Reaching Plateau Too Often With Workout Program

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Reaching Plateau Too Often With Workout Program

by Jeff
(West Virginia)

I'm a construction worker trying to workout again. But as usual, a few weeks into my program I plateau and make little to no gains.

I continue lifting but get stuck at the same weight and reps.

Do you have a weight lifting routine that might help me?

I'm not sure if maybe I'm overtraining or not training enough.

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Reaching Plateau Too Often With Workout Program

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More Info About Weight Training
by: Josh -- Author WLC System

Hey Jeff,

Can you give me a little more info on the way you've been training?

Go through the weekly schedule, what exercises in each workout, sets and reps for each exercise, and the intensity with which you lift.

Do you regularly go to failure on every set? If not, how many sets per workout to you go to failure?

I need to know this information so I can help you with a workout program.

I'll be looking for your response...

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My workout
by: Jeff Peters

I found this workout in a book I ordered a while ago called The Men's Health Hard-Body Plan. I'm currently doing the intermediate workout. I workout 3 days, off 1, then back on 3. I pretty much do as they say but changed a couple things.
I'm 5'-5" and around 175 lbs.
Most exercises I do 2 sets of 10 or failure.
Day 1:
overhead dumbbell press
upright row
side deltoid raise (lateral)
dumbbell kickbacks
preacher curl
forearm curl
rev. forearm curl
Day 2:
squat on squat leverage machine
leg curl
leg extension
heel raise with dumbbells
ankle flexion with weight plate
lateral lunge with barbell
Day 3:
incline bench
flat dumbbell fly
1 arm dumbbell row
t-bar row
dumbbell side bends
raised leg crunches
The next 3 workouts are altered a little. I change some of the exercises. For instance:
front deltoid raise instead of lateral raise.

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Too Much Too Often
by: Josh -- Author WLC System

What equipment do you have available and where do you workout? At home? Gym?

The workout isn't bad, but you need to focus on building as much strength as you can right now on only the best compound exercises.

I believe that with your construction job, you are doing a little too much too often in the gym.

Just want to make sure you can do the best exercises before I give you a weight training program that will work much better for you.

1) Squats
2) Deadlifts
3) Bench Press
4) Overhead Press
5) Rows
6) Chin Ups
7) Dips

Here's a page that shows each of the exercises:

http://www.weight-lifting-complete.com/7-core-weight-lifting-exercises.html

I'll put those exercises together for you in a good weight training program that will have you making unbelievable progress. As long as you have a place to do those exercises.

If not, let me know and we'll come up with something else.

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More about me
by: Jeff Peters

Thanks for responding back so soon. I have a small home gym. I have a rack for bench pressing that also has a lower and upper pulley on it. It also has 2 upper and outer pulleys too. Along with an upright butterfly machine. I recently picked up a leverage squat machine from Fitness Factory. I have a few more small pieces but don't fit in my garage where I'm currently living. I do have a set of hex dumbbells from 12-60 lbs. If I can, I'll try to send you pictures of the rack. I should also tell you that I'm 36 years old. My previous workout was much more demanding. I did 3 exercises(3 sets of 10) per muscle group 3 times a week. I'm pretty sure I was over training. That's why I started this workout. I'll try to post those pictures soon.
Thanks again,
Jeff

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The easiest way to test overtraining
by: Josh -- Author WLC System

Hey Jeff,

Here's the easiest way to change your workout program so you are making progress. This will also help you test your ability to recover from workouts. This will also help me build you a better program in the future.

Use the exact program you are using right now, but only do each workout once per week with a day of rest in between.

Right now, you are working out 3 consecutive days and then taking off a day. Then you repeat the process. So, you're working each muscle group with lots of volume twice per week. That's just too much for most people and especially too much for someone with a construction job.

So...

Take the first set of workouts (the first 3 days) and do the first on Day 1, the second on Day 3, and the third on Day 5 of the first week. Day 2, Day 4, Day 6, and Day 7 are all rest days.

Then for the second week...

Do the second set of 3 consecutive workouts on Day 1, Day 3, and Day 5. The rest of the days are rest days.

So, you're decreasing frequency by half and decreasing the overall volume per week by half.

Also, I want you to stop each set about 1 rep or so short of failure.

You should then be able to make progress each and every workout. From there, I will add more to your workouts until you find the style of training that works best for you.

After this style of training, you need to work on full body style training for a little while to improve your strength base. I'll help you with that, but I would really like to see what the changes above do for you.

Any questions?

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Any More Workout Plateau Problems?
by: Josh -- Author WLC System

Hey Jeff,

Just wanted to check in with you and see if you were still having plateau problems.

Did you get to implement any of the suggestions I made?

Just trying to make sure I answered everything for you so you can make better progress.

Thanks.

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