Plateau?

Kmoore93

Kmoore93

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Need help as I have reached my first plateau, and for a few months have seen no results. I have been training 16 months and gained over a stone natural. I am still gaining strength on my deadlift and legs but overall have stopped seeing gains. How shall I combat this? I have been sticking to the typical 4sets of 6-8 and wish to receive further gains .

Have I plateaued due to calories ? And how can I shock my muscles with a good High resistance routine
 
Anabolikz

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Yes especially if the lifts are still going up get those calories a bump.
 
RegisterJr

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Could be calories, could be repetitive training.

You stopped seeing strength gains or mass?
 

PaulBlack

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Sorry for long post, and may not be just for the OP, but this topic can make or break some trainees into being somewhat lost for long periods of time, or knowing how to go with the flow of the waves in training and adaptation and compensation of the body's system(s).
Plateaus, are actually a common part of training, (especially as one gets more and more into training or advanced) you are not really built to grow in a linear fashion. (Everything in nature waves or rests and pulses) Just because one stops on what they may think is a very visual or progressive upgrade, does not mean they quit progressing on actually building the body to adapt to higher levels.
It does take some experience and understanding to learn the slow processes of the body, so patience can be a virtue here too.

If you are gaining strength in any part of the body ie: many times the legs or lower body or pos chain, will take a long time to show up, before say smaller groups such as arm curling strength. This does not necessarily mean a plateau, as much as it may be the body trying to balance itself out more or catch other areas up to some degree.
There are lots of ways or things to add or adjust, to get what can be a bump, (tweaks in routines, focus in specific groups, more cals as was mentioned, deloads, maybe less intensity, maybe more intensity, maybe more volume, less volume, more frequency, less frequency, maybe nothing really needs to change at present, but to stay the course, it can go on and on.

I think one of the important things to remember (especially if you are fairly new to training) is that, it is probably better not to jump in to changing a bunch of things at once, or constantly hunting new routines, in search of a quick fix. Might be better to change "one" thing and then go for a while. I have had weeks/maybe months where I just did not seem to add anything and even have to drop weight from the bar, only to come back a few weeks even months later, and hit a PR. Your body cycles like that.
Your body adapts slowly and over periods of time.
Being consistent and learning to pay close attention to small things, will most likely serve you best and grow your body along with your wisdom in training and gaining for many years.

Not at all implying novices or even intermediates have to get this deep in theory, but as one advances, you may have to learn that progress does not come weekly or even monthly, even though you are sticking the routine and drilling it week after week, building say a larger base, or improving mental skills and or work habits. Anyone who has trained for a while and learns their body, knows this.
Training theory, can get and be quite advanced. And learning how to manage it, can be key to being either a champion or armchair athlete.
 

PaulBlack

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I am still gaining strength on my deadlift and legs but overall have stopped seeing gains.
Sorry I missed this statement at first, but I have to ask..., if you are still adding weight to these exercises and thus utilizing the largest muscle structures of the body, (close to 70%-80% of the body's structure) how do you know that further progress on them, would not have your upper and lower body eventually gaining in size and strength to accommodate the work and weight you are lifting with those larger body parts?
Just because you stopped seeing marked progress on say BP's or arm work, does not mean you have stopped progressing/gaining.

Let me make myself clear here, this is not to ridicule or belittle at all, because I thought this same way years ago, but over time, you learn that a stall (if that is even what you are really experiencing) can be some of the best times to learn and grow, not only in your physical dept, but mentally and habitually as well.

As I advanced, I have long ago given up weekly and even monthly or longer gains. My body just does not respond like that. But I still encounter gains and my "base" (which I have built over years) is pretty solid as to what I can do, compared to a lot of 58 year old men.
 

j4ever41

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for good advice, you would have to post stats, current diet, training/split
 
R1balla

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Could be calories, could be repetitive training.

You stopped seeing strength gains or mass?
Agreed. Something that I like to do in the gym every couple of weeks is this: (and this is only an example)

At the end of my bicep workout I will go to preacher curls and curl in this format

20/20/20 adding weight each set with no rest followed by a 45 second rest then work back down in weight doing 20/20/20
 
Anabolikz

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OP sounded like his lifts were still progressing. He didn't address his upper body lifts though. If your lifts are going up and you're not gaining mass then your training is most likely good but the calories would be the issue most likely. You have to be a little more specific on what area your progress has stalled. Strength could be a number of issues
 
Kmoore93

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My deadlift is 172.5kg I can up this by 2kg per week roughly but my bench press keeps going from 80 to 85 then may unexpectedly go back down to 80 for 6 then will further take time to build up strength in chest
 

BlockBuilder

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Take a deload week. I was so against it but did it anyway. Finished my deload week yesterday. Came back today scared I had gotten weaker. Every single lift I had plateaued on I broke through. Not by one rep either I'm talking multiple reps per exercise. I was shocked. Deloads are awesome
 

j4ever41

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sorry my man, but everyone here is only guessing, they have no idea what your workout and meal plan looks like, if I was to guess I will go with blockbuilder for a deload week or just take off completely.
 
Snow3y

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Plateaus are caused by only 2 possible things:

- Not enough nutrition being consumed (Micro and macro nutrients) and/or
- No increase in volume when training. (This goes for the total amount of weight lifted in a given workout)

Check yourself to see what has and hasn't been achieved, and correct it..
 

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