This week your challenge is to Increase Your Workout Intensity. By now, everything is more consistent. Your eating habits and your workouts are a part of your routine. The trick is not to let your body get too used to that routine. Changing your exercises, working out a bit harder or a bit longer can help you to avoid the plateau that people often hit on their fitness journey.

There are so many workout crazes that focus on this. Whether you are sweating it out to Zumba or pumping it out in Cross Fit, almost every new workout system has levels or stages that push your body a little further each time. They add five minutes or five reps or new moves that cause muscle confusion in order to help you tone up in a steady way.

CHALLENGE 10: Increase Your Workout Intensity. There are many different ways to kick up your workouts. Adding variety is often the most successful. Other options include increasing workout frequency, length and repetitions.

RD Fit: Week 10 – – What to Do?

Variety: If you run for 30 minutes at the same pace every day, you will eventually stop seeing the results you experienced when you first started. While being consistent is really important, your body will get used to that exercise, that heart rate, that effort and go in to maintenance mode. Keep doing what you’re doing, keep getting what you’re getting. What if you run on a track one day, hike a trail the next, take a long bike ride over the weekend, lift weights one morning, and take an aerobics class the next? You will use different muscles, giving them time to recover in between, and you will find that you don’t get used to the exercises as quickly.

Frequency: This is simple. If you have been working out 3 times a week, try 4 this week. If you have been working about 5 times a week, try doing some days with a morning and an evening workout session. They don’t have to be crazy. Start with a brisk walk in the morning to burn calories early in the day.

Length: While it seems pretty self-explanatory, increasing your workout length can be tricky. Mainly because you are walking the fine line between pushing yourself and overdoing it. Checking your heart rate during workouts and paying attention to how your body feels should let you know how long you can last.  You should be breathing heavy, but not wheezing. If you feel light headed or dizzy, you should make sure that you are drinking plenty of water and that your blood-sugar level (which often drops during workouts) is even.

Repetitions: Reps are a spin-off of the Length adjustment. Whether you are lifting, circuit-training, running or jazzercizing, doing more of an exercise can help to build muscle which is essential to burning fat. Again, don’t be too drastic. Just adding two reps, or 3 pushups or 5 jumping jacks per round of your workout can really change your body. Again, listen to your body, because good form is more important than heavier weights or more reps.

RD Fit: Week 10 – – Where are you?

Let’s see where you are in the RD Fit: Lifestyle Challenge program.

You have probably experienced 1 or 2 major setbacks and at least as many triumphs! To see better results in the end of the program, you need to focus on the behaviors that led to these triumphs and intensify your commitment to them.