If you’ve been serious about bodybuilding for at least a year, you must have at least heard of the infamous PLATEAU.
Plateau is the bane of all bodybuilders. You lift and lift and lift for weeks upon weeks, and yet you still cannot see a significant strength gain. You are still doing the same weight and the same amount of reps. Most people who are stuck on a plateau usually get told something along the lines of, ‘ Change your routine, dammit!’. But there’s more to it than that. A mere change of routine isn’t going to solve everything.
So here are the REAL reasons why you plateau…
1) You Forget Certain Muscles
A lot of guys who get muscular, get muscular as a way of attracting women. Because of this, they usually only focus on their arms, chest and abs. However, this leaves key muscles such as your back and legs out, and as you know, these muscles help your arms. It’s an old, cliche saying, but it’s so true in this case – ‘You’re only as strong as your weakest link’.
Designate time to focus on all your body.
2) Use Correct Form!
This is the most reoccurring thing that happens to amateur bodybuilders – they use incorrect form. Incorrect form will not only impede your progress, but it might not even be training the muscles you want! So get your form clean and correct, and this will help dig you our of the nasty plateau.
3) Bad Diet
Remember, half the workout is the diet. If you are eating utter crap, or just not eating enough, this will make your gains smaller. This is a simple one – bad diet = plateau.
4) You Jumped The Weights Instead Of Taking It Slow
When you feel like you need to up the amount you are lifting, ensure that you do it in small increments. Doing it in big lots always equals trouble.
Instead of just gently adding on more weight each week, you suddenly just add 5kg to your dumbbell, and wonder why you aren’t getting any gains after several weeks. Simply lighten it. Now, you might be thinking your going back on yourself, but your wrong – you gotta go back to progress in this case. By lightening the load, you can begin to build some lean muscle, and slowly see some gains.
5) Change Your Routine!
The traditional answer to plateaus. Basically, just substitute some of your exercises for other, similar exercises. For example, change your barbell curl for an E-Z Bar curl. DO NOT try gimmicks such as supersetting or forced reps. Just stick to what you know. The basics are always best.
And that basically concludes this post. Get some use out of it, and comment me with your results.