Everyone who goes to the gym for a a significant length of time will eventually hit a training plateau. It is almost a law of nature; progress is never truly linear. Sometimes you’ve gotta do uncomfortable or extraordinary things in order to keep making progress.
Okay, so you’ve been training for a few years and have encountered your first training plateau.
You have gained several pounds of lean muscle tissue, your clothes are filling out, and you’re adding decent weight to the bar.
But suddenly, those gains have come to a grinding halt — what’s a man supposed to do?
The simple beginner and intermediate programs no longer cut it.
And now you’re going to have to get more creative with your training program.
If this is you, don’t fear; there’s still a lot you can do.
Do you really think that Mr. Olympias gave up at the first hurdle?
No. This couldn’t be further removed from the truth.
In the past, we’ve spoken about how Mr. Olympias’ such as Ronnie Coleman and Dorian Yates — despite their remarkable physiques — would stick with the skeleton of the same training programs and exercises for the bulk of their careers.
Should you emulate their programs?
No, you shouldn’t — just because a certain program worked for them doesn’t mean it’ll work for you.
But once you’ve started to stall, you need to train harder.
Using the same rep schemes, volume, weight loads, etc, isn’t gonna cut it anymore.
You will have to start experimenting with different rep ranges, for example, or even begin peppering your program with new exercises.
Busting Through Your Training Plateaus
Not to say you haven’t hitherto trained hard, but you’re going to have to train harder to continue making gains.
Like most things in life, training also adheres to a law of diminishing marginal returns.
The more advanced you become, the more your training will have to evolve and the harder you’ll have to train to unlock lesser gains.
We’ve previously mentioned that if you have “good” genetics, you could gain around 15lb of lean contractile tissue in your first year of training — provided your training, nutrition, and rest are on point.
On more on what you can expect to build naturally, read here.
Thereafter, you can expect to gain half of your first year’s gains each successive years.
We also thoroughly recommend that you remain natural for as long as possible before even considering performance enhancing drugs to break past natural training plateaus.
Having said that, there are some legal, over-the-counter supplements you can consume to help you obliterate training plateaus.
1) Supplementation
Before we get started, it should be noted that supplements are the cherry on top of your training and nutrition.
Supplements are expensive are should not be used to plaster over any shortcomings in your diet and training schedule.
However, there are plenty of legal supplements that can make a noticeable difference.
Creatine is one supplement that has been clinical tested multiple times and has proven to not only be safe, but also contribute toward yielding supraphysiological results — meaning that you can build more muscle/strength than you could’ve done without it.
I can attest to the supraphysiological benefits of creatine; creatine helped me take my bench press from around 370lb to 420lb in less than 6 months — while “natty”. I was stubbornly against taking creatine as I believed it would bloat me and thus slow me down for sports.
Creatine’s nootropic properties have also been boasted among some circles aside from its training plateau busting results. I personally feel a lot sharper when taking creatine.
Any creatine monohydrate brand is good enough; it doesn’t need to be cycled or preloaded before consuming.
Other supplements such as magnesium can help with metabolism and energy conversion.
In fact, we have an article on 3 supplements that work tremendously well that won’t only help you burst through training plateaus, but contribute toward raising your quality of life.
1.1) Increase Protein/ Caloric Intake
Another reason why some lifters encounter training plateaus is due to suboptimal nutrition.
Make sure you are consuming enough protein (1g x lb of bodyweight) and calories (16 calories x lb of bodyweight to bulk).
As you build muscle and gain mass, your caloric needs will adjust to reflect the change in your body.
Remember: muscle is very metabolically active, consuming 20-30 calories per pound of lean contractile tissue.
1.2) Get More Rest
Simple as.
The harder you train and the more you break down your muscle fibers, the more nutrients and rest your body will require.
2) Dropsets
This one is a little more controversial, however, one’s approach to training and losing fat should be to DO THE LEAST AMOUNT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE WHILE YIELDING THE GREATEST RESULTS.
Do not take this out of context; you should still train and diet your ass off.
But you shouldn’t attempt to lift close to your 1RM for several reps on your first outing.
And likewise, you’d be a bleeding idiot to start a fat loss diet at 1500kcal and 2 hours cardio a day.
Both models are unsustainable.
