For one reason or another, your workouts will eventually take a hit. Rather than seeing that slow but satisfying improvement you’re used to, you’ll start posting the same times and weights over and over again. It’s motivational suicide to even the most dedicated of lifters.

It doesn’t matter how good or experienced you are – at some point you’re going to be faced with a training plateau.

For one reason or another, your workouts will eventually take a hit. Rather than seeing that slow but satisfying improvement you’re used to, you’ll start posting the same times and weights over and over again. It’s motivational suicide to even the most dedicated of lifters.

If you can push through your plateaus, they’ll end up making you a better athlete. (Photo Credit: Pixabay)

There is light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve put together the ultimate plateau-smashing guide below to add in and around your workouts to get you back in the good books of the God of Gains.

Let’s get started.

1. Start Logging Your Workouts

The main problem people have when they think they’ve hit a plateau is simply that they don’t log their workouts. How do you expect to see improvements to your lifts if you don’t even know how much you’ve lifted each session? With modern technology nowadays, there’s no excuse. Everyone has a smartphone, and they all have note-making software.

Finish your workout and log it. It takes a matter of seconds. By making notes of each workout, you can see exactly what you’re up against and make sure you see improvement every time you’re in the gym.

2. Take a Deload Week

Everyone hates taking time off the gym. But you should hate not making progress more.

People like to talk about over-training, but they don’t speculate that they might be suffering from it themselves. If you’ve been hitting the gym religiously for a while now and see a grinding halt in your progress, you’re probably pushing too hard. A recovery week might be just what you need.

You don’t even need to stop training altogether. A study from Gibala et al. found athletes who simply dialled down their strength routine’s volume for a week after three weeks of hard training returned to the gym with a significant boost in strength.¹

3. Cut Out Stress

Mentally and physically, too much stress will destroy your workouts.

Stress isn’t a state of mind or mood – it’s a very real issue. Stress is so real, in fact, that it materializes as cortisol, a hormone that can seriously tank your performance in workouts. Studies have shown that too much cortisol can lower your testosterone levels and negatively affect your training.²

A simple way to combat this is to try more effective relaxation strategies. Studies have shown meditation is a good way to lower cortisol levels³ and get your lifts back on track.

4. Revisit Your Form

Everyone knows form is key, but ego lifting is just so much more gratifying. If you think your form is perfect, chances are it isn’t anymore.

As people get more and more concerned with beating their targets, they sacrifice their form to get there. In the meantime, certain parts of the muscle aren’t getting the full attention they need to make them stronger. This is when people hit plateaus. You may not like it, but the best course of action is to lower the weight, reassess your form, and take the lift nice and slow.

Form slips happen to everyone. Don’t worry about it, give yourself a few weeks to get back on track, and you’ll be beating your PBs again before you know it.

5. Up Your Calories

It doesn’t matter that your current caloric intake has worked for increasing your strength before. It may have been enough back then, but it’s likely not enough now. Up your food intake to see more progress.

RELATED ARTICLE: Fuel to Be Strong: Nutrition for Strength Athletes

There’s more to it than making sure you’ve eaten more food than you usually would at the end of the day. The type of food is crucial too. Sugary carbohydrates have a lot of calories, but they’re not going to get you better results, just a bigger gut. Up your food intake, but balance your macros and don’t get greedy with junk food.

6. Lower Your Protein Intake

Contrary to what’s said between bros in the gym, too much protein can actually hinder your progress rather than help it. If you’re in a mindset of the more protein, the better, you’re doing it wrong.

The reason for this leads back to what we were saying in the third point about cortisol. Protein is a difficult macronutrient for the body to process, and having an excess of it puts additional stress on your body and by extension, your hormones. The resultant release of cortisol from overconsumption of protein-dense food has been seen in studies to lower testosterone levels, which is bad news for any kind of strength training.⁴

7. Consume Enough Healthy Fats

Most people believe the secret to success when trying to pack on muscle and increase size is a high protein, low carb, and low fat diet. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Fats aren’t just good for you, they’re closely linked to hormonal health and are essential for optimal testosterone levels. A good source of fats supplies your body with the resources and nutrients it needs to make further progress in the gym. Good options for healthy fats include avocados, macadamia nuts, and eggs.

