Every fitness enthusiast knows, you need a goal and a plan to help you progress through your fitness journey or everything starts to slow down. Now is the time to review where you are, what goals you have and the steps you are going to take to accomplish them.
Not just of your body, but of your routine, as well.
Now, about that body, ask yourself:
By doing a fair assessment, you can develop a plan to push it further.
What are you looking to accomplish? Have you run your first marathon, yet? If so, how about a minoration? Maybe consider biking to the next town over instead of sticking to your favorite trail.
The point is that when your fitness starts to stagnate, you have to think bigger. If your old goal was to run 30 minutes a day, you are there, so set a new one.
Everyone has a comfort zone to push past no matter how fit. It starts with increasing the length of your workouts and adding in new things.
Combine running with resistance training, for example. If you make your three-mile mark, stop and do some planks before finishing up.
Maybe pick a new route that includes some intense hills or up to the grade on the treadmill. How about choosing something less intense, but working out longer each day or twice in one day. If you are a fan of interval training, increase the intensity of the intervals.
If you decide to push yourself harder then take care not to overtrain. Increase your workouts slowly and alternate your usual intensity with your new “kick it up a notch” program.
When you are new to fitness, the milestones come fast but if you are a veteran, you have to find new ways to challenge your body to keep improving and work towards that next fitness level.