Need help breaking the infamous plateau effect.

[Basshunter36]

I've realised. Sadly after nearly or more than half a year of training *yet inconsistent so i might not have plugged all the dots togheter* That I have reached a plateau in my body muscle growth.

Ever since I started in july, i've done the same routine 3 times a week, now split into 4 times a week upper body lower body routine.

I've never derailed from the same 2 machines per muscle technique, using the same machines always.

Obviously i've gotten very quick results from my consistency, but they never went further ever since I noticed the first change.

It came to my mind after a friend talked to me that I must have reached a plateau, and must be very used to my routine.

Therefore what would you recommend?

So far I have 2 exercise for each muscle group that I work out:

2 for legs
2 for chest
2 for abs
2 for biceps
2 for tripceps
2 for shoulders
2 for upper back
2 for lower back.
All on the same 2 machines for each 2 exercices

Should i, get 4 exercices per muscle group, and switch intermediatly every week between them? or every session? Or is it more complex than that, and if so, what could you recommend me to take it to the next level?

Thanks a lot.

Edit: Keep in mind, my goal is to finish losing that belly, neck weight (which is happening slowly) and be *decouper* as they say in french. I dont want to increassed mass volume. I want what i have to be defined. I'm just about 5.7 feet at 18. Not short but borderline short, dont know if ill ever grow more, so i dont want to be a almost short big buff mofo. I just want to have the same body size (slightly increased is something that probably i cant escape but its not a big deal) with defined muscle. just like someone who has the same arm size but instead of it being flat out straight u see the lines that cut the tricepts and bicepts. so forth. That's my goal. not trying to gain master mass and be the next almost short buff pimp dude.

[Blizzard589]

Stay off the machines. Barbells and dumbbells are what you need to be using. Read the stickies for beginners and follow one of those routines.

[matt297]

Stay off the machines. Barbells and dumbbells are what you need to be using. Read the stickies for beginners and follow one of those routines.

^^^ this.

your rapid increase is likely to be from newb gains. good diet and routine is key.

[Basshunter36]

may it be explained why i should lay off the machines. they definitly provided result. and of course in now way did you guys answer my question remotely at all.

[KyleAaron]

They did answer, they just didn't spoonfeed you.

You need to do a free weight based full-body routine three times a week. There are many variations of this, the important part is consistency. The many variations are found in the stickies, cunningly hidden under names like A simple beginner's routine. Perhaps you were confused by the word "beginner" - that's okay, everyone thinks they're more advanced than they are, I know I did, that's how I got a couple of injuries.

You are a beginner until you can using barbells do 3+ reps of squatting with 150% your bodyweight, deadlifting 175%, benching and bent-over rowing 100%, and overhead pressing 75%.

When you change to barbells you'll find the weight you can move compared to the machines drops dramatically - halve it and start from there.

To progress, remember that this is progressive resistance training. In every workout, do more, more or more than you did last time - more weight or more reps or more sets. For example, if today you bench 40kg 3x5, then tomorrow you need to bench 42.5kg 3x5, or 40kg 3x6, or 40kg 4x5. Any of those three mores would be progress. Lots of people focus on progressing only with the weight, and so they stall. Weight should come first, but when that gets stuck, progress in reps and sets, and the weight will come up.

[Basshunter36]

This still doesnt answer at all. All I am getting is that it is PREFERRED to weight lift and such. But i'm asking how to BREAK the plateau with variation. What kind of variation routine I need. Here I just see well use barbells and weigh lifting its better . That's all im understanding from this. Sorry for sounding like a whining tool but honestly. I ask howto break the plateau of doing the same exercice. What routine should I setup or add to break it. No one comments on the plateau. You comment on me needing to drop machines and weighlift. completly not answering my very specific question. And definitly I am not scared of the word beginner. I don't really give a damn. I just want a program routine to follow with variation that is imperative and that would succesfully give me results. not keep me on a plateau as told in my original post.

[Blizzard589]

Stop doing your nonsense machine workouts and do free weight exercise and there's your variation, thickhead. Free weights are better than machines at recruiting muscle (therefore inducing growth), increasing strength, increasing bone density, increasing balance, increasing tendon and ligament strength, etc. Free weights require you to stabilize the weight through the whole movement as well as move it through the range of motion and that is where all the benefits over machine weights come from. If you make small progressions (as explained earlier) in a full body free weight routine every week or every workout then you will find a true plateau but if you are eating, lifting, and resting properly then this should not happen for some time (many months for a beginner).

