Breaking Through Plateaus

Breaking through plateaus – whether they be weight lifting goals or gaining a low percentage of body fat – can be really hard.

The good news is most of this has nothing to do with your body and much more to do with consistency and psychology.

“To believe is to achieve” goes the old personal success trainer’s saw and it’s still true today. Although there are many factors that control your abilities – genetics, age and general health, for example – almost anyone can make dramatic improvements with the right mind set.

But don’t be lulled into thinking it will be easy if you just believe you can – that’s just the first and probably most important step.

To help you to really believe you can do something, start by visualizing yourself already there. Dwell on the satisfaction you will feel until it becomes real.

Once you can see yourself in your mind’s eye actually being skinnier or stronger, the next step is to have a plan – not just a mental plan, but a written plan with all the details about how you will reach your goal.

Pictures of the people you would like to look like can help – and so can small rewards that you plan on giving yourself for achieving your goal.

Let’s move on to the nitty gritty – how are you going to break through, really?

First, look at some plateau breaking strategies for resistance exercise:

Use more weight and do fewer reps

If you find your max is actually going down, you may need to do several things:

Try mixing in a few new exercises and working with a spotter to get “negative reps”. These are where you get assistance to lift the weight up and support the weight yourself going down slowly or visa versa depending on the exercise. An example would be doing chin-ups with your feet supported by a spotter. The spotter helps you to go up, but you hold the weight going down. Don’t get hooked on these, though as they can give you a false sense of strength. Do only the last set negative.

Many lifts require you work against your muscles or are in an awkward position for part of the motion which requires more “muscling” to move the weight. The “down” position on a bench press is a good example. Try working that particular part of the motion slowly with a lesser weight to get that part stronger. On the bench press, for example, stop and actually hold the weight to your chest for a few seconds and then push it up forcefully. This will give you more explosive strength to handle heavier weight.

That’s about it for the resistance exercises, but what about the fat loss? How can you get rid of that extra half inch of fat that’s hiding your wash board stomach?

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