You’ve reached a plateau, now what?
There seems to be this perceived notion that reaching a plateau is a bad thing and you have somehow “failed”. We are going to flip this around. Say you might have lost 10lbs and now you have reached a plateau. Maybe, you’ve gone up in your bench press or squat and now you hit a plateau. Progress seems to come to a complete halt and you feel as if you must be doing something wrong. Let’s look at the definition of a plateau. A plateau is a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress. It’s when you have been providing the same amount of work and are getting less in return. This all seems bad, so where is the silver lining? How can this be good for me? This isn’t just being optimistic but looking at a plateau differently as a good thing can actually be useful.
The first step when you reach a plateau is acknowledgment. You have to acknowledge this is something big and you have done WORK. You have had to put some sort of work in and made progress to get to that plateau. Remember the definition above, in order to reach a plateau you first have had to do something. Make sure you take the time and look back at those accomplishments and take note of what you did right. Maybe it was the motivation you’ve had, what was it? Maybe it was a new program, what did it change from? You had to have done some work to reach this plateau so don’t immediately discredit yourself. Perhaps you are new to fitness and you had those beginner gains. This typically occurs when you have large amounts of gains in a short period of time. Eventually, this doesn’t happen and you need more time and effort to bring about change. If this is the case then you need to refocus your expectations and understand progress will take time. It’s only natural and everyone experiences these so don’t get discouraged or think you are doing something wrong. Acknowledge and celebrate this hard work you have achieved.
Make this plateau your new checkpoint. Was this a routine that is hard to manage? Can this be something you can maintain? You can still gain something other than just results. Habits can be worked on so that they become more than second nature and less likely to stop when you change routines. Everyone is always looking ahead and trying to compare yourself to the future, new-and-improved self. We forget where we started from and its important that we make a new checkpoint establishing a point of no return. Sometimes people end up saving their pants from before they lost the weight (just in case they gain it back). You have to establish a new checkpoint in which your body can catch up and handle new normal. This happens in people who lose weight too drastically and their bodies end up gaining some or most of the weight back because it was too fast. They never established a new baseline and allowed their bodies to get used to that level. Unless you are an athlete and need to perform at top levels, what’s the rush? Reaching a plateau is a win in my book.
There are two options to do something about it.
Plateaus may also be for a reason to allow your body to catch up internally and make the necessary changes so you don’t injure yourself. I have found that the body has many checks and balances in itself to prevent ourselves from hurting it. We may give up strength for a mobility problem or lack thereof. We may hold onto weight due to drastic diet changes. Sometimes the best thing you can is NOTHING. Wait, what? Yes, don’t stop what you are doing, just continue the course. Keep grinding out the workouts, diet, or schedule. Our bodies may need time to catch up, so continue with little to no progress. Give it a few extra weeks and see what happens. It may be just enough extra time we need to pass through the plateau and continue making gains. Grit is something everyone can build over time. Grit is doing something even when you don’t want to do it. It’s like a muscle that has to be challenged and worked out.
Once a plateau has been reached, the traditional sense is to “change it up”. Having an alternative is going to be a must but not too drastically. A novel alternative or simple change can continue enough progress and not disturb the flow of your workout program. It could be a change in weight, order, or volume. Most of the time people will change up their entire program and that can throw your body off so much that a shock phase on your body will stop progress completely, maybe even regress it. Consistency is key so if your constantly changing exercises then no one exercise will have time to impact your body. In the past, I’ve been taught to shy away from plateaus and try to prevent them from happening so that there is consistent progress. I’ve learned that there is never a perfect linear line of progress. It’s more of a stock market chart with ups and downs and over time its higher(hopefully).
Sure it sounds optimistic but it’s a good sign you are becoming a fitness pro. It’s a simple mindset shift that can keep you from getting discouraged and losing your mind over the scale not budging. It’s about pivoting enough at the right times to keep that progress meter going forward. Remember, true failure is quitting entirely. Setbacks and plateaus are going to happen. The more you deal with them the better you get as a result. So, the next time you think you’ve reached a plateau just count it as a checkpoint.
