Plateaus come for everyone. As nice of a thought as it is that we can outsmart our body at every step of the way and keep riding the gain train all the way to the world stage, long term growth is anything but linear. Even if you aren’t trying to become the next goat, recreational lifters still have to be vigilante if they want something to show for their hours of ‘personal time’ in the garage.
I can get into the ins and outs of programming (which I will eventually) to explain why stagnation happens and what to do about it, but many early lifters have much simpler explanations as to why they can’t put more weight on the bar. These are the 5 things you need to address before you go shopping for a different coach or a new program.
Not Training Consistently
Whether you commit to a 2-day per week minimalist program or a 5 days per week bodybuilding split, growth won’t happen if the work is sporadic. Training works because an increase in environmental stresses sparks an adaptive response, the same way your skin gets calloused when it’s repeatedly worn. Once the stress is removed, things slide back down to normal.
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