Is it a plateau or a rut?

Saturday’s combat fitness class was another doozy. No sprints or split sets at each station of the circuit, but there were hundreds – literally hundreds – of crunches. So many crunches that, besides my abdominals hurting, the front of my neck hurts from holding my head off of the mat for so long. Jumping rope replaced the morning run and the typical circuit was thrown out the window. Instead of 10 or 11 stations on the circuit, there were only 4 on Saturday: pull-ups, hanging knee lifts, dips and tricep raises (hands behind your back on a low wall, legs straight out in front of your body and resting on heels and you raise and lower your body). We split into groups of three and all three people had to complete three sets at each station before moving on to the next station. Our first set was 15 reps, second set 12 reps, third set 10 reps. It was tough, especially the pull ups. Fifteen is about the most pull ups I can do on a good day, so trying to do 12 after doing 15 is next to impossible for me.

I haven’t been pleased with my fitness performance lately. Mr. Stuart says I’ve hit a plateau, but I feel like it’s worse than a plateau. I feel like I’m regressing. While I’m seeing improvement in my fighting skills, I’m not seeing improvement in my fitness. This is frustrating. Two elements from Saturday’s class highlighted my fitness stagnation: push ups and pull ups. The amount I can do really hasn’t increased in months. If we use these two exercises as a way to measure overall fitness, I’m standing still. I guess I need to start pushing myself harder and always try to do one more pull up than I could do the week before. Actually, what I need to do is a fitness test so I know exactly what my max is for several exercises. I wish I did this when I first started class more than a year ago, that would have given me a much clearer picture of progress. I can say without a doubt that I’m way more fit than I was when I first started, but just how much I can’t say.