Zen My Fitness – Linking Muscle and Mind

At times I feel like I have reached my maximal weightlifting limit and any progression stops or only increases at a snail’s pace which you could say is a weightlifting plateau.

It's Not All About Lifting Heavier and Heavier

There are a number of causes why plateaus happen and I will identify one of the most frequently occurring causes and offer 4 methods which helps me to break through this plateau.

I don’t like to change my current workout at a whim so by using these few simple tactics gives me enough ‘kick along’ to get out of a ‘rut’ and keep my progression moving forward, whilst still being able to use my existing program.

REASONS FOR PLATEAUS

Plateaus can occur for a number of reasons which can be complex or simply lack of:

1. Nutrition – In order to grow you need to be most times in a calorie surplus and having the right amount of energy available to do the workout.

2. Recovery – Rest is when the body repairs itself and muscles start to grow however if not adequately rested then you enter the gym in a fatigued state and overtrained.

To assist in recovery I like to add in a ‘Deload Week’ where you drop your workout volume down to about 60% on any big lifts (bench, deads, squats etc) for a week and at the same time drop down the weights on the smaller lifts (isolations) at every 4, 6 or 8 weeks intervals (I like doing every 4th week).

3. Stress – Causes cortisol throughout the body which is catabolic or rather breaks down the muscles.

4. Boredom – Lacking the drive in your workouts to hit the intensity levels required for a great workout.

5. Adaptation – Your body starts to adapt and becomes efficient at the workout so the stimulation is minimal.

6. Fear – You start to worry about the loads imposed on the body or simply getting stuck under a bar so you back off too earlier and not allow yourself to hit your maximal limits, this is where a spotter can help immensely.

So if all the above points are considered and taken care of; I find the issue that occurs most frequently with me and others is point (5) Adaption.

So what I can do now to minimise adaptation is to create a new means of stimulation for growth by modifying my lifting routine for a short period of time (over 2-4 weeks) then resume my normal program again.

There are many ways to shock the body and get it more out of your workouts here are my favorite 4:

PLATEAU BREAKING METHODS

Don't spend too long here

1. Drop Sets:

As I begin to fail at the end of a set I reduce the weight  by 10-15% so I can continue reaching my targeted repetitions. This is beneficial as at the end of a set where you can not do another rep you still might have muscle fibres not totally fatigued, so simply remove a plate and drop down in a size and continue lifting. Each time you are forcing more muscle recruitment for that exercise.

Don’t drop down too much in weight and use it on the last set only. I use these when I’m targeting 10-12 reps I don’t use these say for a 5 reps workout.

2. Rest Pause:

If I fail before hitting the number of repetitions (approx. 70% of target) rather than lower the weights or stop the set, I rest for 15 seconds and compete the remaining reps schemes or even rest pause again until I hit the rep range intended.

If I fail too early e.g 5 reps for a target of say 12 then the weight is too heavy and lighten up next set or use the drop set method instead.

3. Pre-exhaust

The aim is to exhaust all the targeted muscles with an isolation exercise then moving straight away to a compound movement.

This ensures larger muscles are exhausted at the same time as the smaller muscles where normally the smaller muscles are the first to fail before the larger muscles have fully been stimulated.

Using chest as an example:
I start with a set of flys to isolate and pre-exhaust the pectorals then move straight away to do a bench press so I can then finish stimulating the pectorals (larger muscle) along with the deltoids and triceps (smaller muscles).

Or for legs I would do leg extensions first then do squats.

Again I would only use this on the last 1 or 2 sets of the exercise.

4. Changing Lower or lifting Times

This is quite easy to do and you do require a  more intense effort on using it.

Simply change the time to lift or lower a weight in any exercise.

For instance in a bench press.

Lift explosively then lower in 3-4 seconds, or reverse that order or do both lift and lower in 3-4 seonds.

This creates variety and increases the effort.

I like using the first example the most and I receive very good results from it.

These methods I like to use because they don’t interfere too much with my existing routine.  I can simply add in every once and a while to help my progression or conversely you could use them as your normal routine but a danger is these become your new adaptation issue.

Further I could list out many more ways of lifting ( e.g 21s, Reverse Pyramid,  Ballistic, Forced, Negatives, Heavy Duty etc etc) but this article will get way too big so I hope this gives you some ideas on how to keep on obtaining progression in your workouts.

If you try it out please let me know what you think.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.