112 Simple Ways To Break Your Plateau
According to the law of overload, we must place new demands on the body in order to make it change. For example, if you want to lower your fat percentage, you must exercise in order to burn more calories and become thinner. If you want to make your muscles stronger or faster, you must load your muscles with heavier weights or train in a way that makes you faster. We add some recovery and rest to the formula so the body has time to adapt and what you have is a stronger, faster, bigger or smaller frame. Once your body has adapted, it is a new, fitter body.
When the body stops improving (stops losing weight or getting stronger or faster), it is called a plateau. A plateau is something trainers are very familiar with. In order to break plateaus, we introduce new challenges in order to generate more results.
So basically, if you want different results, do something different. If you want to maintain your body, do what you have been doing, if you want to reverse the affects of exercise and become less fit, stop doing what you are doing and let yourself go. If you just feel bored by your routine, mixing it up could keep you committed to your health.
Breaking a plateau doesn’t have to be daunting. Change can be exciting and interesting. I compiled a huge list of simple ways to break a plateau below. If you find that your body has stopped changing, pick something from the list below that you haven’t tried yet and is specific to your athletic goals. To learn how I broke my plateaus while losing weight after having a baby, check out this blog: https://heroestraining.com/?p=80
112 SIMPLE WAYS TO BREAK PLATEAU:
1. Lift heavier weights with fewer repetitions
2 Lift lighter weights with more repetitions
3. Add one or two more sets
4. Time your rest periods and make them shorter
5. Take a break (sometimes, we stop improving because our body is burnt out)
6. Find out where you are weak and strengthen those areas (you’ll be surprised at how much addressing your weakness will enhance your athletic performance.) This video shows how you can address shoulder and core weaknesses:
7. Use bands instead of weights. This video is an example of how you can address weak glutes with stretch bands:
8. Use weights instead of bands
9. Use cable instead of weights
10. Use barbells instead of dumbbells
11. Use dumbbells instead of barbells
12. Use kettlebells instead of dumbbells or barbells
13. Use a tire or boulder instead of barbells
14. Do Jumping Jacks, pushups, burpees etc. between sets as an active rest.
15. Stop using rest periods and do circuits instead (a circuit program consists of working out one muscle group and then working out another muscle group while you rest the other. You never stop moving)
16. Try doing a really intense fifteen minute workout instead of a moderate one hour workout, like this 8 minute cardio video:
17. Do speed intervals instead of long distance (intervals are cardio workouts where you go really hard and then rest for a timed interval, and then go really hard again)
18. Do shorter speed intervals (ie, 100 yard sprints instead of 400 yard sprints)
19. Do longer speed intervals (ie, 800 yard sprints instead of 400 yard sprints)
20. Do fartlegs (ie, run or cycle fast for 3 minutes, jog for five)
21. Do long distance instead of intervals
22. Walk up a hill
23. Walk up a steeper hill
24. Run up hill
25. Do hill intervals (sprint up a hill, then rest or just walk down. Then sprint up the hill again for a set amount of times)
26. Run while pushing a sled
27. Run while pulling a sled
28. Run while pushing a baby in a stroller
29. Do bear crawls instead of running or walking (walking or running on all fours, hands and feet)
30. Try skipping instead of jogging.
31. Instead of sitting or lying down while watching TV or reading, ride a stationary bike; walk on the treadmill or sit in a horse stance (sitting with no chair). Or just stretch or roll out your muscles. Example of this in this video:
