A Billion Ways to Bust Through a Muscle Growth Plateau

Think long and hard about your training and the progress you've been making--has your body stopped packing on new chunks of muscle? If so, you're stuck smack-dab in the middle of a big, black fitness abyss known as a plateau. You might be thinking, "man, I've been working my ass off in the gym day-in and day-out, but for some strange reason I'm not getting any results! What the hell!" Plateaus are uber discouraging and frustrating, and for a lot of people they ultimately cause a complete drop off from weight-lifting. #Fail

Lucky for you, a doctor's in the house. I have about a billion possible solutions for the problem. Reinvigorated muscle growth awaits on the other side.

What exactly is a plateau? It's the body adapting to a certain stimulus, in this case a workout routine, and becoming proficient at it. As a result, the body is no longer challenged and resists growth. Muscle growth is all about challenging your muscles and pushing them past what they're used to. 

How to fix it:

1. Vary Training Schedule. Most people follow a set workout schedule, for example:

• Monday - Chest/Triceps
• Tuesday - Back/Biceps
• Wednesday - Legs
• Thursday - Shoulders/Abs
• Friday - Cardio
• Saturday - Off
• Sunday- Off

Switch up your routine once every two months. Change the order of workouts in your routine, what body parts are grouped together, and even the days that you work a given body part. Believe it or not, the body will adapt if you work chest & triceps every single Monday until the end of time. A new schedule could look like (there are about a million different possible variations):

• Monday - Quads/Hamstrings
• Tuesday - Abs/Cardio
• Wednesday - Shoulders/Calves
• Thursday - Back/Biceps
• Friday - Off
• Saturday - Chest/Triceps/Abs
• Sunday - Off

2. Vary exercises. Changing exercises is the single easiest way to prevent a plateau. It's smart to choose a few compound exercises for each body part to serve as staples (i.e. Squats, Deadlifts), and then switch up the other supporting exercises you do every workout. Instead of doing lat pulldowns, try pull ups. Instead of Bent-Over Barbell Rows, try One-Arm Dumbbell Rows. Do the same for each body part.

Different triceps exercises

3. Change the order of exercises. If your chest routine typically looks something like this: Flat Barbell Bench Press > Incline Dumbbell Bench Press > Dumbbell Flies, turn it into: Incline Dumbbell Bench Press > Flat Barbell Bench Press > Dumbbell Flies. The exercises at the beginning of your workout are always the strongest because you have the most energy.

4. Use different equipment. Look around the gym, there are a TON of different types of equipment...use it all! Different types include:

• Dumbbells
• Barbells
• Cables
• Kettlebells
• Machines
• Medicine Balls, Exercise Balls
• Steps

Switch up the equipment you use to do certain exercises. If you typically bench press with a barbell, try using dumbbells. If you do dumbbell chest flies, do cable crossovers or use the chest fly machine instead.

5. Work in different rep ranges. Different rep ranges achieve different goals. 

• 1-6 reps is best for building strength
• 8-12 reps per set is optimal for building muscle size (hypertrophy)
• 12+ reps is best for developing muscular endurance

Regardless of your goal, it's smart to vary rep ranges on major lifts once every month. I personally alternate one month in the 8-12 rep range, and then one month in the 3-6 rep range. Besides preventing adaptation, it allows the muscles to develop a nice balance of size and strength. Additionally, the 8-12 rep range tends to give muscles a larger, puffier look, while the 3-6 rep range gives muscles a denser, saran-wrapped look (it's also referred to as density training). Build up some size by doing 8-12 reps, and then saran-wrap it up with 3-6 reps. Ripppppppppppppped!

**Important - Low rep ranges means using heavier weights. 

6. Change the number of sets. If you typically do 3 sets of 12 reps per exercise, try doing 5 sets of 5 reps at a heavier weight, or do 2 sets per exercise and add in a few extra exercises. 

7. Alter rest periods. For a beastly, fast-paced workout keep rest periods down to 30 seconds between sets. If you're focusing on larger, compound lifts, rest periods should be anywhere from 1 min - 5 mins. This is primarily dictated by the types of exercises you choose to do.

8. Vary tempo. Tempo refers to the speed at which you 1) lift the weight/contract your muscles (the concentric phase) and 2) lower the weight (the eccentric phase). Vary the the concentric phase by switching between explosive contractions and slow, controlled lifts. Vary the eccentric phase by lowering the weight at different rates--the longer the eccentric phase the harder your muscles have to work (it's also known as eccentric training). Try doing a pull up and lowering yourself down over a 30-second span...it's a killer workout.

9. Spice up your routine with different types of sets. Don't constrain yourself to the typical 3 sets of 12 reps, 1 minute between sets for all of eternity. Turn up the intensity by adding in the following techniques:

• Supersets - Perform two different exercises one after another with no rest. For instance, do 1 set of Lateral Raises and immediately after do 1 set of Dumbbell Shoulder Presses. Not only is this much more intense, but it strategically isolates a smaller muscle group during the first exercise (the medial head of the deltoid during Lateral Raises) and pushes it past failure by working the entire muscle group during the second exercise (Dumbbell Shoulder Presses work all three heads of the shoulder, and pushes the medial head past failure). This allows you to specifically target smaller muscle groups and accentuate their development. 
• Drop sets - Do 1 full set at a heavy weight and immediately after grab a weight that's about 75% of the first and bang out a second set. Crazy pumps...
• Strip sets - This works best on machines that have a weight stack. Start with a light weight that's easy to handle and do a set of 10. Without any rest, continuously do sets of 10--increasing the weight by one plate every set--until your muscles are completely fatigued. I love strip sets when blasting calves on a calf raise machine.

10. Change the type of training. Don't confine your training to only lifting weights...there are a ton of other ways to build muscle and strength, it's best to utilize different methods. If you've squatted yourself down to hell, try doing plyometrics. Use resistance bands, body weight exercises, exercise balls, and kettlebells to stimulate new growth. Do pilates and yoga instead of traditional ab exercises. Box or become a Brazilian Jujitsu expert instead of running on the treadmill. Be creative!

11. Up your protein & BCAA intake. Consuming more protein and BCAAs constantly throughout the day is critical to building and maintaining muscle mass. If you're slacking on the protein/BCAAs you're slacking on the muscle.