Beyond the Plateau: Your Guide to Renewed Progress

Understanding The Plateau and Common Reasons For Hitting One

In order to get past the plateaus and to start getting results again, you need to first understand what they are.

To begin with, let's discuss common reasons for hitting a plateau. One of them is that you haven’t made any changes. If you are consistently doing the same workouts over and over again because that is what has been getting you results, that could be a huge part of your problem. Your body needs to be stressed in order to build more muscle and burn fat. If you are always doing the same workouts with either the same resistance or very little change, your body has adapted to this type of stress. In order to get results, you will need to change it up.

Another reason you may be hitting a plateau is overtraining. Yes, overtraining is a real thing, and we can all easily do it. When you suddenly aren't seeing the same results that you were, it is easy to shift into the mindset that doing more is what you need. But if you are overtraining and your body does not have time to recover, it is not going to be capable of producing the results you are looking for. Instead, you are most likely setting yourself up for an injury.

Another way to know you are most likely experiencing a plateau is if you are feeling increased and persistent fatigue or soreness. Those symptoms, even after rest days, might suggest that your body is no longer adapting positively to your training. This can happen when your body has adjusted to your current routine and isn't being pushed to grow.

On the flip side of feeling increased fatigue or soreness is when your workouts feel too easy. When your body is not adequately being challenged, you won't be seeing the progress you were in the beginning.

The Impact Beyond The Physical

Don’t forget about the mental impact plateaus have on you. Science has proven that exercise is key for your mental health and well-being. But when you are in a plateau and feeling frustrated with your results, it can have a significant impact on your mental health. You may feel frustration, self-doubt, and decrease in motivation, just to name a few. When you are facing a workout plateau, in order to cope with the mental stress, you need to work hard to reframe your thought process. In other words, you need to do a mindset shift and focus on small victories versus major ones.

With your mindset shift, try viewing the plateau as a normal part of the fitness journey rather than as a setback. Plateaus indicate the need for change and not failure. This is easier said than done—write about it in your daily gratitude journal (don’t have one? This is the perfect reason to start), work with your coach on your mindset, and talk to friends who have been through the same thing.

Time to Talk Strategy

If you are experiencing a plateau in your workouts, there are things you can do to help break through it. Some of these include reassessing your routine, changing the intensity, improving recovery, taking stock of your nutrition and hydration, and, of course, focusing on mindset and motivation.

At the beginning, we briefly covered that if you have been doing the same workouts because they have been getting you results, that might just be a huge part of the problem. Take some time and analyze your current workout. If you are working with a coach, have her go over it with you so you can look at it from two different perspectives. Are all of your workouts the same? Have you made any changes to intensity, duration, weights, etc.? Make a list of things that you may need to improve or change in your workouts and then start to figure out how you can incorporate these changes.

One of the changes you need to look at is your intensity. Are your reps and weights the same? Has one changed and not the other? You have to look carefully not just at how heavy you lift or how many reps you do but at how they influence one another. A general rule of thumb is higher reps mean lighter weights, lower reps mean heavier weights. If you have consistently been doing higher rep workouts with the same weights or resistance, it may be time to increase your weights, increase your reps, or build back up again at a new weight. Another possibility is to change the combination of strength and cardio you are doing.

Are you doing too much? Rest days are key. Rest and recovery days do not make you lazy; you are not missing training days. In fact, rest and recovery days allow you to train at your best because your muscles and body cannot continue to perform at 100% without the time to recover. Make the most of your rest and recovery days so that you can hit it even harder next time you work out.

Workout plateaus can be directly related to your nutrition and hydration. We all know that you should be aiming for 75/25 or, even better, 80/20—meaning 80% of the time you are eating clean and healthy, and 20% not so perfectly. But it can be easy to get sidetracked and end up in the 60/40 zone. Take a really good look at what you are eating. Write it down (even if you don’t measure it, just write down what you are eating). This will help you really pay attention to what you are putting in your body as fuel and help you figure out if you need to make adjustments. The same goes for hydration—it is easy to say, “I drink plenty of water a day.” But how often do we think that and then realize we are only hitting about half of our water goal on a regular basis? Remember, you need to not only hydrate for daily life, but you need to adjust as your body needs for working out. Hydration is just as important as nutrition.

Conclusion

Hitting a workout plateau can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you've been putting in the effort and staying consistent. However, it’s important to remember that plateaus are a natural part of the fitness journey, not a sign of failure. They signal that your body has adapted and that it’s time to challenge yourself in new ways.

By reassessing your workout routine, adjusting your intensity, ensuring proper rest and recovery, and fine-tuning your nutrition and hydration, you can break through the plateau and continue making progress. Most importantly, don’t overlook the mental aspect—shift your mindset to see the plateau as an opportunity for growth rather than a setback. Celebrate small victories, focus on how far you've come, and use this experience to strengthen not just your body, but your mind as well.

Remember, overcoming a plateau is about making smart adjustments and staying patient with the process. With the right approach, you’ll be back on track and reaching new heights in no time. Keep pushing forward, stay motivated, and trust that your hard work will pay off.