Beat The Plateau Lesson 1

I am sure you have several reasons for working out. One of them is most likely to see results of a fantastic body. But have you ever worked out and worked out without seeing anything happen? You were doing exactly what you were supposed to be doing but with no changes… no results.

If this hasn't happened yet then don't let it. I have found the ways to ensure results keep coming and that you (and I) never fall victim to the exercise plateau.

3 Ways To Beat Your Plateau Effect In Your Weight & Strength Training

A plateau during weight training is almost impossible not to fall into. There are ways to do it, but it does take some direction and a good set of routines to keep things different. Plateaus happen because you body and muscles adapt to the exercises and become highly efficient at them.

Essentially there is new muscle that is built and it is enough to accomplish that task at hand. When this is the case, your body doesn't need to build new muscle to help.

This is really detrimental to your progress because you won't see results anymore putting your motivation into jeopardy. Lucky for you, you are going to learn the 3 fastest cures to never having a plateau effect.

Fast Cure 1 -- Use a journal to manage your workout

Boring… well only at first.

Once you start to use a journal and see your progression, you will start to love that thing. A journal is the perfect way to break your plateau. You know what you have done and how intense you did a workout. You will also notice the order of the exercises you completed.

Simply changing the order sometimes is enough to bust through your plateau.

Here is how this is going to work… you can track everything you simply by jotting down your workout in a little spiral notebook that tags along with you to the gym.

1. What exercises you do 2. How much weight you lift 3. How many reps you complete 4. The order

As you progress through the month, you will know what you have done. You will need to analyze these numbers so you know how to shake things up. For example, knowing what you lifted 2 days ago will allow to you strive and beat that for the next workout. You are going for either one more rep or a little more weight… you just need to keep pushing your muscles to new levels so they are always challenged.

This does depend on the particular workout you are doing. If you happen to be in a month where you can't increase weight then this will not apply, but you still need to record what you're doing. (I touched on a theme we will talk about in just a minute).

A great side affect of tracking what you are doing when working out... the purest motivation. You will see the progress you are making. Nothing is more motivating than that.

Fast Cure 2 -- Take a Break

Yes everybody needs a place like this to relax. When you get it... call me so I can come visit.

Yes everybody needs a place like this to relax. When you get it... call me so I can come visit.

That's right… get out the gym and don't go back for at least 2 weeks. It is very possible, that you could have been close to overtraining. Overtraining can easily occur when you get caught up working out and don't allow your body to rest.

Overtraining your body cannot only lead to plateau, but loss of muscle and serious illness. I have read stories about people who have had to go to the doctor solely because they were overtraining. It literally put their body into severe exhaustion.

You might also be one of the millions that end up doing the same old routine for months and months. This leads to plateau and taking a break is just what the doctor ordered.

When you take a break, you are getting what you muscles need to first build up and then build energy levels to prepare for the next workout. Rest, as you might have heard, is where your muscles actually grow and gain strength.

When you rest for a longer period of time, you let your metabolism lag behind a little and get used to not having to work so hard to sustain the new muscle growth. It is almost like shocking your body. Your muscles will explode when you get back into lifting.

Your metabolism will go off the charts. It is really important that while you are on this break, you maintain your calorie intake so you do not loose the muscle you have worked so hard to build.

Muscle takes a certain number of calories to maintain itself. If those calories are not there, then it will literally whither away.

Fast Cure 3 -- Confuse the Heck Out of Your Muscles

During the second fast cure, you read that most people will do the same routine over and over again for months and months. This is one of the biggest causes of plateaus. Actually it probably is the number one reason.

Your body is programmed to work in the most efficient manner possible, so when you do the same exercises over and over again your body is just getting more efficient at doing them. It is literally expecting to do those same moves again so it builds its strength to handle that.

There are many different ways to beat this particular cause of plateau. The easiest way is to change up the exercises. If you keep things fresh and change at least on a monthly basis, your body is not going to know what to do. Just when it thinks it has you down, you go and change everything.

Another really great way to confuse your muscles and keep them from getting too efficient is to change the number of reps and the weight. Technically you can do the same exercises over and over again if you could keep increasing the weight... too bad that is impossible.

These are the main causes of plateaus and should keep you from ever working you butt off and seeing zero results from it.

Pushing yourself is key to making progress and having success. That's your clue for the next lesson. And trust me, it's a good one!

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