6 Ways to Overcome a Plateau

Written by Dan Kottmann

It’s inevitable.  At some point during your exercise program your body will fail to respond to the exercise and diet that has guaranteed you results in the past.


This state, know as “the plateau effect,” is your body hitting the proverbial wall.  Strength increases dwindle; fat loss slows; lean muscle gains aren’t as apparent.  Life was good at the beginning of the program when your body responded by shedding massive fat, gaining pounds of muscle, and gaining superhero strength almost over night.  Welcome to reality.

Individuals new to an exercise program typically achieve astounding results in the first 3, 6, or 12 months simply because their bodies are unaccustomed to vigorous activity.  The central nervous system slowly employs additional muscle fibers to maximize performance; the body becomes stronger, more efficient, and capable of greater performance.  The increase in muscle fiber increases exercise performance which, in turn, improves body composition.  However, there is a limit to these “newbie gains” (as often called by the bodybuilding community).

So what can you do to push beyond the inevitable plateau?

1.  Clean up your diet.  As your body fat percentage lowers the body clings to its remaining fat stores making it harder to lose additional body fat.  Your diet must remain very, very clean to drop below 10% for males and 15% for females.

2.  Cheat or refeed.  Ok, this may be counterintuitive and in conflict with number 1 above.  However, if you follow a very clean diet your body may need to be shocked.  This is when eating pizza, nachos, etc. can actually jumpstart your metabolism and help push beyond your plateau.  Many folks don’t believe in a dirty cheat meal (pizza, nachos, french fries, etc.) but believe in a refeed meal or day.  A refeed meal is a clean meal (very little saturated fat) that’s high in complex carbs or good fats.

3.  Zig-zag calorie and/or carb intake.  Keep fats low.  If trying to lose fat, this would entail 2-4 days of sub-BMR calorie intake followed by 1 day of at (or just above)-BMR calorie intake.  If trying to gain lean musle, this would entail 2-4 days of increased calorie intake followed by 1 day of at (or sub)-BMR calorie intake.  This ensures your metabolism never settles and that you don’t lose too much muscle (when trying to lose fat) or gain too much fat (when trying to gain muscle).

4.  Rest.  Vigorous exercise puts a lot of stress on the body.  Consider 7-10 days of forcing yourself to not exercise.  If you’ve worked out hard and consistently for 6+ week you should consider taking a week to let your body recover.  This gives your joints a much needed break as well as a mental refresh to pick up the intensity when you return to training.

5.  Variety.  Consider adding variety to your exercise.  You can try varying the weights and doing more or less reps (always to fatigue though).  Try performing different exercises to work the body in a slightly different manner (e.g. replace concentration curls with preacher curls, replace the elliptical with the treadmill).  Try to adjust timings in your exercise routine (e.g. give yourself 1 min rest between sets instead of 2 minutes).  Try adding things like supersets, dropsets, negatives, etc. to your lifts.  Try to introduce more intensity into your cardio (e.g. do a slow jog 3 days per week and run sprints 1 or 2 days a week).  These are just a few things to prevent your body from adapting to a typical, repetitive routine.

6.  Intensity.  Perhaps your exercise intensity and focus has waned over time.  Could be mental, physical or both.  Exercise is only as effective as it’s intensity.  You must train hard and with consistency.  Consider setting a new goal if your problem is mental.  Consider supplements such as creatine if your problem is physical.  Consider training with a partner if your problem is accountability.  Just remember, you can’t spell “workout” without “work.”  Don’t make the gym experience overly social.

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