When you first started weight training, you probably made strength gains rather rapidly. But after 6 months of training, those gains may have come to a grinding halt. A strength training plateau isn’t uncommon if you’ve been doing the same routine for months.
The way out of a strength plateau is to either increase training intensity by using a heavier weight or add more variety to your routine. Changing your strength training workout helps to chase away boredom and re-start the muscle growth process. Here are 5 ways to vary your strength training routine.
Drop Sets
Drop sets are good plateau busters. To do drop sets, lift the weight you would normally lift to failure. Once you reach failure, pick up a lighter weight, and repeat the set until you can do no more. Switch to a lighter weight a third time, if you wish, and repeat. This overloads the muscle fibers more than simply lifting to failure one time. It’s a good way to “wake up” muscles that have become complacent from doing the same routine.
Supersets
This is another way to challenge complacent muscles. Supersets involve doing two strength training exercises consecutively with no rest in between. You can do them by performing two exercises that target opposing muscle groups, for example, a biceps exercise followed by a triceps one in rapid succession, or you can do two exercises that target the same muscle group. Supersets boost the release of anabolic hormones that build strength and lean body mass. They’re a challenging but effective way to vary your weight training routine.
Partial Reps
Partial reps involve doing an exercise through only part of the range of motion. When doing biceps curls using partial reps, you would lift the weights half-way until your arms are at right angles to your body instead of going all the way up. This is a good technique to use when you’ve reached failure using full range of motion. You can usually eke out a few more doing partial reps, which may be the stimulus your muscles need to start making gains again.
Change the Tempo
One simple way to add variety to weight training is to change the tempo at which you lift and lower the weight. Simply slowing down the eccentric movement, the portion of the exercise where you lower the weight, by a second will increase the intensity of a set. This tears more muscle fibers, so count on feeling more sore than usual. The additional stress “slow” training places on your muscles will help to boost muscle growth if you’re stuck in a plateau.
If All Else Fails
If you’ve varied your workout, and nothing seems to be jumpstarting your muscle growth, lighten up on your workout for a week. Instead of lifting heavy, use a weight that’s 60% of your one rep max, and do higher reps. At the end of a week, go back to heavy weights and lower reps again. This can help to jumpstart muscle growth again.
The Bottom Line?
Strength training plateaus are almost inevitable. The key is to challenge your muscles in new ways. Try one of these techniques to wake up muscles that seem to have gone to sleep or easier yet, just try my STS workout series. STS uses all of these techniques and more to always keep your muscles constantly challenged and guessing.
References:
Fitness Prescription for Women. February 2011. Pages 106-7.
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