There is nothing more frustrating then when progress in training appears to come to a grinding halt. Whether you're a seasoned lifter or just starting out, hitting a plateau can be demotivating. Plateaus can be part of the body's adapting to training stresses. But when they hang around for a fair while it is important to consider your options.
The first thing to check is that you are undertaking a periodised programme designed specifically for you and your needs. Secondly you should consider the data: how often you lift, how did compares to previous phases (your training history) and whether the stresses of the "outside world" have changed and/or impacted your training. You also should pay attention to any areas of weakness or imbalance that are holding you back.
If you decide it is an appropriate time to change up your training here are eight lifting strategies designed to challenge your muscles in new ways and break through plateaus:
1. Eccentric Training: Focus on the lowering phase of an exercise to maximize muscle fibre recruitment and promote muscle growth. Eccentric training involves controlling the weight as it descends, emphasizing muscle lengthening and promoting greater muscle damage for increased strength gains.
2. Supersets and Tri-Sets: Challenge your muscles by performing two or three exercises back-to-back without rest. Each exercise targets a different, often opposing, muscle group. Supersets and tri-sets increase time under tension and metabolic stress, encourage hypertrophy as well as adding variety and saving training time.
3. Pyramid Training: Gradually increase weight while decreasing reps (ascending pyramid) or vice versa (descending pyramid) to stress your muscles in different ways. Climbing pyramids enhance strength and power, while descending pyramids improve muscle endurance and break through plateaus by introducing new training stimuli.
4. Compound Sets: Target the same muscle group with two different exercises performed consecutively to maximize muscle activation. Compound sets increase muscle recruitment and fatigue, promoting muscle growth and strength gains.
5. Isometric Holds: Incorporate static holds into your workouts to challenge your muscles without joint movement. Isometric holds improve muscle stability, strength, and endurance, targeting specific muscle groups and addressing weaknesses that may be contributing to plateaus.
6. Drop Sets: Push your muscles to failure by performing an exercise until fatigue, then quickly reducing the weight and continuing the set. Drop sets increase muscle fatigue and promote hypertrophy by overloading the muscle fibres with varying weights.
7. Time Under Tension (TUT): Extend the duration of each repetition by slowing down the pace of your lifts, focusing on both the eccentric and concentric phases. Increasing TUT enhances muscle fibre recruitment and metabolic stress, promoting muscle growth and adaptation.
8. Accommodating Resistance: Incorporate bands or chains into your lifts to increase resistance throughout the range of motion. Accommodating resistance challenges your muscles in new ways, promoting strength gains and overcoming performance plateaus.
In addition to these strategies, it's essential to prioritize recovery to support muscle repair and growth. Quality sleep, proper nutrition, deload weeks, and active recovery can all help prevent burnout, reduce the risk of injury, and optimize performance.
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