What to do if you hit a weightlifting plateau

Lifting a heavy weight will make it stronger.That is the principle Progressive overload in brief. As you get stronger, you need to lift heavy weights to stay stronger.The number will continue to grow forever Milo of Croton I carry calves every day until he can carry a grown bull. Or are they?

The basic idea is correct, but if you keep trying, you’ll get stronger, but that doesn’t mean you can lift more weight than last time. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons and what to do instead.

Linear gain is for beginners

If you can add £ 5 to your squat every time you go to the gym, that’s not normal. Experienced lifters don’t pile up pounds that way for months anyway, but beginners can.

Think of it as the honeymoon stage that happens when your body first begins to learn to lift weights. It also happens when you return from a break.this Also Applies if you have made some progress but have not consistently trained. Some people call this phase “beginner’s interest”.You can take advantage of the myth that the clock is ticking from the first moment you touch the d-barbell. In fact, you get a linear benefit just because you are relatively weak (you can gain weight every time or every week).

So it doesn’t matter If Someday I won’t be able to gain weight, when.. After months of consistent training, maybe more, maybe less, it changes-the day will come when you go into the gym and can’t lift more than 5 pounds more than last time.

Increased fatigue mask

The stimuli you get from training have a long-term effect of strengthening you and a short-term effect of making you more tired. With a lot of training, you’ll get stronger and stronger over time, but you’ll always get a little tired.

This isn’t a bad thing, and you don’t have to worry about whether you’re “recovered” enough to hit the gym. If you wait for a full recovery between workouts, you won’t make any progress.

However, it should be noted that it is normal for fatigue to hide your true strength. If you want to do your best on a particular day, such as when you’re planning to compete in a powerlifting competition, strategically time your training so you can rest a bit before the big day.

As a result, it’s normal to not get the best performance every day in the gym. I did 10 pull-ups at a time, but most days I’m at the top with 8 sets. It’s normal.. You can still do 10+ on a fresh day, A regular training day is not just that day..

Other stressors also affect this. If you don’t get enough sleep, don’t eat well, have menstrual cramps, have a cold, or have a terrible day at work, perhaps no matter how much training you have, today’s PR. This is all normal. No one is always stress-free.

Focus on what you are doing, not performance

Training days are to work, as long as you show up and do something challenging, you are progressing whether you are gaining weight or not.

It must be correct Kindness But of work.If you’re always using the same weight and it’s not challenging, you’re not lifting Heavy enough To make a profit. Place a 5 lb dumbbell on the rack and use 10 lbs instead.But you have tried heavier weights and you have you can’t There are several approaches to add and try:

Infrequent increase

Even if you can gain weight fairly regularly, that doesn’t mean you can always gain weight. every day Good result. If you’re lifting a 10-pound dumbbell, upgrading to a 15-pound dumbbell can significantly increase your strength by as much as 50%. So keep using 10 for a while.

For barbell lifts Microplate Often recommended. If you can’t add £ 5 or £ 10 to the bar, you can use a small weight to add £ 2. But these are really options, as weight gain doesn’t drive your progress. Instead of lifting 65 pounds, then 67.5, then 70, you can lift 65 pounds for two weeks in a row before jumping to 70.

Training under maximum

This is a good place program Instead of going to the gym every day, I just do whatever the program does. It may not be a top-level effort every time, and it depends on the spec.You can make Huge For example, with eight tenths of effort, you can benefit from most workouts. You probably enjoy your training more and don’t feel like you’ve been beaten later.

More volume

Many beginner programs are minimalist and are completed in just a few sets of exercises.This works fine It’s a beginner’s profit stage, but it really helps to do more to build for future profits. Why not 6 sets instead of 3 sets of 5 repetitions? Why not 10 times? Remember if they are below the maximum (No (Fail all sets) Your body will be able to handle it without much fatigue.

Various exercises

fine If you have your favorite lift, and you are training for competition You need to stay competitive in rotation. However, a wider range of exercises will help you become a more balanced athlete. If you have a lot of bench presses, why not add an overhead press? If you have a lot of dumbbell rows, have you considered barbell or cable rows? Different exercises emphasize different muscles and diversity is good for your brain, In the same way.

As a bonus, when you start working on a new exercise just because your body and brain haven’t mastered the new lift yet, you’ll get a bit of that “beginner gets” fast track.

Patience

I know, this is the hardest thing! However, after the beginner’s stage, the progress becomes difficult to predict. You may not make progress for a while, and then suddenly hit a lot of personal records.

Regular programming really helps here. Block training (weeks or months) with a specific focus, then switch gears to do another kind of work. If you compete, your training may be common for some time when you build a base, and it becomes more specific as you “peak” for competition.

You can use this approach just by training for fun and health. Spend time on blocks of training aimed at growing your muscles and building general fitness, then increase your chances of testing yourself to see what you’ve built and be more focused. You can do blocks where you can work. The part of patience occurs when you realize that you can’t frequently test the maximum of one iteration during that basic phase.

That doesn’t mean you have no means of progress. Set up a PR for the contact (for example, the highest weight you’ve ever done for 10 contacts). Or you may find that you can learn better techniques or improve your conditioning so that you can spend less time on breaks between sets. All of these are signs that you are stronger and healthier, even if you are not constantly adding weight to the bar.