| It is very common to reach a plateau when you have | | | | You can choose to take a week off from training |
| been successful with your weight training program, | | | | every month or two, this can give your body a lot of |
| almost every bodybuilder could tell you about a time | | | | time to recuperate and it also makes your regular |
| when they reached a plateau and any trainer would | | | | routine a little more challenging again. |
| tell you it is an issue they are frequently asked about. | | | | If you dont like the idea of taking an entire week of |
| Mostly it is because when we get into a program that | | | | training out of your schedule, you may just want to |
| we enjoy, and one that delivers awesome results, | | | | change it up every two or three weeks. Try a |
| naturally we get excited. Often too excited, because | | | | different method or just change your schedule. You |
| increasing the time you spend working out and | | | | can work out on different days of the week or |
| decreasing the time you spend resting can help to | | | | change the routine that you use, for instance you could |
| bring on a plateau. | | | | do your workout in reverse order. |
| Quite simply, you build muscle because you are | | | | You want to remember that you will get more results |
| challenging and overworking your body. In your | | | | from a shorter, more intense workout that focuses on |
| downtime, while your body recuperates, it has to build | | | | just a couple muscle groups. The hormones that your |
| and develop more muscle so that it can better handle | | | | body produces to assist in muscle growth actually |
| the workload it is being given. Therefore, if you are not | | | | peak around 30 minutes of working out and then |
| sufficiently resting, your body is not getting time to | | | | decrease in production, so going longer than 45 |
| recuperate, so therefore you will not be building any | | | | minutes is unnecessary. You also need to be aware |
| muscle. In addition, if you are using the same routine for | | | | when the amount of weight you are using becomes |
| a long period of time, your body can get too | | | | too easy for you, because it is the weight that builds |
| comfortable, you will not be challenging yourself and | | | | your strength rather than how many repetitions. Four |
| your muscles will not be under enough stress to grow. | | | | to six reps should get the job done more efficiently |
| These are a couple causes of the plateau effect. | | | | than 10 reps of less weight. Although you may like to |
| If you are comfortable with your workout routine for a | | | | take pride in being able to lift a certain amount of |
| couple of months, chances are you are on the road to | | | | weight many times, being successful with every set |
| a plateau and your rate of muscle growth will start to | | | | may mean you are not challenging yourself enough. If |
| decline rather rapidly. But this is fairly simple to prevent | | | | you are not challenged, you will NOT be building |
| and overcome, you have a few options. | | | | muscle. |