Posted by Rich on December 21, 2005, 2:14 pm, in reply to "Plateaus" I do read a lot here and post occasionally. Very often I read the change exercises motif, change reps, etc. I think these pieces of advice are handed out too readily without even questioning goals and previous experience. The body is a complex system and there are countless reasons you could hit a plateau. For one, you could have reached your genetic potential. Not likely, but it's possible. Two, you could simply not be eating enough to support your current level of activity, or not eating enough to grow more. Three, if you're training for size your muscles will simply hit a point of conditioning where no matter what exercises you use you won't get much return on them in terms of growth because they aren't getting damaged much. Just examples. Depending on your goals different exercises aren't necessarily the answer to overcoming a plateau. For strength training varied exercises in the form of a conjugated routine help you to not fry your central nervous system and can also help the neural adaptations necessary to gain strength. In that case switching/adding/rearranging exercises can be a good thing as they can help you accomodate your training needs. But only within that framework. Simply varying them willy nilly won't do much. For example varying flat benches with inclines or declines will let you bench more often without hitting full out intensity and having your CNS bottom out on you. For strength training you'd want to vary exercises that require a lot of neural work (most compounds) at a lower frequency with exercises that hit the same muscle groups but at a lower intensity or in isolation. That's why you'd see flies and triceps work matched in with benches in a strength program. Training for size is quite different as the two biggest components of gaining size are the tension on the muscle and metabolic work. In that instance switching exercises can actually be detrimental in the short term. Your brain, central and peripherial nervous systems basically need to learn the new exercise. That can make it seem 'harder' to do from a lifting standpoint but can actually lower the tension on the muscle for a while as you adapt to the new exercise. You could also be moving from an exercise that generates a lot of tension in your target muscles to one that doesn't generate as much tension even after you adapt. And of course you could move from a less effective to a more effective exercise as well. Generally the switch is more likely to be detrimental when moving from compound to compound exercise and less so in isolation exercises because of amount of 'learning' that needs to be done before you can perform the new exercise as effectively as the old. More simply, depending on what your goals are you *might* break out of a plateau by switching exercises. It all depends. However switching exercises is *not* necessary when your primary goal is gaining muscle mass or even strength. There's no way to 'confuse' your muscles as the common wisdom says you can. Your muscle fibers contract one way and one way only no matter what angle you hit them from or which exercise you use. Similarly with reps. Rep ranges are meaningless. They are basically mathematical artifacts that come out of balancing weight (intensity) and frequency (how often a given muscle is worked). 6-8 reps is a good range for muscle growth but *only* because the weight most people need to generate muscle growth falls into the range of weight they can safely lift for that amount of reps fairly frequently, say 2 to 3 times a week. Workout with a suboptimal weight within that rep range and you'll lose muscle more likely than not. Post your goals, diet plan, training etc. That's the only real way to see what may be holding you back and what might help you break a plateau. --Previous Message--
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It depends on why you plateaued.
: Is there any benefit of continuing the same workout routine even
: if it is at the point where one has reached a plateau?
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