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The Question: You've been working out for awhile now and your friends and family have really noticed your results. The results you were getting from your training kept coming and coming and your motivation was at an all time high... and then, like a stack of 45 pound plates crashing into the ground, your gains abruptly stopped. Each week you would work out harder and harder, but each time you stepped on the scale with your eyes half closed, afraid to look, you were let down by the realization that after all of your hard work, you hadn't gained another ounce of muscle. Are you just wasting your time? A plateau is one of the most frustrating things in bodybuilding, second only to an injury. Don't worry though, you are not alone. Almost everybody hits a plateau from time to time. Some people never get out of the slump and quit, but some people seem to get past it and start gaining again almost immediately. How do they do it? What are the major causes of plateaus? What should you do if you hit a plateau? Is there a special "shock" training program that you can do? Should you be analyzing your workout, nutrition, and supplement programs to see what is wrong? Should you try something different with your training, nutrition and supplements? Should you take a break, and if so, for how long? Give your full and detailed advice to help others around the world who are suffering from this dreadful condition! Show off your knowledge to the world! The Winners:
2nd place - 20 in store credit. 3rd place - Free Bodybuilding.com hat. To use your credit, e-mail Will @ will@bodybuilding.com for more info.
Anyone who has trained for any length of time knows what it's like. Everything is going great in your training, every week you are either adding weight or reps on all of your exercises. You're packing on muscle so fast you can see the difference from week to week. Then when things couldn't be any better, out of no where BLAM! You hit a wall. You can't add weight to any of your exercises. You chalk it up as a bad week, and tell yourself next week you will be back on track. The next week comes and again you can't add more weight or get one more rep on anything. It is like a bad dream only you can't wake up. Thankfully there are several things you can do to bust through your plateau. In this article I will discuss the many ways you can get back on track.
One mistake I see made all the time is when someone calculates their diet when they weigh 180lbs then they get up to 200lbs and never make adjustments for this extra 20 pounds. That 20lbs difference increases your caloric needs by 300 calories. Make sure you are getting your calories from good healthy foods. Avoid junk foods, or fast foods that are loaded with saturated, and trans fats. It is also a good idea to avoid sugars with the exception of your post workout shake. So forget about McDonalds or Burger King. In addition, I can't stress enough the importance of drinking lots of water as it helps your body utilize the food you eat and the vitamins and minerals you take. You should be drinking at least a gallon a day. A 40/40/20 ratio of macronutrients is what I follow. I will do a sample breakdown for a 200lb man here. The first thing you want to do is multiply your body weight by 15 so for this example 15 X 200 = 3000. This is how many calories you will consume per day. To find out how much protein you will need to figure out what 40% of 3000 is. You do this by multiplying .4 X 3000 = 1200 calories from protein. Carbs will also be 1200 calories for a total of 2400 which means the remaining 600 calories will be from fats. Proteins and carbs are both 4 calories per gram, and fat is 9 calories per gram. so to break it down to how many grams of each are needed you simply divide the proteins and carbs by 4 and the fats by 9.
There you have it. It's as easy as that. One piece of equipment you cannot do without whether you're bulking, or cutting is a Food Scale.
One of the best ways to avoid hitting a plateau is to change your routine often. Every 6 to 8 weeks is optimal. Here are a few of the many ways you can change your routine.
Overtraining Overtraining is one sure fire way to stop making gains, in fact if left unchecked it can actually decrease the size of your muscles and your strength. For many beginners overtraining is a vicious circle. Their strength and mass gains come to a standstill, so what do they do? You guessed it they increase their workload assuming that more work is needed to remedy the problem. Which couldn't be further from the truth. Overtraining occurs when you do not allow yourself enough time to heal in-between workouts. The time required between workouts to recover can vary depending on a few factors: genetics, nutrition, and sleep. Here are a few symptoms that will help you diagnose weather or not you are overtrained:
If you are experiencing two or more of these symptoms and are not making gains, then it is fairly safe to say that you are in an overtrained state. Now that the problem has been diagnosed the best thing to do is to take two weeks off from all training. I know I know it sucks but in the long run you will be so much better off, it's well worth it. Often you will be stronger upon returning to the gym after the two weeks are up, and you will be extremely motivated because you will be dying to get back in the gym. While you are taking that time off you can figure out how you got into an overtrained state by looking at your diet and your routine then make adjustments accordingly. Make sure you are eating enough healthy foods, Only train each body part once a week, lower the volume of your training to 3 exercises per body part at 3 sets and you should be well on your way to making progress once again.
So try to get at least 8 hours of solid sleep. 9 is even better. If you need to use an alarm clock to wake up, odds are that you are not getting enough, also if you are not sleeping through the night you are probably not getting enough REM or (stage 4 sleep). It is when you are in this deep sleep that most of your recovery occurs. So if sleeping through the night is a problem then you might want to consider trying Melatonin, or Valarian root to help you.
