When you reach a training plateau it can be very frustrating. So you’ve been working out consistently and have been gaining strength, losing body fat, looking better, and then out of no where your aren’t seeing any more results. You, my friend, have hit a plateau. But you’re not alone and most people will experience this at some point in their training. One of the reasons this happens is because people rarely change the training variables enough. In this article I will supply you with some tips on how you can break through training plateaus.
Modifying your training variables will help you burn fat and build muscle once you have hit a training plateau. There are many ways that you can modify your training to break through these frustrating times. It is common for people to change their sets and reps but most of the time they won’t change their routines at all. There are many changes that you can make to continue to progress and that can dramatically affect your results. Some of these may include changing your order of exercise, changing your exercise grouping (super-sets, circuit training), exercise types, the number of exercises you perform, and increases or decreases in resistance. Sounds like a lot of different training aspects to consider in order to obtain the best results from your workouts, doesn’t it? Well, that’s where a knowledgeable personal trainer can make sense of all of this for you to make sure that your training doesn’t get stale. Below are a few examples to get your mind working to come up with more creative and result producing workouts.
So many people just stick with the 3 sets of 12 reps per exercise routine because it is general enough to understand or they do not have the knowledge to change it. This can get extremely boring. What happens when you get bored? You lose interest and move on to some other activity. Below I’ve listed a few examples that will help you change up your routine and keep you in the gym. But more importantly, you’ll enjoy your workouts again and start seeing results.
Do 10 sets of 3, with only 20 seconds rest between sets. This will also allow you to handle more weight!
Using a moderately heavy weight and complete 6 sets of 6 reps, doing a 3 minute treadmill sprint between each weight lifting set.
Perform single reps-using a near maximum weight and do 10 sets of 1 rep, with 30 seconds rest between sets.
Blast out higher reps-using a lighter than normal weight and do 1 set of 50 reps for each exercise
Focus on only one full body exercise, such as barbell clean & presses or dumbbell squat & presses, and do nothing but that exercise for an intense 20 minutes. With this example, you could try sets of 5 reps at a moderately heavy weight every 2 minutes until you reach 20 minutes.
Perform a workout based on all bodyweight exercises such as pushups, pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, bodyweight squats, lunges, step-ups, etc.
Perform a circuit of 12 different exercises covering the entire body without any rest between exercises.
Change up your tempo- exercise at a faster repetition speed on one workout and then at a super-slow speed on your next workout.
Change up the amount of time spent in the gym-complete five 30 minute workouts one week, followed by three 1-hr workouts the next week.
Perform drop sets of all of your exercises, where you drop the weight between each set and keep doing repetitions without any rest until complete muscular fatigue (usually about 5-6 sets in a row).
These are just a few ways that you can change up your workouts to help you break through training plateaus. Trust me there are many other ways to change up your training and there is really no wrong way to do it. My goal in writing this article is to give you some ideas so that your training does not get stale and that you can continue to see results. Progression is one of the ‘Granddaddy Laws of Fitness’ and you should continue to see progress each and every month. Work hard and train smart and watch your body change!
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