We’ve all hit that point. You’re doing everything right: exercising regularly, working hard, eating right, and getting enough rest.
But still…
You’re seeing no progress.
You’re not faster or stronger. You’re not losing weight. You’re not seeing the results you want.
It happens to everyone at some point, and can be a totally normal part of any exercise routine.
When this happens to you, you’re experiencing a workout plateau. No one likes it, but there are ways to push past it to keep seeing progress.
So, when and why does this happen? Well, to understand that, you first need to understand what a workout plateau is.
What Is a Workout Plateau?
To keep things simple, a workout plateau is when your progress comes to a screeching halt. By progress, I of course mean any positive changes when it comes to your health and fitness.
But, how does a workout plateau happen? Well, your body has gotten used to your training, and is no longer being challenged.
You see, our bodies are masters at adapting to change.
Everything physically hard that you do puts your body under stress. Your body doesn’t like that stress, so it adapts to make it easier.
Sooner or later, your body becomes very accustomed to the training that you’re doing. If you keep doing the same things, your body no longer has a reason to adapt and make progress.
It becomes too easy. While you may not get any worse, you won't be getting any better. This is the dreaded workout plateau.
When Does a Workout Plateau Happen?
A workout plateau can be hard to predict, but not always.
These plateaus seem to happen after doing similar things in your training for too long. As I stated in the last section, your body just gets used to how you train.
Think about the first time you ran a mile. It felt like a lifetime, or at least it did to me.
I was breathing heavily, sweating, and felt very uncomfortable. After doing it over and over again, it became quite easy in time.
I was able to shave 4 full minutes off my time! After that, I didn’t get too uncomfortable from running a mile anymore.
Running a mile became second nature, and didn’t even make me feel out of breath. I also never improved again on my mile time.
Why? Because I never changed my training. I just kept running one mile at a time.
It became so easy that my body didn’t have trouble with it anymore. There was no reason my body needed to get better, so it didn’t.
The same is true with weight lifting and really any form of training.
Let’s say you start squatting regularly, and you get your squat from 135 pounds to 225 pounds. Obviously, you would have made significant progress to get there.
Now let’s say you squat 225 pounds for every set, every single leg workout. You’ll get stronger for a while, and may even increase your strength some more.
At some point though, it becomes so easy that you won’t get any stronger for doing the same thing. You just get really good at squatting 225 pounds.
If you want to continue getting stronger after that, you have to challenge your body in some new way it isn’t used to. That’s not the one and only reason you may hit a plateau though.
You can also hit a workout plateau by overtraining too (1). Think of this like training too much without enough recovery.
You don’t build strength or muscle during your workout. You build both of those as you recover from your workout.
If you don’t give your muscles a chance to fully recover before training them again, you may hit a plateau. This could be the result of breaking down your muscles before they’ve been fully repaired.
The problem with this is, it doesn't give your muscles the opportunity to build back bigger and stronger.
Clearly, there are quite a few different ways you can experience a workout plateau. So ... How can you prevent a workout plateau?
How to Prevent a Workout Plateau
When it comes to a workout plateau, you can’t always completely prevent it. Your best bet at preventing one is to continue adjusting variables over time.
After all, plateaus are the result of your body adapting to what you're doing. So, finding ways to make your training new and challenging can help to prevent them.
Below I’m going to cover some ways you can put yourself in a position to keep making progress.
Switch Up Your Exercises
This is a no brainer. If you’re stuck in a workout plateau, you can easily break it up with new exercises.
If it’s a movement you haven’t done before, that’s even better! Doing something you haven’t done means you’ll be forced to adapt to it.
The key is in always finding ways to make your muscles adapt to a new stress. Switching up your exercises can be a great way to help yourself push through a workout plateau.
Adjust Volume
If muscle growth is what you’re after, you'll have to increase your volume over time. But, what do I mean by volume?
I like to think of volume as a measurement of the total amount of "work" you do in training. An equation you can use to measure it would be Total Sets x Total Reps x Weight.
This is a good way to measure the amount of stress you put on your muscles. If you do 3 sets of 10 with 225 pounds, that’s 6750 pounds lifted in total.
If you hit a workout plateau after doing this, increasing your volume can help you push past it.
