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Introduction
You are going to the gym religiously, you are sticking to the nutrition plan right to the T. You are drinking all the water, taking all the supplements, blogging on your BodySpace BodyBlog everything you are doing. But for some reason, your progress has come to a dead stop.
You are not any stronger today than you were two months ago. Your body fat levels are the exact same now as before. You would do anything, eat anything, or pay anyone to help you make a change. You are getting frustrated, and it is very understandable. What is going on?
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You Are Getting Frustrated, And
It Is Very Understandable.
Well, you have hit what is called a plateau. Everyone has experienced them. It is like catching some kind of virus. Every now and then it is your turn to have one.
If this is your first one, then hopefully this article will help you break that plateau and get you back to crushing the iron and making progress soon. There are four methods of training that this article is going to cover that will help you reach levels of intensity that you may be new to and that will help you now and in the future when you hit your next plateau.
Before we get into these though, the first thing you need to understand and mentally prepare yourself for is that you will have plateaus. It doesn't matter whether you are a beginner, advanced, or Mr. Olympia, we all hit them. You can't get frustrated or you will never break through them.
Use this article and talk to friends or trainers in the gym or chat with someone on BodySpace to help you get through it. The better prepared you are, the more likely you are to get through it quicker.
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Author: Ryan Patrick 
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Drop sets are great for muscle building, strength improvement, and a little for cardiovascular benefit.
A drop set is where you extend your set after failure by lowering the weight you are using to a lower number and resume lifting. Once you hit failure again, you lower the weight again. This repeats until you get the desired number of reps you want, or you hit total failure.
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Let's say you are doing
flat barbell bench press. You want to do 25 total reps. You start at 225 lbs. You get 12 reps and you just can't get another one. Strip the weight down to 185 lbs. or something else you can handle for a few reps. You get 7 more reps with 185 and hit failure again. This time, go to 135 lbs. and resume lifting. This time you get 6 reps and you hit your total of 25.
- Flat Barbell Bench Press: 3 drop sets of 25 total reps
This is how it would look in a training log:
Use this method on any lift that you are trying to improve on. I highly recommend on any muscle you feel is your weakest.
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This is another good one that will help with
strength and
muscle building.
Rest pause sets are taking a weight to failure 2-3 times in one set. Again, let's use the bench for example. You want to get 225 lbs. for 25 reps. You just can't seem to get past 16-18 reps though. Load up 225 and start pumping. Once you hit failure, rack the weight and count to 5. One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four, one thousand five. Now unrack and get as many more as you can.
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Author: Charles (sword chucks) 
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Once you hit failure again, rack it again. This time you will count the same way to 10. After the 10 count, unrack and finish it off before racking for the final time.
- Flat Barbell Bench Press: Rest-Pause set of 25 total reps
Again, in a log it might look like this:
You got your 25 reps. Doing this for a few weeks, you will get closer or hit your goal of 225 lbs. for 25 consecutive reps.
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This method is for muscle building and is also great for
cardiovascular improvement.
Supersets is taking two exercises and doing them back to back without rest. They can be for the same muscle group, like
flat barbell bench press and
flat dumbbell flyes, or they can be for opposing muscle groups, like
barbell curls for
biceps and
skull crushers for
triceps.
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Supsersets Involve Taking Two Exercises And
Doing Them Back To Back Without Rest.
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The objective is to do them back to back without rest or with as little rest as possible. The quicker, the better. We will use back this time for the same muscle group superset.
- Superset:
- Superset:
It might look like this in a log:
Wide Grip Pulldown: 3 sets of 10 reps
Seated Row: 3 sets of 10 reps
Now, let's do a superset with opposing muscle groups. The most popular is biceps and triceps. It might go like this.
Barbell Curl: 3 sets of 10 reps
Skull Crushers: 3 sets of 10 reps
Arnold is famous for doing supersets while training for contests and guest appearances back in the 60's and 70's.
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Giant sets are for primarily cardiovascular benefits and muscular endurance improvement. They are supersets only much larger and usually used for the same muscle group. We will train
shoulders this time. We will do
seated dumbbell presses,
side raises,
rear lateral raises, and
dumbbell upright rows.
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In a log, it would look like this:
- Giant Set:
Seated Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
Side Lateral Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps
Rear Lateral Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps
Dumbbell Upright Row: 3 sets of 10 reps
It doesn't have to be 4 exercises. Rather you can do 6 or even 8. Once you complete your first giant set, rest for 45-60 seconds before doing your next set.
Conclusion
Although these are great for breaking through plateaus, you might need to change up your whole routine. If these methods don't work, try changing your training days up or change when you train what muscle. Anything like that can help you start making progress again.
Do not give up though because that is the 100% sure fire way that you will never make progress again. If you need help getting through these plateaus mentally, come join my BodyGroup ROCKIVATION. All of the members have been through them and can help you too. Good luck.
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