How To Dominate A Frustrating Bodybuilding Plateau

One of the most frustrating things a bodybuilder can encounter is hitting the wall at a plateau. A plateau refers to a point where you seem to stop growing, and your strength seems to stop increasing. It seems that you can train as hard as you like and your body doesn't seem to react like it used to, your muscles aren't breaking down after workout and you are recovering before your even hurt. Here we will explore this mysterious 'plateau' and look at some ways to overcome the inevitable condition.

A plateau is usually caused by the body becoming too accustomed to the kind of work it is being asked to do. As you should know, the reason muscles grow and expand is because they are forced to perform tasks that are outside their capability and so a message is sent that they need to be larger and stronger to cope with being asked to perform such workloads.

You will usually find a plateau to occur when:

1. Your training program has remained the same for too long. This includes the same exercises, the same number of sets and reps, and the same rest periods. The body becomes accustomed to being challenged in exactly the same way and despite your efforts, requires no extra growth to handle that challenge.

2. Your eating has remained the same. Just like your training, you will notice you can reach a point in your diet where your body becomes accustomed to taking in a larger amount of food. Even though you still eat alot, you won't continue to grow unless you are challenging your body by taking in more and raising the bar again.

So how can you beat the notorious plateau? Let's take a look.

The obvious answer is that beating plateaus comes down to changing things up. Changing the way you eat and changing the way you train. Here are some ideas:

Do your whole workout backwards.
Whatever you normally do at the gym do it in reverse. If you used to train back and biceps together starting with back first, hit your bi's first and see how different it is. If you used to train concentration curls then preacher curls, reverse the order. Change the number of reps, throw on an extra two or decrease by two and go for full power. Anything to shock your muscles into growing again.

Eat EVERYTHING
Depending on what your goals are alter your diet to shock your digestive system too. Maybe try to take in the same amount of calories from different foods or just go for a super overhaul and add an extra few thousand calories per day. There is no doubt your body will respond.

Supplements
There are certain supplement, mainly very new in nature that can actually assist an athlete to break physical barriers in the last few reps of your workouts, taking the body to places it has never been and in the process smashing through plateus very effectively. An example of one such supplement is the new Gakic, which works to remove fatigue toxins from the bloodstream during high intensity exercise and allows the trainer to push past the point of usual failure.

Whichever method you use, remember the idea is to instigate CHANGE. The moment you notice your growth stop, change things up. It's one of the big secrets to supercharged and continual growth.

Gary Stephens is a writer on Bodybuilding Supplements and runs an informational website on the new Muscletech Supplement gakic.For more information please see www.gakicreview.com

Hot Topics In Fitness

    Treadmll Ratings - What Most Buyers Don't Know About Treadmill Ratings

    If you're buying a treadmill, chances are you'll want to research before you buy. Everyone wants to get the best deal for a discount price. They also want to find the best treadmill to suit their work...

    Meditation Can Also Make Your Heart Happy

    Meditation is good for your heart. This is the message recently (in the year of 2006) conveyed by the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study reported that transcendental meditation (TM), a relaxatio...

    The History Of Tai Chi

    I've got something pretty miraculous to tell you about. I found out about this awesome way of balancing your mind and body. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. It's called Tai Chi and finding ...

    Tai Chi

    TaiChi is a complete and highly developed internal martial art (Neijia). A form of moving meditation, TaiChi promotes in the practitioner a sense of Qi (breath/life energy) circulation and health. As ...

    Is Home Exercise Equipment For You?

    We are bombarded with messages about the current obesity epidemic that seems to be under way and the need to combat it with daily exercise and a healthy, well-balanced diet. The FDA has even redesigne...

    Great Cardio Workouts You Can Do At Home

    You know how important cardio workouts are for your health and wellbeing, but it's hard to get a good cardio workout in when you can't leave to house to go to the gym or for a run. Here are some great...

    5 Tips To A Strong, Muscular Physique!

    For over ten years now, I have been a drug-free competitive bodybuilder, and I can tell you first hand what it takes to develop a muscular physique. In this article, I want to discuss with you my top ...

    Pulsating Tinnitus - Here's How To Beat It

    Throbbing Tinnitus - What Causes It?

    When you can hear a regular pulsing noise in your ears in tune with your your heart beat that is probably pulsatile tinnitus. There may be single or many rhythmi...

    The Top 5 Yoga Positions

    Often times the right information can change a person's life. This happened with me and yoga.

    There are a lot of yoga positions and poses that is built to enhance posture.

    All things consider...

    Why Weight Train During Pregnancy?

    There was once a time that a pregnant woman was thought of as "fragile". Any form of exercise was strictly prohibited by doctors and feared by concerned fathers. We've now come to realize that a pregn...

    3 Steps To Starting a Successful Fall Exercise Program

    Ah, the crisp cool breeze, the invigorating feel of the outdoors as the leaves start to turn colors, the sound of kids laughing on their way to school.

    Fall is the time for new beginnings. New...

    The Importance Of Creatine In Building Lean Muscle

    Creatine monohydrate can rightly lay claim to being the most popular and arguably most effective bodybuilding supplement currently available. The beauty of creatine is that it is 100% natural and occu...

Most Recent Fitness Supplements

Interesting Today:

Most Recent Fitness Blogs:

Releated to Fitness:

Fitness Links:

Fitness Fitness Rss feeds.