So you’ve made lifting into a consistent practice. We love to see it! There truly is no better habit you can pick up for your physical and mental health. The only issue with consistency is that it can sometimes create plateaus. There will come a point where you all of the sudden stop making the gains you had become accustomed to. Your strength may have flatlined or even dipped. This seemingly shouldn’t be happening, but the results don’t lie. Thankfully, progressing past these inevitable plateaus is readily possible, and by following the three tips down below, you can do so as soon as your next gym session.
Reflect
The first step towards getting through a stale routine involves taking a step back. Reflecting on and analyzing your current routine will allow you to best understand what areas are bottlenecking your progression. Are you having trouble with the lockout on your bench? It could be weak triceps that need addressing. Has it been a while since your last squat PR? Maybe your legs aren’t being given enough recovery time in between sessions. Spending time diagnosing the problems in your routine will help you come up with the most effective solutions.
Introduce
Sometimes the issue is just that you haven’t had enough variety in your routine. Do you often find yourself performing the same exercises on each day? Maybe it’s time you added something new to the mix. Implementing new exercises that target different sides of muscles or work different movements can help you make great progress. Switching things up from time to time ensures greater coverage in terms of muscle growth, helping prevent muscular imbalances that may be hindering your progression.
Reorder
Similar to doing the same exercises, having the same order of workouts every session can cause some amount of plateauing. If you’re always shoulder pressing after you bench, then you’re never getting to train it when your energy is at its maximum. The same goes for if you squat only after you deadlift or if you do lunges only after you run on the treadmill. Allowing the ordering of your routines to change from time to time ensures that you’re better able to challenge each individual muscle group or compound lift. Whatever your gym goals are, switching up your workout ordering is bound to help you reach towards them.
Bring it On
They say variety is the supposed spice of life, but it’s the definite spice of the gym. Changing things up in your lifting routine is the best way to expose your muscles to novel stimuli, allowing them to grow to their fullest potential. So throw in that new lift you’ve been dying to try, and begin your next gym session with that exercise you usually save for last. Keep your body adapting by keeping your training as fresh as it can be.