How To Break A Plateau While Gaining Strength

Nothing is more frustrating than getting stuck in a rut with your training and hitting a plateau. We’ve all been there before.


But, just because you’ve reached a sticking point doesn’t mean you can “unstick” yourself.


Use these tips to help breakthrough your plateau and be on your way to continued gains in strength and size!

TIPS TO BREAK PLATEAUS IN GAINING STRENGTH
INCREASE CALORIE INTAKE
Food is fuel for performance, recovery, and growth.


As you get bigger and stronger, your calorie requirements increase, which means you’ll need to eat more food if you want to continue gaining size and strength.


Now, we’re not suggesting you go ham at the buffet or anything, but you do need to take a measured, diligent approach to increasing your calorie intake over time.


Start small, by increasing your daily calorie intake by 100 calories and see how your weight and performance in the gym goes.

DECREASE CARDIO
Our ability to perform, grow, and gain strength ultimately boils down to how well we can recover from our previous bouts of training. Each of us also has a different (and finite) ability to recover.


Whereas some guys can train hard all the time, others can only handle lifting heavy a couple times. If gaining strength is your goal, then you need to focus all of your efforts into maximizing your time spent in the gym and your time recovering.


One of the “sneaky” things that eats into a lifter’s recovery is performing too much cardio. If your main training goal is strength, keep cardio sessions brief and only perform it 2-3 times per week.


If you’ve been stuck in a plateau for sometime, consider eliminating cardio altogether.

DON’T NEGLECT ACCESSORY MOVEMENTS
So often when the focus is on gaining strength, lifters tend to think all they need to do is focus on the “big 3” lifts. While that may work for a while, eventually you will plateau. Accessory movements (close grip press, floor press, pull ups, rows, etc.) help address any “weak links” in your kinetic chain and promote muscular balance. By making every muscle in your body as big and strong as possible, you’ll see additional strength gains in your performance in the big 3.