8. Use a Carefully Chosen Supplement Stack

Supplement stacks aren’t the key to results: hard work is. However, a well-researched supplement stack can support your work in the gym and give your body the extra edge it needs to see results sooner rather than later. If you already feel like you’re doing everything right in the gym, adding excellent supplements can take you that one step further.

The smart way to choose supplements is to choose nutrients that you don’t get a lot of in your existing diet. A great example of this is vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is closely linked to improving testosterone levels and joint health, but there’s a reported one billion people in the world who are D3 deficient. So it’s likely your levels are low, and very likely you’ll benefit from taking a vitamin D3 supplement.

RELATED ARTICLE: Are You Sure You’re Getting Enough Vitamin D?

9. Chase the Pump for a Change

If your lack of progress is really getting to you, it can seriously affect your mood and how you feel about going to the gym. You should always enjoy your sessions. If a workout feels like it’s dragging, the chances are you’re not going to be giving it your all.

You need to let yourself fall back in love with the gym, and a good way to do that is to concentrate on pump work. High-rep, low-weight exercises will definitely make a change from your current routine of trying to hit that new PB – and they just feel so good.

Enjoyment aside, chasing a pump requires a lot of muscle fibre stimulation, giving your muscle the overall development it’s been missing from lifting heavy all the time. The change of pace will be good for you, and will get you raring to go when you do decide to return to lifting heavy.

10. Change Up Your Bar

When some people face a personal best attempt, they can psych themselves out and fail the lift before they even start it. The most common place I personally see this is when guys have been powerlifting for a while and think they’re ready to bench two plates way too soon.

I find the best way to overcome a weight phobia is to rearrange the bar. Instead of simply stacking two plates on either side, I try something new. Instead of two 20kg plates, I try a 20kg, a 10kg, a 5kg and two 2.5kg plates. More often than not, I convince myself that it’s a different weight altogether and approach the lift with much less fear than I had before.

You Either Win Or You Learn

Although a plateau may seem like a bad thing, it’s a great experience to test your dedication and help you grow as an athlete. You either win, or you learn. If lifting the big weights and smashing the fastest times were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Give these methods a try. Keep your head up, and add any additional tips you may have in the comments section below.

References

1. Gibala M.J., MacDougall J.D., Sale D.G. (1994) The effects of tapering on strength performance in trained athletes. International Journal of Sports Medicine 15(8), 492-497

2. KT Francis (1981) The relationship between high and low trait psychological stress, serum testosterone, and serum cortisol, Experientia. 1981 Dec 15;37(12):1296-7

3. MacLean CR, Walton KG, Wenneberg SR, Levitsky DK, Mandarino JV, Waziri R, Hillis SL, Schneider RH. Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on adaptive mechanisms: changes in hormone levels and responses to stress after 4 months of practice. Psychoneuroendocrinology.1997;22:277–295.

4. Jeff S. Volek, William J. Kraemer, Jill A. Bush, Thomas Incledon, Mark Boetes Testosterone and cortisol in relationship to dietary nutrients and resistance exercise, Journal of Applied Physiology Jan 1997, 82 (1) 49-54

The post 10 Tips to Smash Through a Training Plateau appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Problem is, you are now six weeks out from the greatest moment of your life. But your bench sucks and you have no real idea what you’re doing. Don’t sweat it. We’ve got your back. Here are my seven top tips to make your bench tip-top come lifting day.

1. Drop the Ego at the Door

This is a big one when you’re training for your first comp, and many people learn it the hard way. And there is nowhere this applies more than in a bench-only comp, so pay close attention it that’s what you’re doing.

“Competitions are a great equalizer. So stop being a bitch and train properly.”

Many guys think their gym bench press and competition bench press are on the same level. Guess again, as this couldn’t be further from the truth. This misconception is usually down to guys having horrendous form for the sake of an “impressive lift.”

Listen bro, there’s nothing impressive about you struggling with two and half plates on the bar while your pelvis looks like it’s enjoying reverse cowgirl from the invisible man.

There are a few aspects of your gym lift that can red-light you in an instant at competition. So start deprogramming yourself now, and for the love of god don’t do these:

• Ass off the bench – You may fool amateur lifters, but you don’t fool us. Disqualified.
• Moving your head – Want to get a better look at the action? Too bad, that’s an illegal move.
• Not pausing your lift – You don’t want to be that Anxious Andy. It’s an instant fail.
• Moving your feet around – This isn’t Riverdance, Flatley. Shifting around will cost you a lift.

