Breaking Through the Wall: 5 Strategies to Overcome Training Plateaus

Training plateaus are a common occurrence in fitness journeys. They can be frustrating and demotivating, but it's important to remember that they are not permanent and can be overcome. In this article, we will explore the seven key reasons for hitting plateaus and how to overcome them.

1. Overtraining

Overtraining is a common cause of training plateaus. It occurs when an athlete experiences fatigue, declining performance, and burnout due to excessive frequency, volume, or intensity of training, resulting in a reduction of performance, which is also often coupled by a lack of proper rest and recovery. To overcome this cause of a plateau, you need to rest more, do less, focus on recovery, and look at changing the relationship between intensity and volume.

2. Not Challenging Your Muscles

On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re not training hard enough, you will also quickly hit a training plateau. When you repeat the same type of workouts, especially if they're not challenging enough, your muscles no longer need to work as hard to complete them. This is the body becoming conditioned to the imposed demands. To overcome this, you can switch up your routine, change exercises, rep ranges, rest periods, or any number of training variables to make the workout that little bit harder each time. Always look to achieve progressive overload in your training.

3. Technical Issues

Sometimes hitting a plateau can be down to a technical issue. This is a great one if you are struggling with a particular lift or maybe even a run or other athletic endeavor. Technical experts can help you overcome training plateaus by improving your technique or skill. Sometimes this is a quick fix, sometimes it takes months or years! However, reach out to experts to see if they can give you some quick tips to improve your technique and overcome training plateau.

4. Internal and External Factors

Psychology plays a huge role in our training. Sometimes, increased stress, workloads, or even emotional strain can lead to a training plateau. The key here is to recognize the trigger of performance reduction and to be kind to yourself. Embrace highs and lows and work toward your goals with self-care. Overcome this plateau by doing a lifestyle and emotional audit. Sometimes it's not what happens in the training room that is holding us back. Lack of motivation, concentration, and bandwidth fatigue can all be a cause of training plateaus.

5. You Quit or Change Up Too Soon

Annie Never Quits

Remember, as stated, a plateau is part of the journey. Sometimes impatience is the biggest killer of our gains. Often, we just need to work through a training plateau and realize that our gains might be incredibly small and incremental. Don't quit or change up too soon. You might be days away from another improvement. Focus on other aspects of training above the ‘outcome’ process goals are a better way to analyze a training plan. Look at monitoring things like motivation, enjoyment, technique, recovery, etc. It doesn't always need to be about the performance. Focus on enjoying the process, and you can be happy anytime.

6. Boredom with Your Program or Gym

Boredom with your program or gym can also lead to a plateau. If you're not enjoying your workouts, it's easy to lose motivation and stop making progress. To overcome this, try new exercises, join a new gym, or find a workout buddy to keep you motivated.

7. Poor Diet

Finally, poor diet can also lead to a plateau. If you're not fueling your body with the right nutrients, you won't have the energy to push through tough workouts and make progress. To overcome this, focus on eating a balanced diet with plenty of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates.

In conclusion, training plateaus are a common occurrence in fitness journeys, but they are not permanent and can be overcome. Recognize the signs of a plateau and take action to overcome it.

Balancing various factors and dealing with the difficulties connected with different approaches can be challenging, but it's important to stay motivated and keep pushing through the plateau.