Have you reached your muscle gain plateau?
How do you know when you have reached your muscle gain plateau? You’ve been consistently adding weight to your routine over the past month or two and now you can’t seem to get to the next level. You are still lifting the same amount of weight with the same amount of reps as the previous months and you just can’t add any more. You have definitely reached a plateau.
How do you make sure you don’t get to these frustrating plateaus?
Change it up! If you don’t alter your workouts, the plateaus are most certainly guaranteed. Reaching a plateau means that your body and muscles have adapted. As your muscles get stronger, fewer fibers are needed to lift the same load. If you can’t increase the weight, these fibers get lazy and you must do something to shock and stimulate them. A successful muscle gain routine will have variation.
Change the order in which you do your routines, vary your exercises, lower the weight and do more repetitions, or try to do your lifting more slowly.
Another cause of reaching a plateau may be over training. Too many people work the same muscle groups daily and do not allow for rest. It is imperative for muscle gain that no muscle group be trained on consecutive days.
Did you know that wearing weight belts inhibit the strengthening of your lower back and abdominal muscles?