In that case what you need to shock your body back into growing. There are plenty of effective ways of doing this. I will list a few with brief descriptions here.
This sounds obvious but it is surprising how many people I still see at the gyms that don't do legs. Your body grows as a whole so if the upper body is not growing, and you are not doing legs. Start! Squats are your friend. Doing squats strengthens your core, releases growth hormone and testosterone into your system, and will help you build am impressive set of wheels. Nothing looks funnier than a guy with a big upper body and no legs.
Ok that's it. You are now armed with all the information and tools you'll need to break through plateaus.
Plateaus are an event that plagues a bodybuilder's life, and as we all know, there is nothing more aggravating than not being able to add mass or weights. Even though plateaus occur quite often, most people do not know how to go about giving their training a kick-start again. A plateau can occur for various reasons, but no-matter what the reason is (whether from your CNS or your diet) they can be overcome. Here I will outline 10 things that you can do to get past this new plateau.
Increasing your protein intake will allow your body to use the protein for rebuilding muscle fibers. Increasing your caloric intake will allow your body to provide you with more energy during workouts. Removing all the junk food from your diet will remove calories, but those are essentially empty calories that do nothing for you. This is where step b fits in. Step d is very important because vitamins and minerals are easily depleted when your body is trying to rebuild muscle fibers. Vegetables hold large quantities of these vitamins and minerals, but one or two multi-vitamins will also help (this will be covered more in depth later on).
If the routine you are currently using is a high volume - low frequency, switch to a low volume - high frequency routine. If you use a customized routine that you developed for yourself, consider rotating exercises every few weeks, even if you haven't yet reached a plateau on that exercise, it may sound crazy, but it will keep your body guessing. Another thing that you can change is the days and body parts you work on. If you are doing a Monday, Wednesday, Friday split, consider breaking your muscle groups into a 4-day split. Here is a link to the workout database, so that you are able to find whatever kind of routine you are looking for.
It is important make sure that you are doing this at the correct times, and that you are also getting the most benefit from your cardio.
Giving yourself a break for a week or two can be very beneficial for not only your body, but also for your mind. During this time you can catch up with doing things you haven't had time for, while your body repairs itself, and relieves stress. Something that is often overlooked is the fact that extreme duress can negatively affect the body's ability to repair itself.
Forced Reps Video Guide:
At the end of the three weeks, increase the rest period between the sets back to the 2 minutes that you originally had it at, and I guarantee you'll see an amazing increase in your weights on the exercise, and as we all know, with strength comes size.
Remember that there is a fine line between growth and overtraining, and you must remember to push yourself far enough, but not too far.
This is where choosing the proper workout partner comes into play. The person needs to be someone who you can talk with easily, and has to be someone who has the same desires as you. However, the two most important features in a workout partner are trust, and motivation.
You must be able to trust your workout partner in all circumstances, because when you are bench-pressing near your max weight, you cannot afford to have the weight lying on your chest and your partner/spotter laughing at you. In addition, your workout partner should be a source for motivation, and not a distraction. Having friendly competition between you and your spotter is one way to keep your focus better while in the gym.
Keep in mind that drinking large amounts of water all at once is the worst thing you can do. Because, the body will respond to a sudden sharp increase in water by releasing diuretic hormones to excrete as much of the excess water as possible, further dehydrating you.
The best part about creatine is that it has been around for well over 10 years, and there are still no side effects to taking this supplement. Creatine Ethyl Ester HCL (CEE) - CEE is a more potent form of monohydrate, simply because its absorption is about 30 times better than that of regular creatine. Glutamine - Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the muscles. The body naturally produces it, but while the body is under intense stress, the production is not increased even though the demand for it is. Increased amounts of glutamine in the body lead to faster muscle recuperation. Nitric Oxide - Nitric Oxide is a gas that can travel freely through cell membranes. This allows it to increase blood flow, which means that nutrients can be carried to the muscles quicker, and makes it easier to have larger pumps. Nitric Oxide also increases the production of adrenaline.
You start to believe you'll never stop growing. You imagine you'll be as big as Ronnie Coleman in a couple of months. Then 2 months later you're stricken with reality. You've stop growing. Reason being: you hit a plateau. Most beginners think a plateau is a green flat plane. Well it's not. It's a bodybuilder's worse enemy. It is the main reason beginners stop seeing gains and start losing motivation. It's the major cause of why almost everyone quits after 2 months of working out. Plateaus not only affect beginners, they even hit the stars of bodybuilding. No one wants to hear the P word. Winning the battle against plateaus is what makes your gains keep on coming. In this article I'm going to advise you on the best ways to tackle this evil. To begin with, take a look at your bodybuilding lifestyle. Is there something wrong with it? Do you have your diet in check? Are you giving your body time to rest? Are you overtraining?