[Basshunter36]

Stop doing your nonsense machine workouts and do free weight exercise and there's your variation, thickhead. Free weights are better than machines at recruiting muscle (therefore inducing growth), increasing strength, increasing bone density, increasing balance, increasing tendon and ligament strength, etc. Free weights require you to stabilize the weight through the whole movement as well as move it through the range of motion and that is where all the benefits over machine weights come from. If you make small progressions (as explained earlier) in a full body free weight routine every week or every workout then you will find a true plateau but if you are eating, lifting, and resting properly then this should not happen for some time (many months for a beginner).

yeah thanks for the comment b-boy. next time before u slide in a cocky comment. just answer the question appropriatly. Then i won't have to question your savant knowledge on bodybuilding, ill be happy and u won't have to be a little thickhead with an above all attitude. thanks for the in depth advice

[Blizzard589]

yeah thanks for the comment b-boy. next time before u slide in a cocky comment. just answer the question appropriatly. Then i won't have to question your savant knowledge on bodybuilding, ill be happy and u won't have to be a little thickhead with an above all attitude. thanks for the in depth advice

Ok first of all you say you've plateaued on muscle growth after only half a year of lifting. Then you say you don't want to gain muscle mass even though its inevitable... You say you want to take it to the next level but then you say you just want to get a little definition. You get definition in the kitchen. Eat clean and you will lose body fat. This will allow your muscles to show through your skin.

Then you ask: "what could you recommend me to take it to the next level?"

I gave you my recommendation.

You also ask this: "may it be explained why i should lay off the machines"

I explained that in my next post and you complain. Stop being a little bitch and do barbell and dumbbell exercises.

And another thing. Each body part is not created equal. So they do not each deserve the same amount of work. Your back is bigger than your biceps etc etc. This should be reflected in your routine.

[KyleAaron]

I think the guy's issue is not that we are not answering his question, but that we're not giving him the answers he wants. He wants a new variation of the Weider Muscle Confusion Principle or something, some new machines or sets and reps range that'll cause explosive muscle growth. A change which is not really a change.

The problem is that the answer he wants doesn't exist except as fiction filler between supplement advertisements in magazines.

Bench, squat, deadlift. 3 warmup sets of 6-8 reps of 1/2, 2/3 and 3/4 the work weight. Then 3x6-8 of the work weight. 3x6 one workout, 3x7 the next, 3x8 the third. Then next time increase the weight by 5lbs for bench, 10lbs for squat, and 15lbs for deadlift, and drop the reps back to 3x6. When you stall, add a fourth set; if you stall again, add a fifth set. Then go on.

Start with just the bar except on deadlifts where you start with 1 plate aside. You are aiming to bench one 45lb plate a side, squat 2 and deadlift 3. This should take 9-12 weeks.

When you can do that, have a week off, then add in bent-over rows and overhead presses. Same sets and reps. Keep going until you can overhead press 1 plate a side, bench 2, squat 3 and deadlift 4. When you can do that you won't need our advice any more.

You get 2 minutes per warmup set, and 3 minutes per work set. So each of the exercises should take you 15 minutes to do. 45 minutes for the first stage, 75 minutes for the next.

Eat like a horse, lift like an ox, sleep like a log.

Life's too simple for some people.

[Blizzard589]

I think the guy's issue is not that we are not answering his question, but that we're not giving him the answers he wants. He wants a new variation of the Weider Muscle Confusion Principle or something, some new machines or sets and reps range that'll cause explosive muscle growth. A change which is not really a change.

The problem is that the answer he wants doesn't exist except as fiction filler between supplement advertisements in magazines.

Bench, squat, deadlift. 3 warmup sets of 6-8 reps of 1/2, 2/3 and 3/4 the work weight. Then 3x6-8 of the work weight. 3x6 one workout, 3x7 the next, 3x8 the third. Then next time increase the weight by 5lbs for bench, 10lbs for squat, and 15lbs for deadlift, and drop the reps back to 3x6. When you stall, add a fourth set; if you stall again, add a fifth set. Then go on.

Start with just the bar except on deadlifts where you start with 1 plate aside. You are aiming to bench one 45lb plate a side, squat 2 and deadlift 3. This should take 9-12 weeks.

When you can do that, have a week off, then add in bent-over rows and overhead presses. Same sets and reps. Keep going until you can overhead press 1 plate a side, bench 2, squat 3 and deadlift 4. When you can do that you won't need our advice any more.

You get 2 minutes per warmup set, and 3 minutes per work set. So each of the exercises should take you 15 minutes to do. 45 minutes for the first stage, 75 minutes for the next.

Eat like a horse, lift like an ox, sleep like a log.

Life's too simple for some people.

This is the best advice a beginner will ever get. Anyone who tries to refute this doesn't deserve an opinion.

[KyleAaron]

Kind words, Blizzard. It's worth bearing in mind that there are many ways of doing the same kind of thing. You could chuck in leg press for squats, swap overhead press for bench, or do the equivalent exercises with bodyweight - squats, inverted rows, pushups and their zillion variations.

