How to Break an Exercise Plateau
Understanding Plateaus will Lead to Improved Training Results
© Kim Ford
Sep 2, 2009
Gym instructors are continually urging their clients to change their training programme regularly and coaches are forever coming up with new and improved training techniques for their athletes. They do this to ensure their exercisers don’t get stuck in a constant state of plateau.
What is an Exercise Plateau?
A plateau is often described as an area of stability or of little variation. An exerciser or an athlete that has reached a plateau will find his fitness, strength or endurance stops increasing and will remain at a constant level.
An exerciser will hit a plateau when his body becomes used to the training it has been doing and will carry on working at the same rate without showing any significant signs of improvement. The exerciser could carry on at this stage forever without any significant changes happening to the body.
Dieters often find they reach a plateau at a certain point during their weight loss. Once they reach this stage they find it increasingly difficult to lose weight as their body has reached the point where it can maintain a stable weight whilst consuming a certain amount of food.
To end a stage of plateau, some kind of shock is required to give the body a kick start.
Selye’s Periodisation Model: General Adaption Syndrome (GAS)
In 1956, leading endocrinologist Hans Selye suggested that when the body is presented with a form of stress it will go through three stages in order to adapt: shock, adaption and staleness. In an exerciser's case the stress would be the type of training; for example, resistance training.
In the case of the exerciser the initial shock would come as a new training programme is started. The body would enter its shocked state as it tries to adapt to the new programme. As with any new training programme the exerciser will find he takes longer to recover after sessions and may feel muscle soreness.
As the body begins to get used to the new training programme it enters the adaption stage. During this stage the performance will increase as the body overcompensates for the training. Depending on the type of training, the exerciser will notice an improvement in strength, endurance or stamina.
Finally, once the body has adapted to the new training programme it will reach a state of staleness, or the plateau. At this stage the body has adapted all it can to the programme and will no longer continue improving.
Breaking the State of Staleness or Exercise Plateau
Once the body has reached the state of staleness the exerciser must change his training programme to break the plateau. The new training programme will begin a new cycle and place the body into a new state of shock. The body will then adapt and the exerciser's performance will improve once again.
All exercisers will reach a plateau therefore they should look to change their training programme every six weeks or so to ensure they do not become stuck in a state of staleness. Limiting the amount of time the body spends in a state of plateau will result in greater benefits.
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