Plan what you're going to eat the whole day and stick to it. Try to get at least 1 gram of protein for every pound you weigh and eating 5-6 meals a day and every 2-3 hours so you won't go into a catabolic state. In addition you want to keep your muscle cells well hydrated so they are able to grow. The recommended water intake is 1 ounce for every kilogram you weigh. A celebrated way to go over strength/mass plateaus is to go on a bulking diet. When you go on a bulking diet you want to keep fat gain to minimal. During this time keep your diet as clean as possible while maximizing your calories. The amount of calories you should consume is your body weight multiplied by 20. This is a great way to put on mass and get over the hump.
This break can only do you good, and give you a pleasant surprise. If you've been working out consecutively for that long, take a week off, you deserve it. Not only from weight training but any physical activity including cardio! Furthermore you want to keep all your workouts under an hour so you won't overtrain. Staying hydrated during your workout is also vital, so make sure to take a water bottle with you. After your workout, I recommend to take a warm shower to loosen your muscles and speed up the healing process. You also want to give each body part at least 48 hours of rest. Most bodybuilders like to give each body part a week off to completely heal. This works because some body parts are getting worked out indirectly on other exercises not intended for it. For example your triceps and shoulders are worked when bench pressing.
One thing everyone should be aware of is that you don't grow while you're working out. So stop staring in the mirror, you're not any bigger. So when do you grow? Healing mostly takes place when you are sleeping! This is why you should get at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night. Your bedtime meal should also consist of a casein protein because it's slowly digested and best for nighttime.
As soon as they adapt to your routine, you stop growing. Muscles don't want to grow they would rather stay undersized and puny, which is the very reason for teaching them who is boss. After a while your muscles get use to your routine and they are not worked as hard. They learn how to cope with the exercise you do, and even figure out your rep and set range. This is why you need to keep you muscles guessing. By doing so, you're shocking them; to shock your body, you should adjust your routine every 4-6 weeks. Simple Shocking Methods:
What you want to do is explore all the different programs that are out there. Different programs work for different people. So go and find out which is best for you. Supersets
The best type of superset is when you use opposite muscle groups. While one muscle is lifting the other one is resting. For example you could bench press then immediately after do a lat pulldown. Not only are supersets going to shock your muscles but it's also going to save you time. Your endurance will be tested the first couple of weeks you're on it, so beware. You won't be disappointed with the results. Dropsets
You then have 2 of your friends on each side to strip the weight when you reach failure. For example on the bench press you would pick a weight you can do about 10 times and then little by little have the weight stripped off until only the bar is left. Hopefully no one will be looking when you're struggling with the bar. Forced Reps
When you reach failure your spotter will then help you crank up 3 or 4 more reps. This helps you push the limit of failure and once again shocks your muscles into new growth! Overloading
For your muscles to get bigger, you have to follow the principle of overloading and demand more of your muscles. By demanding more of your muscles, you have to lift more often and heavier. Therefore, you have to increase resistance, sets, and repetitions. Plyometrics
Athletes use it to get faster and quicker but you can also use it for these plateaus. One exercise on the bench press would be to let the weight drop from the lockout position then catch it. This won't only make you stronger, but you will be able to lift the weight even faster. There are many plyometric exercises you can implement into your routine. The dreadful issue about plyometrics is the high risk of injury, so train smartly. Distinguished Programs To Follow:
Intensity
An excellent way to get pumped is by listening to your favorite hardcore song. This will get the juices going and there will be no stopping you. Your Body
Excessive alcohol drinking is also damaging for you and your diet. If you're going to drink, drink your protein shake. Treat your body like a holy temple so it's ready to go when it's crunch time. Mental Barriers
Why you ask? Not because you're not strong enough physically but because you're not strong enough mentally. Maybe the big plates intimidate you. You really have to bear down, dig deep down inside of you, and be able to control your mind. When you gain control of your mind, you're easily going to be able to gain control over plateaus. Record Keeping
It also allows you to go back to the past and see what worked and what didn't. You should also plan ahead. By planning ahead, I mean for you to construct a routine for the future. This way you're ready to change your routine every 4-6 weeks and know what you're going to do. Proper Form
You won't get any stronger or any bigger because you're lifting improperly. The only thing you will get is a trip to the hospital. So always remember to stress proper form when lifting. I know you don't want to start from scratch all over again. Supplements
If it's a strength plateau you're facing, the finest supplement to fight is creatine. The best creatine being Creatine Ethyl Ester, commonly known as CEE. CEE will amaze you and put you over any strength plateau. If you want to grow then your focal point should be on nighttime supplements.
 ZMA is a cheap effective supplement that will give you deeper sleep and may raise your testosterone levels. The other nighttime supplement is a casein protein. Casein proteins are essential for nighttime because it's slowly digested and provides an anti-catabolic effect. Remember the better the sleep, the better the gains.  Final Words
So keep things fresh and never stop growing. Now go out there and shock those muscles. Most importantly lift hard, and keep the gains coming!
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