I think it was George Hackenschmidt who said about 80 years ago, in every workout, do a deep knee-bend, pick something heavy up off the ground, and put something heavy overhead. You can do that with your bodyweight, machines, dumbells, barbells, logs, car axles and wheels, sandbags, kegs, bricks, buckets of water or stones, whatever you like. Legs, pull and push - three exercises in every workout, sometimes you might have to add one for some particular muscle imbalance or weakness. So four, tops.

The point is to pick a workout and stick to it, and in every workout: more, more, more or more - more weight or more sets or more reps or more instability. If in every workout you do more than you did last time, you are progressing.

That's why it's good to stick to one workout routine, and not do splits - it's easier to know you're progressing. If I'm 80kg, is benching 50kg for 10 reps more or less than doing 22 pushups? How about 11 reps and 18 pushups? Hard to say. But if last time I did 50kg x10 and this time I do 55kg x10, or 50kg x11, or if last time I did 22 pushups and this time I did 23, or elevated my feet and did 22 - well I know that's progress.

What I suggested is only one of a zillion possible workouts. Different workouts will get slightly different results and be appropriate for different people's capabilities and goals. I have some people I train who bench 80kg, others who struggle with a few knee pushups. But all of them do legs, pull and push in every workout. Plus sometimes one corrective. The point is to pick one and stick to it, and always do more. Consistent effort over time gets results.

[Blizzard589]

Kind words, Blizzard. It's worth bearing in mind that there are many ways of doing the same kind of thing. You could chuck in leg press for squats, swap overhead press for bench, or do the equivalent exercises with bodyweight - squats, inverted rows, pushups and their zillion variations.

I think it was George Hackenschmidt who said about 80 years ago, in every workout, do a deep knee-bend, pick something heavy up off the ground, and put something heavy overhead. You can do that with your bodyweight, machines, dumbells, barbells, logs, car axles and wheels, sandbags, kegs, bricks, buckets of water or stones, whatever you like. Legs, pull and push - three exercises in every workout, sometimes you might have to add one for some particular muscle imbalance or weakness. So four, tops.

The point is to pick a workout and stick to it, and in every workout: more, more, more or more - more weight or more sets or more reps or more instability. If in every workout you do more than you did last time, you are progressing.

That's why it's good to stick to one workout routine, and not do splits - it's easier to know you're progressing. If I'm 80kg, is benching 50kg for 10 reps more or less than doing 22 pushups? How about 11 reps and 18 pushups? Hard to say. But if last time I did 50kg x10 and this time I do 55kg x10, or 50kg x11, or if last time I did 22 pushups and this time I did 23, or elevated my feet and did 22 - well I know that's progress.

What I suggested is only one of a zillion possible workouts. Different workouts will get slightly different results and be appropriate for different people's capabilities and goals. I have some people I train who bench 80kg, others who struggle with a few knee pushups. But all of them do legs, pull and push in every workout. Plus sometimes one corrective. The point is to pick one and stick to it, and always do more. Consistent effort over time gets results.

That's all interesting and true. But nothing is more convenient/as productive as the basic barbell exercises to a beginning weightlifter trying to gain strength and size IMO. Of course there are always possible or necessary variations.

[KyleAaron]

Depends on the beginner. For a non-obese person, it can better to start off with bodyweight work - when you can do 50 good squats, 30 inverted rows and 20 pushups, starting on barbell work will be a breeze for you. But if you're 300lbs you're not going to be doing many squats or pushups, so machines will be better for you until you knock some weight off. And if you're 400lbs, you won't fit in the machines so it's dumbell time.

And some people can't afford a gym membership, or can only get there once a week when their husband looks after the kids, and so on.

There are a zillion things to consider. My point was that people search for the One True Perfect Workout - and you'd responded as though I'd presented it. There is no One True Perfect Workout, but there are some general principles you can apply: legs, pull and push, and always do more than last time. Follow that and you'll progress.

[Blizzard589]

Depends on the beginner. For a non-obese person, it can better to start off with bodyweight work - when you can do 50 good squats, 30 inverted rows and 20 pushups, starting on barbell work will be a breeze for you. But if you're 300lbs you're not going to be doing many squats or pushups, so machines will be better for you until you knock some weight off. And if you're 400lbs, you won't fit in the machines so it's dumbell time.

And some people can't afford a gym membership, or can only get there once a week when their husband looks after the kids, and so on.

There are a zillion things to consider. My point was that people search for the One True Perfect Workout - and you'd responded as though I'd presented it. There is no One True Perfect Workout, but there are some general principles you can apply: legs, pull and push, and always do more than last time. Follow that and you'll progress.

I repsonded as though you had created the perfect template. I had the hopes that people would have the wisdom to alter it to fit there goals/needs/abilities while still retaining the general principles.