🏳️ Are You At A Plateau?
Rationalizing something that seems scary but is very normal in fitness.
If you train long enough to see results, congratulations, you are in the upper 40th percentile of people.
A lot of people condition themselves to expect progress in an unreasonable amount of time, which leads to burnout and eventually quitting altogether.
The rest of us will train hard for a good period of time, get addicted to progress, and then get frustrated when progress stops happening.
There’s nothing wrong with getting frustrated about that — but it does warrant a discussion about what kind of timelines and expectations we should have about progress.
That stopping of progress is what we call a “plateau,” where progress stalls for a bit (and people also decide to quit) and it feels like fitness isn’t working anymore.
Let’s talk about why plateaus are nothing to be afraid of.
Newsletter Summary
What a plateau is
Why it happens, and how to move past it
One quote about consistency to end the week
🏳️ Are You At A Plateau?
A plateau is your body’s way of saying, “I need more.”
Muscles are fickle things. They like the same thing over and over again.
Until they don’t.
The same goes for your heart and cardiovascular system.
Your brain.
And anything else (pretty much everything in you body) that craves repetition.
Facing a plateau just means that the amount of work you’ve put in has gotten you to the first threshold of progress, because as I’ve written about before, progress isn’t linear.
I feel like I need to repeat that last sentence constantly to clients, because we’ve been spoon-fed the idea that it should be.
I tell people to think of fitness with two analogies:
The Monopoly Board Analogy
Fitness is a lot like Monopoly — it takes time to save money, build properties, and pass go. These things are equivalent to losing fat, building muscle, and setting personal bests.
Occasionally, some bullsh*t happens — you go to “jail,” aka get injured — and you have to sit it out for three turns (three weeks)
The only way the game continues is if you keep rolling the dice.
No one likes someone who just gets up and leaves the Monopoly game, even though it takes three hours. Fitness takes a long time. Don’t just get up and leave
The “Reverse Savings Account” Analogy (My personal favorite)
Your body is like a Savings Account that accrues interest backwards
The more deposits you make, the less your account grows and the harder it gets to see returns
Are you gonna stop depositing in that account just because it yields 3% when it used to yield 7%? (I’d sure hope not, otherwise you’d need a financial planner)
Keep making deposits and new financial (fitness) milestones will come.
Plateaus usually occur because your body adapts to your routine.
Your body becomes more efficient at exercise the more you do it, so newbie gains (which we’ll cover Monday) tend to taper off after a new exerciser (or someone who took a long break) gets stronger.
Another reason for plateaus could be inadequate muscle recovery.
Lack of sleep, too few grams of protein and not optimizing your relaxation prevents growth or strength gains.
And yes, sticking to the same exercises over time can also stall your progress.
I’m not a fan of being too novel with your lifts. I’d much rather mix up sets, reps, and tempo of exercise before I change a lift entirely.
But new exercises do have their place.
The good news?
Plateaus are a normal part of the fitness journey.
To break through, try switching up your workouts, increasing intensity, or allowing for more (or less) rest between sets.
It’s quite possible that the things you’re doing outside the gym may also be preventing progress.
If you’ve gotten too comfortable with your cheat meals/days (even though I hate using that phraseology), those might be hampering your progress in leaning out.
If you’ve been too dialed into the training and haven’t taken a rest day in a while, it’s possible a few extra hours of laying on the couch could grow that muscle or strengthen that quad muscle.
You might also just need a new hobby outside of the gym.
I’m fortunate enough to train some absolute savages — real gym rats — but the gym also can’t be your life.
Find something that takes your mind off of the “pump,” shedding those pounds, or worrying about where the next calories come from.
Look out for Wednesday’s newsletter for more inspo there.
Keep challenging yourself, working hard, and playing harder, and progress will follow!
One Quote About Consistency To Close Out The Week
“Consistency is always the best teacher.”
See you all on Monday.