You can increase the weight up to 235. That would bring your volume up to 7050 pounds lifted.
You could increase the reps you do at 225, so long as you have the ability to. Let’s say you are able to do them for sets of 12. That would bring you up to 8100 pounds.
Increasing the amount of sets you do is a great way to do this as well. 4 sets of 10 at 225 pounds is 9000 pounds lifted.
However you choose to do it, these are ways you can safely add volume to your workouts. Studies show that higher training volumes lead to increasingly greater gains in muscle growth (2).
This makes increasing your training volume a phenomenal way to push past a plateau.
Shorten Your Rest Periods
This is a pretty simple one, but shorten your rest between sets. This stresses your energy systems, and makes each set harder.
I mean, you’re getting less time to catch your breath. Of course each set is going to be harder.
This is a safe way to add some stress to your muscles in a way they aren’t used to. It will train your muscles to become more efficient, and recover quicker.
It’s one strategy you can implement to help you push through a workout plateau. Adding this in with some of the other strategies can help even more!
Try Doing Drop Sets
Doing drop sets is another strategy to help you push past a workout plateau. If you don’t know what a drop set is, no worries.
A drop set is a set where you lower the weight to continue doing more reps after failure. You can do this as many times as you choose to in a single drop set too.
Let’s take the bench press for example.
Let’s say you are doing 3 sets of 10 with 225, but doing a drop set for your last set.
Your first 2 sets will be 10 reps with 225. Your last set will be going until you fail. Once you can’t do another rep, you rack it, take some weight off, and keep going.
So, maybe you drop it to 205 and do another 5 reps before you fail. Then you’ll drop the weight again, maybe to 185, and keep going.
The key is in lowering the weight and getting back into your set as fast as possible. This is designed to increase fatigue while allowing you to do more work.
That extra work puts more stress on your muscles, and can help to force them to adapt. Anything that is challenging and puts your body under stress can lead to more adaptations over time.
Get More Rest
Sometimes the problem behind your workout plateau isn’t even your workout.
Maybe you’re changing up your workouts and varying the intensity. Maybe you’re also really careful about recovery times and avoiding burnout.
The bad news is that you could still get stuck in a workout plateau if you’re not getting enough sleep at night.
Sleep is an absolutely vital part of any healthy workout routine. If you’re not getting enough quality sleep, you may not be seeing the results of your workouts.
Studies show that getting lower quality sleep leads to losing muscle mass and adding body fat (3). We do a lot of muscle repairing and building in our sleep, so it’s not something to neglect!
If you’re not finding any other reason for your fitness plateau, try getting more sleep. It might be the piece you're missing.
I always recommend getting no less than 7.5 hours of quality sleep per night. Personally, I do even better when I allow for 9 hours of sleep.
It’s hard to set aside that much sleep time, but the truth is, I recover better when I do. Try it out, and see if getting extra sleep can help you push past your workout plateau!
Check Your Diet
If it’s not your sleep schedule or workouts that’s causing you to plateau, it could be your diet.
Nutrition is a vital part of getting any type of results in fitness. Without enough protein, for example, you may really struggle to see any muscle growth.
Actually, protein intake can affect muscle growth, fat loss, and recovery overall. It’s pretty important!
You also need enough calories to properly fuel your workouts. If you don’t have enough fuel, don’t expect yourself to have the energy to perform well.
Your diet is what provides your body with everything it needs to function and perform. If your diet is lacking, then most likely your results will be too.
There are ways to supplement what you struggle to get in your everyday diet. Most of the time you should try to focus on whole foods, but supplements are there to help when you need them.
Add In The Right Supplements
If you’ve hit a plateau, and aren’t taking any supplements to help, you could be missing out!
Let’s take muscle growth and recovery from exercise as an example. There are supplements that can help with that.
Studies show that whey protein and glucose supplements can have a strong effect on muscle growth and recovery (4). They can help reduce muscle breakdown, benefit muscle growth, and help you replenish muscular energy.
Without the right nutrients after a workout, you could be holding yourself back from the best results.
If you’re not taking care of your post workout nutrition, those types of supplements could be a game changer for you.
In fact, that’s what happened to me. The first time I started seeing serious results was after adding in a post workout shake.
