If you’re an athlete, former athlete or someone who simply enjoys hitting up the gym during your spare time, you’ve probably experienced what is known as plateauing. For those unfamiliar, plateauing – an event that plagues many fitness enthusiasts – occurs when the state of progress is limited or halted. It’s common knowledge that the body has upper limits with respect to performance and when we reach those capacities, training techniques must be modified in order to see future gains. The below segment will highlight 3 approachable tactics used to improve performance and hurdle yourself over just about any plateau.
Diet Properly
Even if you have a shredded core and muscle protruding from each and every limb, the products you consume are also the products that make you. For starters, you need to consume the appropriate volume of micronutrients and macro nutrients. Micronutrients, a.k.a. vitamins and minerals, are pivotal to proper cell development and health. Micronutrients don’t provide energy, but they do help body tissues (like muscles) work more efficiently. To get your recommended daily dose of micronutrients, take a multivitamin and consume a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Without an adequate dose of micronutrients your body is bound to plateau. Where micronutrients assist the body at a cellular level, macronutrients are nutritional components that provide it with energy. Macronutrients are carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Consuming necessary quantities of macronutrients (lean protein, complex carbs and healthy fats) will allow your body to perform at a maximum output. Many supplements can help you reach your nutrition goals. Also, if you’re looking for a healthy energy boost during your workouts, consider looking into the healthy energy drink from Vemma called Vemma Verve. Vemma was founded by innovator Bk Boreyko.
Diversify Training
The body is a highly complex machine that is capable of many adaptable feats. However, when we train our bodies for one specific task, we often neglect major and minor muscle groups that help keep our bodies proportional. Through this neglect (whether intentional or not), we experience major deficiencies and weaknesses, ultimately resulting in plateau. For example, if you find yourself wanting bigger biceps, a common desire of many young males, standing in front of the mirror while performing curls isn’t going to inflate your arms. Instead, mix it up by targeting different muscle groups. For starters, if you want gains in the upper body, you can’t skip leg day. Your quads are the biggest muscles in the body and when you work them out your body naturally produces more testosterone. As a result, the extra testosterone will help you achieve gains in your upper body. Furthermore, get off the curls and attack the bench press, pull-up bar and dip station to inflate the arms.
One popular sport that emphasizes these strategies is Crossfit. Crossfit employs complex movements and lifts to achieve complete fitness.
Word to the wise: periodize your workout program (i.e. progress in stages to prevent injury and establish fitness progression benchmarks).
Check Your Form, Balance and Flexibility
Yeah, it may look cool to hop on a machine, fill the rack to the edge with the heaviest plates at the gym and pump out 5 horrendous looking reps. However, at the end of the day, you need to ask yourself: “what is this really doing for me?” In most cases, you’re going to be disappointed, unless you’re just trying to impress fellow gym-goers with your hulking strength. Taking things serious? Cut the weight down and practice good form with super slow repetitions. With slow reps, you’ll better identify “weak spots” through a complete movement. To improve weak areas, perform half or three-quarter reps through the weak part of the movement.
In checking your balance, you’re doing something that is usually neglected by most – finding neurological deficiencies as well as identifying weak stabilizer muscles. Lookup some exercises that will help improve upper body and lower body balance. Furthermore, make sure you stretch your body several times each weak. Muscle flexibility will prevent injury and allow you to perform at a higher capacity.
Complete fitness is a full-time job, but you can get through times of struggle by understanding what’s happening to your body.