While you should DEFINITELY train hard, you should train to stimulate — not destroy.
You should train hard — don’t get me wrong — but you shouldn’t overtrain so early into your lifting career.
As we previously mentioned, you can gain a decent amount of muscle naturally with adequate training stimuli and diet alone — no fancy, sophisticated, and convoluted programming is necessary so early on.
Most novice-to-intermediate lifters will continue to make gains with relatively linear progressive overload.
When you begin to struggle to make progress, then you can add dropsets into your program to 1) continue making gains 2) attack lagging muscle groups 3) spice up your training and challenge yourself.
Although some fitness influencers train with dropsets every session, you don’t necessarily need to incorporate them week in week out to break training plateaus.
Dropsets can be taxing on the body, which is why its advisable to limit them to once every 2 training sessions per body part to cut through your training plateau.
You should try using either a machine or Smith Machine for your first few attempts at dropsets since they are exhausting, and you should always try to recruit a spotter to assist you.
(I like the Smith Machine for dropsets as you can eke out more overall reps and much energy required for stabilizing the weight are taken out of the equation.)
Dropsets can kick your ass if you’re not careful.
Picking up an injury will be an unpleasant hindrance — and have you mired further into your training plateau in the long run.
This is why you have to be smart about your dropsets.
Look at yourself in the mirror and identify weaknesses and attack them directly.
Here are a few drop set ideas to help you smash your training plateaus:
- Incline bench press
- Flat bench press
- Smith Machine Military Press
- Lat-pull down
- Machine Rows
- High-bar Squats
- Leg Press Machine
- Bicep Curls
- Tricep Extension
- *Running The Rack
A nice starting tempo for dropsets would be to do as many reps as possible on, say, your main weight for a lift, then strip off a plate and do another set for as many reps as possible.
Some more advanced lifters might attempt something like this for the bench press:
| 405lb | 6 reps |
| 315lb | 10 reps |
| 225lb | 12 reps |
| 135lb | 15 reps |
Let’s imagine the above lifter is freakishly strong, but the above breakdown illustrates how they’ve conducted their dropset.
Starting with 4 plates a side, they have stripped off a plate when they reach mechanical failure on each set, all the way down to 1 plate — reaching muscular fatigue.
A total of 43 reps have been performed in this mammoth dropset, but it merely serves to depict how a dropset can be performed.
You too could apply something similar to your training. You could add 10 or 25lb plates to a bar and strip a plate off a side for each successive set until the bar is empty and you can’t do more reps.
Running The Rack
“Running the rack” is a mega dropset for lagging muscles by using the dumbbell rack.
This technique is most commonly used for either targeting the side deltoids and traps as their range of motion and potential exercise is fairly limited — and they’re both muscles a lot of lifters struggle to bring up.
Here is a list of exercises you can run the rack with to obliterate training plateaus:
- Lateral Raise
- Dumbbell Shrugs
- Bicep Curls
- Dumbbell Rows
- Presses
- Lunges (If you’re clinically insane)
Mid-00’s professional wrestler and Hollywood actor David Bautista developed his famous traps — which lagged at the beginning of his lifting career — by running the rack with dumbbell shrugs.
Seminal blogger and YouTuber MorePlatesMoreDates developed his memeworthy “Death Star” deltoids by running the rack on lateral raises.
It is a brutal training method — but one that delivers potent results.
Cluster Sets
This option to bust through your training plateaus is still within the same dropset family, but doesn’t serve the purpose of taking the muscle to sheer fatigue.
Instead, this training method helps bring about more total volume than you might otherwise be capable of under a different rep scheme.
For example, let’s say you wanted to be able to crank out 10 pullups, but reached a training plateau at 6 pullups.
In training, you then attempt 4 sets of 5, totaling 20 reps.
Alternatively, you could try 10 sets of 3 reps with short rest periods to hit 30 total reps instead.
I have previously written about cluster sets, stating:
A cluster set is a low-rep, high volume style of training with short rest periods between reps.
Let’s assume you can only do 4 pushups, failing on the 5th.
Try a schema of 10 sets of 3 reps, with 15-30 seconds rest between sets. You can even do something along the lines of 20 sets of 2 reps. You can get really creative!
That way you work in a decent amount of volume while training close to failure.
The short rest period between sets while working close to failure will rapidly increase resistance.
