Plateaus Suck So Here Are 3 Strategies To Solve Them

Plateaus suck. Few things are more frustrating than a lift stalling out. Repeatedly failing with the same weight can be incredibly defeating and it often proves damaging to your self-confidence. Below, I’ll share three simple, yet effective strategies to break a plateau in the weight room. In my coaching career, these strategies have worked for about 80% of stubborn plateaus. Not all plateaus are easy to solve, but we’ll tackle more complex cases another day.

Before we dive into the 3 approaches, a quick share…

Years ago, I overheard a conversation among peers. A fellow coach suggested that if a plateau couldn’t be explained by lifestyle factors (like poor sleep, nutrition, or hydration), it was due to either a lifter’s inability to follow effective programming or a coach’s inability to program effectively. This perspective led me to develop a simple process for assessing and addressing training plateaus.

First and foremost, I always begin by assessing lifestyle factors. Often, progress halts due to issues like lack of sleep or dehydration. We incorporate a period of reduced intensity while we troubleshoot and address these factors. Once identified, we take the necessary actions to get back on track. However, if lifestyle factors aren't the issue and the client has stuck to the script when it comes to program adherence, it's likely time to make calculated adjustments in the weight room.

Strategy 1: Rollback Your Weights Relative to Your E1RM

When working with linear progressions, we often add weight week over week without realizing that the intensity has surpassed our recovery ability. Signs like lingering soreness, slight pulls and strains, and significant form breakdown indicate that you've overstepped. To counter this, rollback your working weights by 10-20% and restart the progression incrementally. This allows additional rest and recovery while still applying the necessary stress for adaptation. Mentally, this break can be refreshing, and by the time you return to your previous weights, you'll often surpass your plateau. For first-time stalls, start with a 10% rollback and gradually increase if necessary. We’ll usually manage 3 consecutive rollbacks before we’ve squeezed a linear progression for all that it has to offer, starting with 10%, followed by 15% and 20% per respective round. This method can lead to significant gains, sometimes adding 20-30 lbs to a lift, and in rare cases, upwards of 50 lbs.

Strategy 2: Reduce the Frequency of Strength Testing

Testing strength and building strength are not the same. While it can be satisfying to test your strength, doing so too frequently can undermine your development. The resources required to test your max detract from the volume of training needed to build strength. If you're not building strength, you'll soon reach your current potential and fail to hit new PRs. By reducing the frequency of max tests, you give yourself more time to build strength, pushing your top-end potential higher. This also conserves energy for training sessions and reduces the physical and mental toll of constant max attempts, ensuring better recovery and sustained progress.

Strategy 3: Increase Volume, Not Just Weight

Sometimes the answer to breaking a plateau is more volume, not necessarily more weight. This strategy doesn't need to be complex, but it's important to avoid "fluff" volume. For instance, adding three sets of 20 reps with an empty barbell won't aid a 225 lb bencher's strength development.

As an example, if you're currently doing 3 sets of 5 reps on the bench press, consider adding a 4th set. This increase in working volume can force a desired response from your body. Start with an additional set that's 10-15% lighter than your lightest of the 3 working sets. While this additional set should still be challenging, it should be noticeably less intense to start. This allows room to gradually increase the weight over time as needed. Be mindful of the upper limit of additional sets depending on your training percentages, working sets and reps to avoid overtraining.

Breaking a plateau in lifting often requires at least one, sometimes a combination of the above strategies and a bit of creativity. By rolling back weights, reducing the frequency of max testing, and increasing volume, you can effectively push past most stalls. However, if these methods don’t yield results, it might be time to explore more complex programming solutions. Consistently evaluating and adjusting your approach ensures continued progress and long-term success in strength development.

Just a friendly reminder that what gets you from Point A to Point B won’t necessarily allow you to run through the entire alphabet.

Committed to your success,

Coach Ben