Reasons Why You’ve Hit A Plateau
Not seeing gains even after working out regularly can be as frustrating as sex without climax. No matter how fun, exciting and tantalizing the process might be, you want to see the final result.
Everything is meaningless without the outcome because that’s why we start something in the first place. Enough with the sex references – let’s talk about the main reasons why you’re not seeing an improvement in your physique.
Mortifying Training Program
Most people make the mistake of following the same exercises over and over again. Why do we need new exercises, you ask? Remember how walking from a grocery store to the car with a handfull of bags felt hard for the first few times but became second nature by the 5-6th time?
This is exactly what happens with resistance training. Your muscles grow bigger and stronger when you perform new exercises. If you aren’t constantly shocking your muscles with new exercises and training techniques, your progress with halt.
Diet?
When people start working out, most of them see some gains irrespective of their diet and training programs. The progress with an unstructured approach makes them feel like all they need to do is lift a little iron and they’ll keep seeing gains for eternity – until they don’t.
If you haven’t already taken out the time to learn about a balanced diet, it’s time you should get familiar with macro and micronutrients and counting calories. Eating high carb and protein, and a fat-restricted diet should be your goal if you want to put on quality muscle mass.
Loving Thy Comfort Zone
Look around your gym and you’ll probably see someone lifting weights that they’ve been lifting for months. The irony is that these people are disappointed when they don’t see the needle budge in the right direction.
You should always plan on doing more than what you did the last time in the weight room. Nothing meaningful ever comes out of being inside your comfort zone. Once you start pushing yourself, you’ll realize how much your body is capable of.
Indiscipline
Being indisciplined is one of the biggest gains killers. Many people fail to realize this but it is called a training ‘program’ for a reason. Once you sign up for a transformation, you can’t afford to miss a single training session or meal.
You need to have a fixed training schedule – the time at which you reach the gym and how long you train for daily shouldn’t change depending on external variable factors like going out for dinner with friends and family or even work.
Being Wolverine
Although the number is too small, some people hit a plateau because they have been overtraining and don’t give enough time to their bodies for recovering and recuperating from their workouts.
Unlike Wolverine, you can’t recover from a training session just by looking at your sore muscles. For optimal recovery, your goal should be to sleep for at least 7-8 hours every night.
You should also consider using recovery supplements if you feel that your muscles are too sore for too long. If muscle gain is the lock, a balanced diet, training and recovery program is the key.
What is your current and goal body weight? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
