If you've been on your fitness journey for a while, you're no stranger to plateaus. Those moments where progress seems to stall, and no matter how hard you push, you feel stuck at the same level. Whether it’s lifting the same weight for weeks or running the same distance without improvement, plateaus are frustrating but common. The good news? With the right approach, you can break through them, and Ascend Athlete Training is here to help.
Understanding Plateaus: Why Do They Happen?
It's a fact: everyone who trains for long enough will encounter a plateau at some point. Hitting a plateau doesn't mean you have been training incorrectly; it is a simple consequence of the body's physiology and resistance to adaptation. While frustrating, plateaus aren't something that cannot be overcome and are by no means permanent.
Signs You’ve Hit a Plateau
No Progression in Strength:
This is the most common and easiest-to-notice sign of a plateau. You can't seem to hit new PRs in your lifts, and the same percentage of work never feels any easier.
Lack of Endurance Gains:
This is a similar symptom that shows itself differently. You may be unable to hold slightly faster paces in your endurance or conditioning work. Running or rowing at the same paces never seems more manageable, and you can't keep those paces any longer. This is a sign that you are at a plateau with endurance.
Mental Fatigue:
Mental fatigue or burnout is a sign of plateauing that athletes don't often consider. While this isn't precisely a physiological sign within the muscles or systems that produce improved performance, you may be at the precipice of a plateau if you are experiencing a lack of desire to train or push yourself.
Stalled Weight Loss or Muscle Gain:
Depending on the athlete, weight loss or weight gain may be essential to improving their performance. If the scale stops moving in the direction you need it to, this can be a sign that progress is stalling and that adjustments to your training or dietary habits need to be made.
How Ascend Athlete Training Helps You Break Through Plateaus
At Ascend Athlete Training, we specialize in helping athletes overcome plateaus by focusing on personalized strategies that reignite progress. Here's how we can help:
1. Customized Training Plans: At Ascend Athlete, we overcome and avoid plateaus by ensuring our athletes' training programs are centered around their needs. Proper progression within training, deloads, volume adjustments, and close attention to training progress help us avoid and overcome plateaus when they do arise in a training cycle.
2. 1:1 Coaching for Personalized Attention: An often overlooked reason for plateaus can be traced back to an athlete's approach to their daily training. You will be more likely to hit a plateau if you constantly train with the same approach or intensity. Our coaches give specific guidance and instruction on approaching each day's training piece to avoid this and help our athletes push in training when needed and back off when appropriate.
3. Cross-Training and Variation: A lack of thoughtful training variation is the easiest pitfall leading to a plateau. The body adapts to the stimulus given in training, so a plateau will occur more quickly if there is no variation in training movements, loads, or time domains. At Ascend Athlete, we avoid this by constantly adding just enough variation in training to prevent a plateau but still have progression within training.
4. Recovery and Mobility Work: Often, an athlete will experience a plateau not due to any error in their training but because of a lack of recovery or not addressing needed mobility work. Proper recovery is arguably more essential to progress than the training design itself. Conversations around recovery and using mobility protocols to avoid injury and setbacks are a staple in our coaching at Ascend Athlete.
5. Mindset Coaching: As mentioned above, all athletes will experience a plateau at some point in their training. It's crucial at this time to have honest conversations with a coach and understand that overcoming a plateau will require adjustments to training and patience to overcome.
Why Plateaus Are an Opportunity:
Plateaus are massive opportunities disguised as setbacks. The changes needed to break through a platform are almost always the catalyst that will transform an athlete's training and progress far beyond where they are when they encounter the plateau. Keeping this in mind while navigating a plateau can help you stay motivated about the potential that lies on the other side!
Ready to Break Through?
If you're ready to break through a plateau or take your training to the next level, we are here to guide you! Reach out to us to get in touch with an Ascend Athlete coach today and start smashing your way through those plateaus!!
Comments