How do you keep the Plateau from happening?? how do you avoid it in the long run?

[NeedtoGain]

[itsaverage]

What has worked for me is changing things up. Whenever I would change exercises, angles or technique I would pick up some growth.

[dmaxon]

As has been said other places and by other PE'ers, rest is important. Schedule days off to give your body time to heal. Most of my gains happen during time off.

[namsokiek]

Plateaus happen when the body becomes accustom to the strains placed on it. There are many articles about athletes who hit plateaus, mainly runners and bodybuilders. Each case has different advice for the athlete, but the common theme is change the routine, intensity, intervals.

In the case of PE one really has to examine their routine, goals, and predispositions for gains. What has worked in the past? What am I doing now? Where do I want to gain? How much do I want my routine to change and for how long?

I don't think physical plateaus are a bad thing, they just tell you it's time to switch things up. Mental plateaus, on the other hand, are bad because once one gets bored with a routine one tends to stop, or much worse, gets careless and injured.

Once your gains begin to slow down is the time to start studying and planning the next routine. After a couple weeks of diminished returns, transition from one routine to the other.

[BigO]

I dont veiw a plateau as a completely bad thing. I veiw it as a way of telling you that you have gained as much as you can with the method you are using. To reach a plateau due to overtraining is the type I would try to avoid. I know this may seem like a weird way to look at it but if I am gaining with a current method of PE I will continue to use it untill I dont gain from it.

[TurtleProblems]

You don't really avoid it, it will happen eventually. Now after it happens you've got 3 choices, 1.continue how you are with small gains, 2.change routines/session time/intensity, 3. off time, take a month off and then start again. ^ I agree with the above posts they really aren't a bad thing.

[nedmqq]

I hit a plateau big time late 2010 going about my usual routine. Stopped doing it and went all in for hanging for about 3 months, gained some good BPFSL in the process and when I started back up with my usual routine went from 6.75" (from last time I measured before hitting plateau) to 7.2". Pretty much showed that changing up the routine every month or so will keep the progress coming.

[NeedtoGain]

Thnx itsaverage! i will do tt in future.. i also heard that taking a break from PE for a month or so and then going back in can restart gains.

[NeedtoGain]

dmaxon, yeah true.. but i think it's not the case for hanging

[blink2000]

A serious injury could be far worse than a plateau. At least you're still cementing gains while you're hitting a plateau.