When you first start working out, noticeable changes can often appear within a short period. However, over time, you may notice that the workout effects are no longer visible, or it may feel as though muscle growth and fitness improvements have stalled. This is known as a "plateau," and anyone who has consistently exercised has likely experienced it at some point.
What should you do if, no matter how hard you try, you're not seeing the desired results, feel no stimulation in the target areas, and find yourself constantly injured? The key is to accurately identify your issues and make the necessary corrections in the right direction.
In this article, we'll explore the primary causes of muscle growth plateaus and the key methods to overcome them.
1. Are You Exercising with Proper Form?
While working out, it’s easy to unknowingly develop poor form or accumulate bad habits. You might understand how to move in theory, but translating that into actual movement is another challenge. This is why even elite MMA athletes train with top-tier coaches—they need to monitor their movements and improve the efficiency of their techniques.
Common posture problems seen in gyms involve free weight exercises like squats. For example, when squatting, people often excessively arch their backs, or when bench pressing, they put too much strain on their shoulders. Such poor form not only increases the risk of injury but also fails to effectively target the intended muscles, undermining motivation and hindering progress.
The most effective way to fix this is to seek expert help, identify the issues specific to your body type, and learn the correct form tailored to you. Even small adjustments can bring significant changes to your workout approach, preventing current injuries and laying the foundation for better performance in the future.
2. Do You Truly Understand Your Body?
Let’s consider a simple example. When performing hip thrusts, many people experience activation in the quadriceps (front of the thighs) but not in the glutes (buttocks). Why does this happen? While the quadriceps are involved in hip thrusts, the bigger issue is that the pelvis may be misaligned, limiting your range of motion. In such a situation, no matter how hard you work, the glutes will not be stimulated, thus you won’t get the desired effect.
At times like this, it's important to not only correct your posture but also learn appropriate warm-ups and stretching techniques to activate the glutes. For instance, activating the glutes with a light resistance band or stretching to neutralize the pelvis before doing hip thrusts can make the exercise much more effective.
The great thing about these tips is that once you learn them properly from an expert, they can save you time and energy while improving your results. This small change will help correct any current imbalances and will lead to more efficient workouts in the future. Ultimately, learning the correct muscle activation techniques is the key to improving workout quality and maintaining motivation.
3. Finding the Right Workout Routine for You
Many people follow workout routines they find on the internet when starting their fitness journey. Programs like “5-day splits” or “high-intensity 1-hour routines” from popular fitness YouTubers often appear to be effective. However, these programs are generally designed for intermediate to advanced exercisers, and for someone with irregular rest and nutrition habits, they can be hard to stick to.
For instance, if a person who works a 9-5 job follows a 5-day split workout program, they would need to go to the gym every night after work for an hour of exercise. This could stimulate the nervous system and interfere with sleep, increasing the risk of fatigue and eventually leading to injury.
It’s crucial to design a workout plan that takes into account personal lifestyle, fitness level, and available time. A more sustainable approach might involve a 3-4 day split for upper and lower body workouts, or using supersets to complete your session in 30-40 minutes. Adding interval training is also a great option. Tailoring your workout to your individual needs ensures you can exercise consistently without exhaustion, maximizing results.
Even seasoned gym-goers can sometimes maintain a good physique despite using poor form, which makes correcting bad habits even harder.
4. Conclusion
Fitness is a long journey. Sometimes, we lose direction or hit walls, but often, what’s needed are not drastic changes, but small adjustments. Correcting your posture, targeting specific muscles correctly, and setting a personalized plan may seem like minor changes, but they can make a huge difference.
One-Point PT offers more than just training sessions—it helps resolve your current issues and makes future workouts more enjoyable and effective.
If you have questions or face challenges that you can’t solve on your own, try One-Point PT to find a new path. Fitness is a continuous process of improvement, and the most important step is taking that first one.