Level Up

Bored with your same old exercise routine. Benched by injury. Unable to push your sore, tired body any harder. There are many reasons why youre not seeing results like you used to. But there are just as many ways to bust through that plateau and score next-level results.

- Wanita Nicol

Scroll through the WH Instagram feed and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the team is a trbe of Lycraclad fitness lovers who enjoy nothing more than a heart pumping workout. And we are – on a good day. But even the most endorphin-addicted, high-energy fitsters can hit a plateau. And at the beginning of May, Team WH had a serious case of Autumn Slump.

“A fitness plateau occurs when your body has become accustomed to your current training programme,” says Aneeka Buys, Virgin Active master trainer and the brains behind the Women’s Health Shedding For The Wedding exercise plan. “At this point, everything which would have brought you results in previous weeks does absolutely nothing for your fitness progress.” Lovely. “This is attributed to your body’s amazing ability to adapt to change,” she says. “If we do the same thing over and over, it no longer becomes a challenge, but second nature.” That’s great when you’re learning a sport, but it’s less amazing when you’re trying to use as much energy as possible so you can lower your body-fat percentage.