Oh No! I’ve Plateaued!: What To Do When Your Fitness Progress Grinds To A Halt
You’ve been following a workout program for months.
Maybe it’s a running program that has already shaved a few seconds off your 400 m sprint; or a lifting scheme that has added 10 lbs to your back squat.
But now, you realize that – despite these exciting, initial improvements you've gained – for the past two weeks you don’t feel like you’ve “moved”. You’ve stopped improving. Your growth-acceleration has ground to a halt.
You, my friend, have hit a plateau.
It happens to the best of us. And it is totally normal.
What can you do about it?
YOU HAVE 3 OPTIONS
When you hit a plateau - a sudden and dramatic decrease in the noticeable results of your workouts – you have three options:
- Get frustrated: see your plateau as a sign of defeat or a personal failure, and give up altogether.
- Be content with the progress you made and relish in your accomplishments.
- Break through the plateau by setting new goals and adapting to your current fitness levels by adding new challenges.
When you hit a plateau you can do one of the three actions above. You can let it defeat you; you can enjoy this new pace you have set; or you can keep pushing!
If you chose Option 3, we have 4 tips for putting this into action!
4 WAYS TO BUST THROUGH A PLATEAU
Add New Exercises
Have you tried split squats? Resistance-banded sprints? One-and-a-quarter squats? Hill sprints? L sits? Bird dogs? Extended planks? Lungesters?!
There is literally, legitimately, an INFINITE amount of exercises that exist and working out will continue to evolve in such that there is ALWAYS something you can add to your routine.
There is will always be an exercise that you aren't doing that will will hit a muscle group in a new way that will make you work harder and sweat more; so set out to incorporate some new moves into your workout!
Add Weight
A Weighted Vest; Change Plates; Ankle Weights; a Ruck Plate: the list goes on!
All of these items can be added to the workout you ALREADY do to add big or nearly-unnoticeable poundage. Adding weight will translate to more gains over time. No need to reinvent the wheel – just add some weight!Add New Gear
Add a Plyo Box to your running; Gymnastics Rings to your body weight work; or Dumbbells to your lifting routine. We’ve got all the gear you need to add dynamism, excitement and new modalities to your workout!
Take a Look at Your Nutrition
Your workout takes up 20 min to 2 hours of your entire day (depending what your program requires). What else can you do outside of that time that will impact your fitness routine?
Everyone’s (least) favorite thing: NUTRITION!
Nutrition is FOUNDATIONAL to your fitness journey. Small or transformative changes to what you eat will impact how efficiently you move. We recommend consulting a certified nutritionist or dietician (not a social media influencer) to figure out what foods you can incorporate into your diet to feel your best!
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