subject: Muscle Building Plateau [print this page] Break Through Plateaus With Training Part I
Whether the goal is to build muscle, strength, or to lose fat, plateaus (meaning that your gains have stopped) affect almost everyone. However, if you know a few simple ways to vary your workouts, you can make progress a constant theme in your fitness program. Im going to give you a brief guide in busting through a few common fitness problems.
Youve stopped gaining muscle or strength.
Usually, beginning weightlifters see fast gains when they first begin to train, but after theyve done a weight lifting routine for a while, their muscles become accustomed to the exertion accompanied with that routine. So, its important to mix it up. Ill share a couple of proven ways to reignite those gains.
Vary your rep range.
One way to accomplish this is to vary your rep rangethe number of repetitions you complete (and how many sets you use) for each exercise. When you switch up the number of sets and reps youre doing, you shock your muscles into working harder, even though you may be doing the same number of total repetitions.
Lets say youve stopped seeing muscle gains in your chest. If you have always performed 3 sets of 10 repetitions on Bench Press, try doing 5 sets of 6 repetitions for a workout, with heavier weight. The benefit of this is that it allows you to use a greater load, which is the amount of weight youre lifting, while still completing the same number of total reps. A general rule in weightlifting is that 4-6 reps is optimal for strength gains, 7-10 reps is optimal for size gains, and 10-15 reps is optimal for muscle endurance gains.
Also, note that sets and reps should be inversely related. So, if youre doing a set of 5 reps, you should do 3-5 sets, while a set of 15 reps may only require 1-2 sets.
Change the types of exercises youre performing.
If varying rep range isnt your problem, maybe your muscles are too adept at performing the types of exercises youve been choosing. Our bodies are extremely efficient when it comes to adapting to a stimulus when the conditions are right, and this might be whats
stopping you from continued gains.
For example, lets assume you only do Leg Press to work your lower body. Eventually, your body will become used to performing the same type of movement, so you can change to the basic Barbell Squat to work your legs in a different way. Even though its a similar movement, the weight being distributed at a different angle can spark new gains.
If youve stopped seeing muscle gains, these two methods are great ways to bust through a plateau. I recommend both varying rep range and switching out exercises to ensure that you see continued muscle growth in your weight-training program, if thats your goal.
