How To Break Through Your Strength Building Plateaus

If you’re working out and trying to build a better body, then being able to maintain your progress for as long as possible is important. If you have fitness goals that you’re trying to hit, it’s not uncommon to hit a stumbling block that sees that progress stalls or slows down, but that doesn’t mean that you’ve hit your limit. This is especially true when it comes to your strength building routine, where you’re likely to run into a plateau or two along the way. However, rather than just giving up and accepting that it’s your limit, there are plenty of steps you can take to break on through and keep going.

Track Everything And Be Meticulous

If you feel like you’ve gotten stuck and you’re not making any meaningful gains, then the first thing you should do is put the data together to really analyze it. Track everything from the weights you’ve lifted, how many reps you’ve completed, rest time, and even how you feel post-workout. You might see that you haven’t really been progressing as much as you think, and that there could be room to push yourself harder, or to implement more rest breaks so that you don’t tire out as easily. A little tweak here and there, be it a single added rep or slightly increasing the load, can make a big difference to your strength building routine.

Switch Things Up

If you want to get more comprehensive, then you need to understand that your muscles constantly adapt to what you’re doing. If you’re working in the same rep range and tempo for months, then your body is going to be used to it. This doesn’t always mean intensifying things across the board, but rather just adjusting them. Rather than having to increase both your reps and the weight that you do, you can instead increase your weight but reduce your reps, or increase your reps, but increase your tempo with lighter weights. The goal is to make your muscles work in different ways, not always to push them harder. Pushing them smarter can be just as effective, too.

Make Sure That You’re Getting Your Protein

Your ability to build muscle is going to be dictated in large part by your diet, not just how you work out. Protein is the key ingredient for muscle repair and growth, and if you’re not hitting your daily protein targets, then it can slow your progress. As you’re gaining mass, you need more protein. This can be difficult to meet with a shake alone, but start implementing more protein-rich meals. Greek yogurt with berries can be an excellent breakfast, while protein crisps can be just the snack replacement that you need. Keep your protein intake consistent, even on rest days. You have to maintain the body’s supply of protein while it’s recovering, as well as when you’re carrying your strength training routine.

Take Recovery Just As Seriously As Your Training

In a lot of cases, people hit their plateau not because they’re not training enough, but because they’re not recovering enough. One of the fundamental rules of strength training is that gains happen during rest, not during the lift itself. For that reason, you need to ensure that you’re getting enough sleep (roughly 7-9 hours every night) and incorporating proper workout cool downs with stretching, foam rolling, and massage. Muscle soreness is normal after working out, but if you’re feeling constantly tired out or your joints are aching, then it’s a red flag, and you need to address it by improving your recovery, not just how you work out.

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Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.