With a sound training regimen and proper recovery techniques, you should never have to worry about hitting any plateaus. However, if you do start to find yourself hitting that wall, here are four areas to review and adjust to ensure you are never stuck.
- Undertraining – If you have your workout regimen to set up to only focus on one movement or specific muscle group 1 time a week, you most likely is not enough. You are not getting enough volume of that movement to progress towards your goals. This is the easiest to fix and most likely NOT the reason of your plateau, but a possible reason why you are not seeing the progress you would like. Adding appropriate additional volume and you will begin to see progress towards your goals.
- Overtraining – This is a common contributor to hitting a plateau. When you are training a movement every day, you are breaking down the muscle each and every time. That is what happens when you are doing strength training. Too much volume does not allow your body to recover and ultimately sets you up to fail. Alter your training regimen so you are working towards your goals, but also creating a strong foundation. Vary your technique and also spend some time working other movements so you are capable to see progress towards your goals.
- Recovery – This goes hand and hand with overtraining. When you are working out, you are breaking down the musculature. True gains and progress towards your goals occur when you are recovering after a strenuous workout. Utilize time within your workout to correct any dysfunctions you may have. When you are away from the gym, focus on quality sleep, as this is when our body can focus on recovering from the day’s events.
- Nutrition – You must fuel your body to perform. Our bodies are amazing machines, and not properly fueling them will cause it to perform and recover poorly. Your body will begin to breakdown and you will see yourself not making the progress you should be making.
For more information about any or all of these topics please feel free to reach out to EXOS to openly discuss your current training regimen, and get expert advice on ways you can adjust and progress towards your goals.