Don’t forget to progressive overload each session by adding more reps or total resistance.
One of my favorite 15 minute workouts for my upper back is a pyramid cluster set for pullups adhering to the following rep structure: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
By following a cluster set rep pattern, you can make very quick gains on lagging lifts.
I also incorporated a form of cluster sets when I used to powerlift, flirting with weight loads very close to my 1 rep max for highish volume.
For example, I could take weights as heavy as 85-95% of my 1 rep max for 10 sets of 3 reps to destroy training plateaus.
It would be impossible to hit, say, 90% of my 1 rep max for 30 total reps using 3 sets of 10 reps — or even 6 sets of 5 reps.
But with 10 sets of 3 reps, I was able to craftily perform more total volume than I could do otherwise.
5) Forced Reps
This is something we haven’t talked about an awful lot on Herculean Strength as some — myself included — exploit forced reps as an excuse to ego lift.
Despite this, forced reps are a great way to train beyond failure.
But don’t be that guy trying to bench 315 for reps with your spotter upright rowing 165lb.
We’ve all seen it.
Don’t allow your spotter to take off too much of the weight so that you get enough of a workout.
Forced reps are safer for upper body movements; trying to make somebody squat more than they’re capable of in a state of fatigue is a recipe for disaster for all those involved.
The most common exercises to use forced reps on are:
- Bench Press
- Incline Bench Press
- Lat Pull Down
- Preacher Curls
- Dumbbell Presses
- Lateral Raises
- Machine Rows
- Cable Triceps Extension
All that is required for a forced rep is little more than a couple of your spotter’s fingers taking off some of the load or stabilizing the bar.
When training beyond failure, this can go a long way in helping you clear your training plateau.
5.1) Cheat Reps
While we generally advocate the practice of good form when executing each rep, we will allow a brief concession of “cheating” on reps for the sake of traversing training plateaus.
Although you shouldn’t do this all the time, you can cheat on certain exercises — which technically fall into the category of “forced reps”.
Some of these include:
- Strict Press > Push Press
- Pullup > Jumping Pullup
- Lateral Raise > Cheat Lateral Raise
- Bicep Curl > Cheat Curl
- Tricep Extension > Tricep Extension + momentum
- Squat > Pin Squat
- Deadlift > Touch-n-go Deadlift
- Barbell Row > Barbell Row with Body English
These exercises can be performed with a higher weight load than you might otherwise be able to do.
You will be able to lift heavier weights and perform a greater total of reps by doing them.
But do not keep them as staples if you don’t intend to pursue strength sports competitively as they are tough on the CNS and connective tissue.
Use cheat reps sparingly or at the end of your session when you might need an extra nudge to get you over the finish line.
And this leads us to the next thing you can do.
6) Get Stronger
Now this tip to blast through training plateaus may seem a little redundant, but if you are stronger on the main lifts, the more volume in higher reps ranges you’ll be able to do.
And this will translate to a higher potential for overall growth.
Strength and mass complement each other; if your goal is to build muscle, and you get stuck, it might be an idea to take a step back, increase the weight and lower the rep range.
How many small 405lb bench pressers do you see around?
They do exist, but they’re very rare. The bulk of big bench pressers are also big men.
This is when changing up your program slightly can go a long way in helping you slice through your training plateau.
It doesn’t necessitate a radical change — you can still keep the bulk of your favorite exercises but place a greater emphasis on 1) barbell training 2) heavier weight loads.
For example, if you’re hitting 70% of your 1 rep max for sets of 3-4 and 8-12 reps, try a 5×5 rep/set scheme at 80-85% of your 1 rep max for a few months instead.
A guy who can bench 405lb will be able to dumbbell bench press 100lb dumbbells for more reps than the guy who can bench 305lb >99.9% of the time.
Rest assured, focusing on getting stronger will also carry over to gaining muscle.
Breaking your training plateaus won’t happen overnight.
In fact, it could potentially take several months to start making progress again.
But this on a case by case basis.
There will need to be some quid pro quo on your part too. You will need to keep a training log and to keep accurate measurements up to date to ensure you’re making adequate progress — and that you’re not hitting a training plateau.
We have a diet planner on sale now that boasts a comprehensive section on how to correctly measure yourself.
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