We're adding more weight to the bar, gaining more body weight and pack on more muscle size and thickness to our bodies.
Each week, our training programs are running smoothly.
Then, all of a sudden, those gains come to a halt - no more gain from our muscle and strength.
In the bodybuilding world, this is called "plateau".
The very idea "plateau" would send shivers up the spine of any serious bodybuilder, because it means that despite our best efforts in workout and ensuring in adequate nutrition, no additional progress can be made.
What does a typical lifter do in response to this? They immediately alter their workout routine hoping to "shock" their muscles into new growth...
They change their exercises and rep ranges...
And they implement new "advanced techniques" such as forced reps, negatives and static holds in an effort to break through the plateau into new levels of growth.
DON'T DO THAT! Exercise variety may sometimes be a reasonable option, these plateaus exist as a result of far more fundamental reasons that have nothing to do with the repeated use of the same workout.
Most of the time, plateaus are simply due to overtraining.
Let's see why this is the case...
We are damaging our muscles when training intensely and this affects our body's recovery ability.
After our training, our body needs rest and nutrients to rebuild the damaged muscle cells and to recuperate.
After the muscles are remodeled back to their previous state, the body will then build additional muscle mass as an adaptive response to the stress.
Take note below...
As you become stronger and add more and more weight to your exercises, the overall stress and requirement to recuperate continually increases.
An advanced bodybuilder who is bench pressing 300 pounds for 6 reps is stressing his muscle & body far more than a beginner who is benching 125 pounds.
If you are consistently adding more weight in your exercises, you are adding more stress to your body and you MUST compensate for the increase in stress by reducing your training volume and frequency.
Otherwise your body will inevitably be pushed beyond its ability to properly recover in between workouts.
This means that the muscle is not given an adequate amount of time to remodel and to increase its size and strength further.
This is why your gains slow down and eventually stop; because before your body is able to increase muscle size and strength, you interrupt the process by placing them under more stress and impact the ability to recover.
As a result, you never progress forward, and you keep yourself on the plateau.
Isn't this obvious? As you become more advanced, you must train less often and with fewer sets! Training intensity and volume are DIRECTLY related, and are part of a balanced equation that determines your progress.
As one variable increases, the other MUST decrease.
So if you are "stuck" on this bodybuilding plateau, regulate your volume and frequency! Decrease the number of sets that you perform for each muscle group slightly, and consider having an additional rest day in between workouts.
You will return to the gym stronger and, you'll know for sure that you were previously overtraining.
A slight reduction in volume and frequency is usually all needed to make steady, uninterrupted progress in muscle size and strength.
Do not be panicking and jump into trying new routine.
You should now know that your body has a finite ability to recover and that as you grow stronger, you use up more of it on each individual set.
Reduce the volume slightly, consider an additional rest day, and that is most likely all you'll need to blast yourself through the plateau and into a new phase of growth.