In that post workout shake was whey protein isolate, glucose, and creatine monohydrate. It’s the exact same one I use today, and it’s helped me put on 60+ pounds of muscle over the last 12 years.
Speaking of creatine monohydrate, that’s another supplement that can help. Creatine can help you increase muscle mass, strength, and performance too (5).
If you are in the middle of a workout plateau, that could a great idea to get you out of it. It’s effective, and there’s SO MUCH research to back it up!
Here’s another idea...
If you don’t already use one, you could benefit from a pre workout supplement with creatine in it.
It could give you a boost in energy while helping with performance too. If it’s your training intensity that’s lacking, the right pre workout will help you take your workout to the next level.
The first time I took a pre workout I had what felt like the best workout of my life. I was energetic, I felt strong, and had more endurance.
When you feel that way, it’s pretty likely you’re going to train harder. That could be exactly what you need to push past a plateau!
You don’t have to use a pre workout, but it’s an option you can choose. It won’t typically make or break your results, but if it makes you work harder in the gym, then it can be a good idea.
Always remember: supplements are only intended to supplement the nutrients you're missing in your diet. You do not need them to see results or break a plateau. They are only available to make certain aspects of your nutrition or workouts better, easier, or more convenient.
1st Phorm Can Help You Overcome a Workout Plateau
We've all hit a plateau before.
You get in the groove of your training program. You start seeing awesome results. Then all of a sudden you realize you haven’t seen any new progress in a while.
It’s frustrating, but it isn’t permanent. Your body is likely just used to what you’re doing.
Remember, you have to find ways to push your body beyond what it’s used to. Results only come when you basically force your body to adapt.
If your training is on point, and still are in a workout plateau, it could be your sleep quality. It could also be your nutrition. It’s tough to say because it can vary depending on the unique scenario.
If you’re not sure where to start, I'd recommend increasing your workout intensity and adding in a post workout shake. It has been, and still is, a game changer for me.
It could be for you too! It’s even possible that it could address a lack of nutrition you’ve been missing all along.
I personally use 1st Phorm’s Post Workout Stack. It comes with Phormula-1 (whey protein isolate) and Ignition (glucose) to give the body the nutrients it needs to recover after a workout.
If you can’t have dairy, or prefer something plant based, we do also have a Vegan Post Workout Stack. Heck, we even have the Natural Post Workout Stack for those who prefer natural sweeteners.
Now if you have any questions for us, we’d love to help! At 1st Phorm, our mission is to help real people earn real and long-term results. That's why we have a full team of NASM Certified Personal Trainers and Nutrition Coaches right here in St. Louis, Missouri.
Just give us a call at 1-800-409-9732 or send us an email at CustomerService@1stPhorm.com any day from 6 AM to 10 PM Central. We'll be more than happy to help in any way we can!
References:
(1) Amirthalingam T, Mavros Y, Wilson GC, Clarke JL, Mitchell L, Hackett DA. Effects of a Modified German Volume Training Program on Muscular Hypertrophy and Strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2017 Nov;31(11):3109-3119. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001747. PMID: 27941492.
(2) Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, Grgic J, Delcastillo K, Belliard R, Alto A. Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Jan;51(1):94-103. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764. PMID: 30153194; PMCID: PMC6303131.
(3) Song J, Park SJ, Choi S, Han M, Cho Y, Oh YH, Park SM. Effect of changes in sleeping behavior on skeletal muscle and fat mass: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Public Health. 2023 Sep 28;23(1):1879. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16765-7. PMID: 37770876; PMCID: PMC10540406.
(4) Poole C, Wilborn C, Taylor L, Kerksick C. The role of post-exercise nutrient administration on muscle protein synthesis and glycogen synthesis. J Sports Sci Med. 2010 Sep 1;9(3):354-63. PMID: 24149627; PMCID: PMC3761704.
(5) Wu SH, Chen KL, Hsu C, Chen HC, Chen JY, Yu SY, Shiu YJ. Creatine Supplementation for Muscle Growth: A Scoping Review of Randomized Clinical Trials from 2012 to 2021. Nutrients. 2022 Mar 16;14(6):1255. doi: 10.3390/nu14061255. PMID: 35334912; PMCID: PMC8949037.
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