3 Ways to Avoid Hitting a Workout Plateau

The other day, one of my facebook friends asked me a question about getting over workout plateaus. She wanted to know how long a plateau should last, how to get passed one, and how to avoid hitting an exercise plateau in the first place.

The reality is that hitting a plateau isn’t normal!

However, it can be a result of following a poorly designed fitness program. Hitting a plateau basically means that you have stagnated. You aren’t progressing. Whether that be in terms of losing weight, gaining strength, building mass, or any other physical objective.

No one wants to hit a point of stagnation in their fitness routine, so to help you PREVENT ever hitting one, here are 3 tips.

1. Vary Your Workout Intensity

Doing the same exercises with the same intensity (ie. weight or volume) over and over again is a surefire way to hit a plateau. Plus, it’s just plain boring. In order to maximize your results, you need to change things up.

For example, in a full year properly periodized training program you would put your body through a variety of different workout intensities.

You might start off with some general full body conditioning (ie. bodyweight circuit training) where you might be performing higher reps (ie. 15-20) per set to prepare your body for the following “mesocycles” or training phases.

After doing these type of higher repetition workouts for 2-4 weeks, you could move into a hypertrophy (muscle building) phase where the focus shifts to doing more volume in each of your workouts.

For instance, 10-12 reps for 4 sets is a typical hypertrophy workout protocol.

Again, following this plan for 4-6 weeks gets your muscles a bit bigger and a bit stronger but you certainly can’t lift like this forever. And far too many people do!

So you need to move into a strength phase where you shift to much heavier weights that only allow you to complete up to 6 repetitions or so. You could also throw in some power/explosive workouts where you would decrease the weight and perform anywhere from 1-5 reps as explosively as possible with plenty of rest in between each set.

As you can see, there are numerous ways to structure your workouts. That’s why it’s important that you know what you are training for and follow a suitable program based on your needs.

But at the end of the day, simply changing up the weights, reps, and sets which make up your workouts will make a big difference.

2. Mix Up Your Workouts

Just as talked about in the first tip, you need to mix things up.

But this time, instead of just mixing up your workout intensity, I’m asking you to mix up your actual workouts so that you avoid training the same muscles and movement patterns over and over again.

For instance, I use a lot of different workouts each month including: interval workouts, plyometrics, bodyweight circuits, Olympic lifts, crossfit workouts, and many others.

My goals are to be as fit as possible – and not necessarily to compete in a particular sport anymore. As such, my array of workouts offers my body numerous chances to develop different muscle, muscle fibers, movement patters, and energy systems.

Getting lots of variety is also fantastic for reducing boredom, let alone preventing plateaus. If you need more variety with your workouts then you have a look at some of my athletic workouts. I know you’ll love ‘em!

3. Get Your Rest

Rest is not a 4-letter word – if you know what I mean.

In fact, getting enough rest is probably one of the most important elements of any training program. Specifically, during deep sleep is when your body repairs and regenerates itself.

But rest isn’t just about sleep. Rest also implies giving yourself a few days off each week. In general, I don’t recommend training more than 5 days per week. If you’re a crazy super athlete then some of the days could feature 2 workouts but for the average fitness buff, 1 workout per day, 5 days a week is plenty.

But those 2 days off are huge! That’s when your body has a chance to relax. Remember, exercise is a form of stress on your body. If your body is constantly stressed (in any way, shape, or form) it will break down.

Not allowing proper recovery can ultimately to overtraining, which obviously features plateaus and minimal progress.

Here are a few strategies to help you rest and recover more effectively week in and week out:

• Listen to your body – if you’re tired, sore, and feel weak – don’t train. Take a day off.

• Maximize your sleep patterns. I don’t believe we all need 8 hours of sleep but if you can go to bed at a consistent time each night, ensure a dark room, and sleep on a good mattress, you will surely allow your body to regenerate more effectively.

• Employ recovery strategies like yoga, stretching, foam rolling, massage, hot-cold contrast showers, and epson salts to further help your body.

• Drink plenty of water and eat as healthy as possible. In fact, if you can follow more of a raw food diet you’ll find that you recover so much quicker!

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