There are many more. However, these are the most common errors come competition time. Too many lifters have their “own style of lifting” so they can justify boasting about their numbers. Competitions are a great equalizer. So stop being a bitch and train properly.

2. Start Smolov Junior

If you haven’t heard of Smolov Junior, prepare to have your life changed. Smolov Junior is a three-week badass powerlifting program that, and I shit you not, puts around 30lbs on your bench within the month. How does it do this? By taking part of your soul – that’s how.

“It is best to start this program four weeks before your comp. That way come comp day, you’ve had a solid week off and are ready to tear the iron a new one.”

I’m not going to lie, it’s some hardcore stuff, and it involves you benching four times a week. You can find a more in-depth write up on this program over here. It is best to start this program four weeks before your comp. That way come comp day, you’ve had a solid week off and are ready to tear the iron a new one.

3. Get Working on That Arch

Seriously bro, if you’re not arching your back already, I have some bad news. Arching your back is the secret to an incredibly solid bench. It activates more of your chest muscles, gives your back a better grounding on the bench itself, and positions your shoulders in the best possible position to move some heavy ass weight.

4. Practice Those Pauses

If you can’t pause the weight on your chest before you press it, you’re screwed. That’s not even a joke. You need to be able to do this or you’ll be hearing “no lift” so much on the day that it’ll become your new ring tone.

“You think you’re doing yourself a favor, but it’ll take more time for you to get the bar balanced, and you’ll be down there far longer than you need to be.”

If you’re just getting started with pauses, begin on a low weight and work up to your paused rep max. That’s going to be your final lift – unless you start working on it now. And don’t do any of this letting-the-bar-sink-into-your-chest business, either. You think you’re doing yourself a favor, but it’ll take more time for you to get the bar balanced, and you’ll be down there far longer than you need to be.

5. Equip for the Unequipped

Screw it, if you’re unequipped, use anything that’s technically allowed in the rule book. If you’ve got weak wrists (calling all ectomorphs), use wrist wraps. You’ll thank me later. You can even get away with wearing a lifting belt. However, there’s a bit of a trade-off. If you’re belting up, you can kiss that sweet back arch you worked on goodbye. It’s not going to be as good by a mile. But if you thrive on tight pressure around your torso, a belt may be the way to go.

“If you’ve got weak wrists (calling all ectomorphs), use wrist wraps. You’ll thank me later.”

It depends what you’re most comfortable with. If you’ve got a ridiculously hot arch you’ll already know the answer. If you don’t know what that is, you’ve clearly never seen an arch done properly.

6. Train Your Rotator Cuff

This is super important. If you’re struggling when it comes to the pause halfway through your lift, I strongly suggest you blast the hell out of your rotator cuff muscles in training for a competition. They will help add more of a spring to your press when it’s time to lift it off your chest.

In my experience the best training for strengthening these up is via cable pull overs. Make sure you keep your arms straight and your shoulders back. Squeeze your shoulder blades together. This strength should transfer over to your bench quickly.

7. Make Sure You’re on Weight Class (But Don’t Starve Yourself)

If you think you can shred down to a ridiculous weight and still bench what you’re benching now – forget it. It can be done, but if you’re reading this I’m guessing you’ve already got a date planned for your comp.

“Unless you’re eight percent body fat and need every single calorie in your diet just to stay alive, chances are you can cut a few in the weeks before the big day.”

However, if you’re just edging into one weight class and losing a few pounds would put you in prime position in the one below – do it. Unless you’re eight percent body fat and need every single calorie in your diet just to stay alive, chances are you can cut a few in the weeks before the big day. Swapping out the sodas for green tea is probably the best move you can make.

Conclusion

And there you have it. Seven ways to get your bench booming for a meet. We’ve covered mindset, training, gear (the equipment kind), and weight management. Although it sounds cliché, the main thing you should remember is to have fun. It’s a tight-knit community, and everyone’s supportive of any competitor who has the stones to get on stage and attempt a lift.

Make some friends, don’t warm up to quickly, and show up to weigh-in on time. You’ll be fine, and if you mess up, there’s always next time. Good luck.

More Like This:

• 12 Simple Strategies to Boost Your Bench Press (And Save Your Shoulders)
• The Bench Press Is a Pull: 5 Cues You Might Be Missing
• 6 Steps to Becoming the Bro With the Biggest Bench
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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