As they decorate our landscapes like islands hung from the sky, grand plateaus are a peculiar geographical phenomenon indeed.
When we present the body with the stress of exercise, it adapts and changes by becoming fitter and stronger- Matthew Muscat Inglott
With a quiet and dignified beauty they delight tourists and decorate our homes and offices through paintings, calendars, and desktop wallpapers. As natural wonders go however, plateaus will never escape from under the shadows of their greatest rivals; the spectacular mountains.
Who wants to see a mountain sliced to half its size when the likes of Etna or Kilimanjaro beckon us conquer their peaks and quite literally experience the top of the world?
Such is the poor reputation of plateaus that we have adopted them as a metaphor for that dreaded state when our progress grinds to a frustrating halt and we cease to close in on our goals.
In the exercise and fitness realm, the dreaded plateau is enough to squash our enthusiasm, dampen our spirits, and at worst, compel us to hang up those gym shoes once and for all.
So if you’ve recently hit a plateau in your training, then grab your mountaineering gear, because we will get you back on course towards dazzling new fitness heights.
The human body adapts and changes according to the stimuli it faces . Adaptation exists because the body likes routine.
Here’s a simple example: if you sleep until whatever time you like for a couple of months and then suddenly set your alarm for 6 a.m., getting out of bed can feel worse than a beating from the National Rugby team.
The next day it will feel just as awful, but let’s face it, the body cannot possibly continue to endure this type of punishment day in, day out. So on the third day you will notice it getting a little easier, until by the end of the week you might even find yourself jumping out of bed just before your alarm clock even sounds, and with minimal undue stress. This is the magical process of adaptation to external stimuli, and has allowed all species to survive and evolve through our planet’s long and turbulent history.
When we present the body with the stress of exercise, it adapts and changes by becoming fitter and stronger.
Plateaus happen when the body has become too comfortable with the stress we are imposing. Ironically, the same mechanism that leads to plateaus is the same thing that allows us to achieve our goals and get fitter and stronger in the first place; it’s all about adaptation to imposed stress, so let’s turn it in our favour.
The most common plateau in the gym is the old three sets of 10 rut. Have you been performing three sets of 10 repetitions on bench press each chest workout with exactly the same weight for two months or more? If so, you are not alone.
The best way to break this plateau is to switch to a strength training cycle for a while. Start increasing the weight by 2.5kgs each week but instead perform three sets of five.
When the week arrives when you cannot complete all the repetitions, continue to increase weight in the same manner but instead switch to three sets of three, and when you fail that, three sets of one (singles).
In six weeks your muscles and central nervous system will have be-come accustomed to handling 15kgs more than they ever have be-fore. Here you could return to your three sets of 10, however you will now be handling at least 5kgs more.
A quicker more immediate solution for fixing plateaus on non-major exercises involves advanced techniques like negative repetitions or static holds. Negatives involve warming up as normal and moving on to about 150 per cent of the weight you normally use.
Get a training partner to help you lift the weight, and you simply resist it slowly and under control on the way back down, on your own. Try this just once and see how it translates when you return to your usual routine. For static holds, use the same weight you normally do, and simply hold it static for as long as you can in the most challenging position of the exercise in question; be sure to use a spotter for safety.
Plateaus for those trying to lose weight are just as common and fairly predictable. Fat usually falls off in plentiful supply for the first few weeks or months, but then progress grinds to an agonising halt. When losing fat keep in mind that the more you have when you start, the more of it you will lose.
Let’s conclude with a few plateau-busting fat loss tips: divide your existing meals into smaller more frequent snacks, and eliminate sweets and junk food. Add in a few major key exercises to your workout like squats, deadlifts or bench presses.
If you are performing steady pace cardiovascular training like jogging or cycling, try interval training instead, which involves alternating sprints with brief periods of rest.
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