What is a “Plateau”, Really?

Anyone who has been training long enough knows that at some point you are going to hit a progression wall. That could be in the form of a runner who can’t push past a certain split, a powerlifter who can’t get past a bench press plateau, a weight loss client who sees a huge initial drop and then steadily levels out, but usually it’s regular people like you and me who day don’t see the same results we used to from the same efforts.

All of these are the result of the same physiological phenomenon: Accommodation.

Accommodation is when our adaptation (results) flatline because our body gets used to the stimulus. Where we once were significantly challenged by a load of 135 pounds, we no longer are, so we must up the ante in one of the following ways:

1. Progressive Overload — Continuing to increase the amount of weight that you lift. Adding weight to your 5R back squat, going up in kettlebells on your swings, etc.
2. Apply Specificity — If you really, really want to squat your most weight possible, then you might need to follow a program that focuses on squatting as much weight as possible. My least favorite because this approach sacrifices general fitness in favor of going all in on absolute strength, but do you fam.
3. Frequency De-Load — This is my personal favorite because it’s so often overlooked. Those athletes who lift so heavy for so long are never ever going to fix their bodies accommodation with more weight. They need to fix it with less frequency. We have a former powerlifting competitor who is a member here and in his first year hit lifetime PRs for all of his lifts. Big boy PRs. In the five hundreds.
4. Access More Expressions of Strength — Another reason why many former specialists who start a program with varied fitness see their progress increase. They have been so focused on their single strength category for so long, they’ve tapped it out.

Most people just need to stick to the basics of progressive overload. I have truly never seen that fail for non-competitive training, but when it begins to provide diminishing returns, consider two, three, and four.

Nutrition is a stimulus too, perhaps our biggest. When our body begins to adapt to the stimulus to the level of diminishing returns, it’s helpful to consider the following:

1. Reverse Dieting — Eating more when your body has adapted to a lower caloric intake by burning less calories. Been underfed for too long? This works exceptionally well and is where many of our nutrition clients see immediate results. In fact, many of your in our current Nutritional Rehab are probably saying, “I can’t eat all this!” You can, and you will :)
2. Increase a Specific Macro — Could be carbs or it could be protein. Most people are dramatically underfed in the protein category.
3. Decrease a Specific Macro — Might need to decrease carbs or fat a bit. This is one rare, but it happens.
4. Eat Less, Eat More –– Could be that simple that you just need a bigger surplus or deficit.
5. Get a Coach. 

Hope this helps, plateaus are not the end of the world and if you train long enough you will hit many of them. Ultimately it’s just your body saying that, “This no longer works”, and it’s time to tweak your approach.

-Dave