Plateau……..
“an area of fairly level high ground”
“a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress.”
A recent discussion on the Chronicals of Strength Podcast with Dan John and Pat Flynn gave some clarity on an idea that I have been discussing with my clients lately.
Plateau is the new PR (or PB).
Sometimes we can become too fixated with a constant desire to progress, which is absolutely fine.
Progress is what we should strive for, but what happens when the progress starts to halt?
If we can strategically use periods of plateau – this can help with long term progress towards a specific goal or outcome.
If we use the example of fat loss.
When you are starting out, you should expect to see some losses pretty quickly, but then the progress slows up a bit.
This is where people become frustrated and very often decide the process isn’t working, and can often give up altogether.
What if you were aware of this inevitable plateau and embraced it instead of perceiving it as failure?
Most people will start a weight loss journey in January – achieve some great progress, fall off the wagon a month later and spend the year yo-yoing and end up finishing the year another couple of pounds heavier than when they started the year.
What if you adopted a slightly different approach?
Split your year up into 4 or 6 week blocks (or whatever works for you).
Alternate between a block of progress and a block of plateau.
For fat loss it could be alternating between a month of losing 2-4 pounds followed by a month of maintaining the weight dropped in the previous month.
By the end of the year you will have 6 months of dropping fat and 6 months of maintaining the loss.
This makes much more sense than a period of fat loss, followed by a period of putting it all back on.
Psychologically this can also make the journey more sustainable and dare I say, enjoyable.
You will only be ‘dieting’ for 4-6weeks at a time before you can enjoy a less strict block.
Note, that less strict or the period of plateau isn’t an excuse for party season – this is exactly what we are trying to avoid.
Some people can go ‘beast mode’ all year round, but most can’t.
This is why it is important to be strategic with your journey, instead of relying on being ‘motivated’ 24/7.
If you look at my client Craig’s 9 year progress – this hasn’t been a linear loss. There has been many periods of progress with as many periods of plateau – but it is overall progress.
Everyone is different, will have different outlooks, situations and enjoy different approaches and this I am not saying this is the best way to do it.
It’s an option.
If you go through periods of being ‘on it’ then completely ‘off it’ then a more effective approach might be going through periods of ‘more strict’ and ‘less strict’.
It can be summed up with this quote………
“Training is like moving a pile of dirt – some days you get a shovel, and other days you get a spoon but as long as you get to move a little dirt every day, you are moving towards your goal.” — John Welbourn
Coach Milligan 