushing yourself and getting the maximum benefit out of the exercise."
Armed with this advice, Cope has begun approaching her workouts with greater awareness. And she has already noticed a difference.
"Ryan told me to concentrate on the individual muscle groups and not just zone out. Today while slightly increasing the weight on several pieces of the exercise equipment, I concentrated on the particular muscle group that machine works" said Cope. "We'll see if I'm sore tonight."
Cope has discovered that it helps to close her eyes while lifting weights. "Then I'm not distracted by what other people are doing or what's happening outside," said Cope, adding that despite her recent frustrations, her workouts have gotten easier over the weeks, even as she is lifting more weight than ever before.
"The workout goes by faster now," she said. "Before, I used to think, 'Oh no, we have to do another round?,' but now I realize I'm thinking, 'It's over already?'" The publicity of being followed in Currents has bolstered Cope's commitment to her workout routine. "I feel compelled to continue. I'll be publicly disgraced if I don't do it!" she joked.
Next in store for Cope is a session with Andrews to evaluate whether she is really pushing herself to full capacity. "After a few months, you need to up the ante a bit," said Andrews. "As you get further along, improvement will come in smaller increments. There's no question she'll continue to improve, both in strength and how she feels. She just needs to get over this plateau."
Fitness Tip: An ideal workout routine includes two days a week of weight training and at least three days a week of cardiovascular activity. Workouts should be a minimum of 20 minutes each. "Longer is better," said Andrews. "If you find an activity you like, you'll want to do it for an hour."
