5 strategies to break through a training plateau

It happens to all of us despite our goals – whether they are performance orientated, aesthetics or just pure weight-loss, eventually we will reach a point where our progress just seems to stop. Yes, the dreaded ‘training plateau’.  It’s at this point many people turn their back on their exercise regime, revert back into old bad habits of eating the wrong foods or simply are just happy plodding along knowing that doing something is better than doing nothing, but are ultimately frustrated that their efforts are not being rewarded.

As a fitness professional it is one of my jobs to help clients manage this process and give constructive advice, increase motivation to achieve and make sure the training sessions are appropriate to my clients goals – although more importantly it’s the clients responsibility to do their part and put all the necessary changes into their life outside of the 2-3 hours contact they may have with me weekly.

I know not everyone has the luxury of being able to employ a trainer or coach to give them advice, so here are my top 5 strategies to break through a training plateau.

1  Get a training partner who has the same goals as you

This one sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised at the amount of people I see training together who have completely different training goals or are on different stratospheres in their ability. If your goal is to improve your 10km run time and your mate’s goal is to improve his 1 rep max bench press, then why are you both compromising on what you want to achieve and attending a body pump class? This is of course a far-fetched example, but the point is you will get more success of teaming up with someone who is at least looking for similar training outcomes to you.

So if you have reached a point in your training where your progress has halted, look at your friendship group and think about who has similar goals to you and has a similar schedule to you and team up with them. The elements of support, a bit of friendly competition and the fact you will have two lots of energy being injected into the sessions will help push through those barriers.

2  Mix up the exercises you are doing

I know this almost sounds like a slight contradiction to the last point I made, but let me give you a common scenario;

Take someone who has been going running 2-3 times per week for many years and for a long time it seemed to work, they kept their weight down and felt like they were keeping fit. Recently the weight has started to creep back on and they have noticed that they can’t run any faster without hurting themselves.

I would advise this person to add in some interval or high intensity cardio training (doesn’t have to be running), to get them out of their comfort zone and push the heart and lungs to new limits as well as adding in strength training exercises so that the muscles can work harder and take the pressure off the joints (note: there are potentially many more things you could advise too, these are two examples).

You see, the human body is an amazing biological work of genius. It has evolved over millions of years to adapt to our environment very quickly to ensure we are able to survive. So when we constantly do the same exercises in the same order at the same tempo the body will get used to it and save energy. It therefore stops being a workout and becomes just part of our routine.

Changing things around not only gives the body a proverbial kick up the backside, but starts waking up a load of new muscle fibres that may have been unused for a while and have gotten lazy.

This is not just relevant to the running example I used earlier. Kettlebell guru Pavel Tzatzouline, highlights in his book, “The Russian Kettlebell Challenge”, that using kettlebell workouts has shown improvements in pull-ups, bench press, deadlifting, back squats and overall endurance. These are very common areas that I know lots of people wish to make improvements in. So, start mixing it up for a while and you will see the improvements in performance.

3  Work on transition exercises

Those who know me or follow my Facebook page will know that I have got quite into Olympic lifting over the last couple of years. I’m not doing too badly, but have a long way to go before I consider myself good at the sport – but none the less it takes up a lot of my training time. I made the common mistake this year and attempted to improve my lifts by just working on the exact lifts (these are the Clean & Jerk and the Snatch). This ultimately meant that my sessions were not particularly effective and I was stuck around the same weights.

So, I got out my coaching manual, thought about what my coach Giles Greenwood would say to me and started to focus on the transition and complementary exercises again. So, rather than just getting a bar, loading it up and doing an hour of clean and jerks or snatches, I have been choosing specific exercises I know will improve each phase of the lift and every now and then will throw in a session of full lifts. The result has been my lifts are improving once again.

I know this is a specific example, but the method can be transferred into many performance orientated goals and help break that plateau.

4  Think like an athlete

I know that most of the people reading this will not be athletes, so what do I mean by this? I am talking about the way athletes use a method called periodisation in their training plans. This means their coach will look at what the performance outcome of the training programme is, then map out specific steps to achieve this.

For example, the coach will need to establish how long the training cycle is, what areas of fitness need to be worked on (strength, endurance, conditioning, co-ordination, balance, speed, explosive power etc.), what rest periods need to be factored in and how progress will be measured along the way.

Now, I’m not expecting you to suddenly be fully competent in the finer details of strength and conditioning, but again the template is a good one to implement in your own programmes. A start would to be take a look at the goal setting pyramid I posted a few months back. This will provide a simple structure to establish SMART goals (specific, measurable, action orientated, realistic, time based) and give steps along the way to put them into action.

If you want to perform like an athlete, then start thinking like one!

5  Look a bit deeper

Ok, you’ve got a new highly motivated training partner, you’ve added in new exercises to shake up your routine, you’ve analysed your performance and found appropriate transition exercises and have set up a full training cycle, but are still struggling. No it’s not time to give up and take up drinking instead! It’s time to look a bit deeper.

A colleague of mine Tony Wilson, is currently trying to hit some new personal best lifts in his squat and deadlift. To look at him it’s hard to spot where things could be improved. He eats perfectly, he sleeps enough, he trains hard and regularly, he gets regular sports massage etc. But he has not been hitting the numbers he wanted on these particular lifts.

So, he had a full biomechanics assessment and has been given a list of very intricate muscle imbalances that he needs to improve that will help him break through the barriers.

Again, this specific example isn’t relevant to everyone. To be honest, most people just need to significantly improve the basics before they have to worry about a full biomechanics assessment, but areas that are often overlooked when it comes to performance goals are;

• Mobility
•  Flexibility
• Stress management 
• Sleep
• Nutrition
•  Posture
• Core strength

All of these factors will affect your overall performance in the gym, out on the track or sports field and I guarantee if you fine tune any of them or all of them you will see improvements.

If you’re unable to seek professional advice from a Personal Trainer, Fitness Coach, Lifestyle Practitioner or Nutritionist on these matters, then good resources of information are available in many good books. For example; Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett, for mobility, posture and flexibility or Eat, Move and be Healthy, by Paul Chek for a fantastic introduction to improve your lifestyle. I know both these books have changed the way I approach my fitness and my life in general.

Good luck busting those training plateaus…

Stay healthy!!