32. Hike up hill while pushing a baby in a stroller (I used to do this. It’s really hard)
33. Swim instead of run
34. Learn to do a proper push up. Here’s a tutorial:
35. Try the rowing machine
36. Lunge up hill
37. Try step up lunges
38. Try step forward lunges
39. Try walking lunges
40. Try split, jumping lunges
41. Lunge in a different direction
42. Lunge with a child on your shoulders
43. Do pushups with a small child on your back
44. Do pushups with someone pushing on your shoulders
45. Do pushups with a band pushing on your shoulders, or try plyometric push ups:
46. Do sit ups with a child pushing on your chest
47. Use a weight vest
48. Use a sand bag
49. Use ankle or wrist weights while taking pilates class
50. Hire a personal trainer
51. Join a fitness class
52. Sign up for a race or marathon training program
53. Take up a new sport
54. Run or cycle on a different trail than you are used to
55. Play tag with your kids
56. Try jump squatting instead of just squatting
57. Do one legged squats instead of squatting
58. Do one legged lunges instead of just lunging
59. Do one legged deadlifts instead of just deadlifting
60. Try squat thrusts instead of your usual squat routine.
61. If you do back squats, do front squats instead.
62. If you do front squats, do back squats instead.
63. Try squatting on an uneven surface like a bosu ball
64. Try pushups on a bosu ball.
65. Try pushups on two bosu balls
66. Try pushups on a stability ball
67. Try pushups on two stability balls
68. Try crunches or planks on a bosu or stability ball
69. Try push ups on a basketball under one hand
70. Try pushups with one leg off the floor
71. Try pushups with one arm off the floor
72. Do a pull up or pull up assist instead of a lat pull down
73. Try one armed pull ups
74. Climb a rope, pole, tree, mountain or wall instead of pull ups
75. Do a row from a push up position instead of a standing position
76. Use a stability ball instead of a bench
77. Do twenty burpees at the end of your workout before you cool down.
78. Do twenty jump squats at the end of your workout before you cool down.
79. Do forty jumping jacks at the end of your workout before you cool down.
80. Do thirty pushups at the end of your workout before you cool down.
81. Hit a punching bag as hard as you can.
82. Get heavier boxing gloves
83. Get heavier jump ropes
84. Try criss-cross jump ropes
85. Try hopping on one leg
86. Try squat jumping with a jump rope
87. Try jumping up once while spinning the rope twice.
88. Try jumping up once while spinning the rope thrice.
89. Just jump faster
90. Do your workouts faster
91. Do you workouts slower
92. See how many reps you can do with a lighter weight
93. See how many reps you can do with a heavier weight
94. Do as many reps as you can with a light weight, then do the second set with a heavier weight and switch off.
95. Train to failure! Only stop when you can’t do anymore with good form.
96. Only give yourself a certain amount of time to do as many reps as you can.
97. See if you can beat your time.
98. Race your friends
99. Do multiple muscle exercises (for example, instead of just squatting, add thrust press to your workout and make it a squat thrust so you are working your upper and lower body at the same time. Bicep curls isolate the biceps but pull ups work the upper back and biceps.)
100. Do a burpee to a shoulder press
101. Instead of doing leg lifts from the floor, do it while hanging from a bar
102. Do crunches or sit ups from an incline or hanging upside down
103. Do planks instead of crunches
104. Do pikes or jack knives instead of crunches or planks
105. Do planks with one arm or leg off the floor
106. Do pushups with your feet on the wall
107. Try military push ups
108. Try handstand push ups
109. Run, walk, lunge or skip in the beach sand
110. Play soccer on the sand instead of on the grass
111. Run, walk, lunge or skip up a sand dune
112. Go for a walk during your lunch break or after dinner
Hi Rhea: Excellent ideas. It brings up a question, why , if after 40 % of my all of my excercises are abdominals, I cann’t get a flat stomach?
I’ll talk to you next time I see you.
Thank you!
Annie
Hi Annie,
I just saw this comment and it seemed legitimate. For some reason it was in my spam box. I think this post answers your question. Have you seen improvement so far? If you do see improvement then you have done something right. But if you are not satisfied with what you have now, its time to start doing harder workouts and step up your game so you will see even more improvement. If the problem is fat around the abdominal then I recommend cardio and diet to burn that off. Abdominal exercises will build muscle but if you want to burn fat, you have to burn more calories than you take in. I recommend adding more resistance or doing harder workouts gradually, every two weeks to 1 month. You shouldn’t be lifting the same weight and doing the exact same exercises you did when you were a beginner. Once you have the body you want, then you just have to maintain it.