How to break through plateau

MrNice

Hi,

Just registered on site a few days ago....

http://www.musclechat.co.uk/post-you...ew-member.html...been to the gym on and off for years (I'm 31) but got into it seriously about 6 months ago and seen some good results. My diet and gym routine was working really well up until 4/5 weeks ago - I was noticeably improving in strength and size - but all seems to have come to a bit of standstill at the moment.

I'm 5'9" 185-190lbs, not sure of body fat but not too bad (goddamn mayonnaise - I love it!), I'm not taking any supplements other than l-glutamin and whey protein. Eating about 3000 good calories a day, not religious with my diet but getting at least 200g of protein and 250-300g of carbs a day down my neck...I train at least 3 times a week, usually 5 depending on my work commitments.

I've changed my gym routine round to try to give my body a kick start, but not seeming to be making any difference...

Anybody have any ideas/suggestions as to anything else I can try?

Cheers

rawresultsgym

I have just got over my plateau that ive been at for 3 months by eating even more, i already was eating about 250g pro a day at least but ive uped that and carbs and i have had strengh and weight gain again

Tall

It may be worthwhile you dropping back your weights by 5% and then adding 1lb or 1kg a week so that you can gain some momentum to get through the plateau...

What is your current diet and training routine...?

MrNice

Typical training week:-

Monday
Chest:
4 x 8-10 Dumbbell chest press
4 x 8-10 Dumbbell incline chest press
4 x 8-10 Cable Flyes

Wednesday
Back:
4 x 6-8 Deadlift
4 x 8-10 Lat pulldown machine - or overhand pull-ups
4 x 8-10 Bent over dumbbell rows
4 x 10-12 Shrugs - either smith-kline machine or dumbbell
4 x 8-10 Back-flyes

Thursday
Shoulders:

3 x 8-10 Seated Dumbbell Shoulder press
3 x 8-10 Seated arnold press
3 x 8-10 Lateral raises
4 x 8-10 Shrugs

Saturday
Arms:

3 x 8-10 EZ-curl bicep curls
3 x 8-10 French press
3 x 8-10 Dumbbell bicep curls over back of inclined bench
3 x 8-10 Machine pull-downs
3 x 8-10 Cable bicep curls
3 x 8-10 Cable tricep curls

Monday
Legs:

Squat until I can squat no more and then do a circuit of the leg machines.


Diet varies but this probably covers it:-

Meal 1
1 cup of oats
Protein Shake

Meal 2
protein shake & bananas, or flapjack.

Meal 3
large serving of brown rice, baked spud, or 3 potato waffles
chicken breast or tuna

Meal 4
protein shake & flapjack

Meal 5
A normal tea, usually baked potato or chips with a couple of chicken breasts or other meat, and vegetables

Meal 6
Protein shake

Tall

Dude...

Too many exercises...!

-- Dude - Stimulate not annihalate! (Ha ha! Just waiting for Cal to comment )

You've got a great frame to work with, and you have quite alot of isolation exercises in there.

Personally, I'd look to start dropping some of the exercises to start upping your poundage.

I didn't see any ab work in there

I think...

Drop the cable flyes on a Mon.
Drop the back flyes on a Wed.
Drop the number of arm exercises.
Drop shrugs from your back workout.
Drop a workout day.

Have a little switch around...

Monday: Chest & Arms
Wed: Back & Abs
Sat: Shoulder & Legs.

Perhaps just do... EZ Curls, Skull Crushers, and maybe 21's
18 exercises for one day on Bi's and Tri's could be too much.

Dont forget that arms will be worked on Bench and Back days.

I wouldn't do shrugs on the smith - better range of movement with Dumbs.

Also if your squatting I wouldn't bother to leg press, just aim to squatting bigger and better.

Your diet looks good.

How does that look? That should give you more time to recover and grow.

rawresultsgym

i would have more than a cup of oats for your 1st meal and would try doing 3 sets of 6-8 reps with more weight

Tall

Just checking - with your 4 sets I assumed you were doing 1 warm up set and 4 work sets...

Raw's post has just made me think - are you doing 4 work sets?

If so I wouldn't bother - do 3 Work sets with an appropriate warm up.

Appropriate meaning what ever you feel you need to do to be able to perform 3 work sets without injury.

For Example: I'm targetting squats at present. Take 100% to mean the weight I plan to lift on my first work set.

Warm Up Set 1 : 12ish reps @ 50%
Warm Up Set 2 : 5ish reps @ 75%
Warm Up Set 3 : 1 rep @ 90%

- I find my body struggles to lift the weight unless first acclimatised (spelling...) - I'm back squatting 115kg at present, but I think I should be able to add 40kg to that in a short period of time as I think I'm underlifting on squats.

But thats just me

MrNice

Thanks alot for the input guys.

My original routine was 3 x 6-8 reps...but as my growth stopped I upped it to 4 working sets and later higher reps to see if it would shock my system into growing - guess I was thinking more is better.

TH&S I do weighted sit-ups each morning when I get up and dont include it in my gym routine, I occasionally throw in a few sets to work obliques when in gym.

Would you recommend creatine, or any other supplements?

Tall

Allo mate.

Have a look on the posts by LeeB and Shredded on Kre Akalyn from Extreme. Its a PH balanced Creatine which they've had good results with.

I use Creatine Ethyl Ester - I'm not a huge fan of Mono Hydrate.

I'm having good results on Tribulus and Gakic along with Creatine.

A stack of these *may* assist in getting you over the plateau.

However I think that getting you to drop to 3 times a week to allow more rest, dropping the weights back by 5% and adding 1kg per week and reducing the number of exercises as suggested should do it for you more than the supplements will.

Lift Heavy, Eat Well and Get Rested.

crazycal1

you`ve made some undoubtably good progress mate-but thats a lot of sets you do most days....

einsteins mind was the key to all things...to understand more than to know.

www.extremenutrition.co.uk