Lack of strength progression and increasing your physique can be as frustrating as difficulty losing weight and stubborn bodyfat!! As a former USA Powerlifting coach, I learned so many helpful tips to help my drug free athletes break strength plateaus and set World Records! Here are my top 6 coaching tips to help you break strength plateaus on your core lifts. The core lifts are categorized as (Squats, Bench Press, Deadlift, Power Clean, Hang Clean, Military Press).
- Plateauing On The Barbell Lifts- The key to progressing your barbell lifts is to make small poundage jumps on the last 2 sets of your repetition scheme! (Ex). If you are using percentage methods for your training I would do the following. Set#4 75% Set#5 77% and even 77.5% . Jump small and expect progression consistently!
- Never Train To Failure On The Core Lifts- I commonly see the novice lifter doing this. The no pain no gain theory is strictly for hypertrophy (bodybuilding). Training the core lift to failure causes 2 negative reactions in your strength progression. First, training to failure is so stressful on your body that it causes you to require massive rest periods. Second, training to failure can make it very difficult to use proper form and may cause injury. Save training to failure on the accessory movements like tricep, hamstrings, and other movements. Form is the key to progression and sports mastery!
- Use A Exercise Log- Many successful people in the strength world document many years of training. I use the logs for many reasons. I most frequently use to log to document training phases, mental state of the session, bodyweight and even detailed nutritio. The log will also help you recognize when your progress is slowing down. Commonly, plateaus will happen to the novice and experienced lifter at weeks 4-6. The log will prevent this.
- Rotate Your Accessory Exercises- Your accessory exercises are exercises that follow the core lifts. For example dumbbell bench press, lat pulldowns, tricep pressdowns, leg press, dumbbell bicep curls, upright rows, stiff legged deadlifts, and thousands of others. I recommend rotating these movements every 2 weeks and also changing the repetition of these movements. The rotation of the accessory movements will help your core lifts get stronger and keep your body craving change.
- Increase your protein and rest- When you feel a strength plateau coming then increase your protein and your rest. The protein requirements for strength athlete are 1.25-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. The key is to evenly space that protein throughout your day. It is crucial that we ingest protein pre/post workout and also at bedtime. Sleep is crucial. Ed Coan, a legend of powerlifting, would sleep at least 10 hours per night. Ed would also nap in the afternoon. The sleep cycle is important for central nervous recovery!
- Supplement with branched chain amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks for new muscle production. Supplementing with L-glutamine and arginine are crucial to central system recovery!
I hope these top 6 tips can benefit you in your strength program. These tips can implemented in all other types of fitness programs as well! REMEMBER NO BRAIN= NO GAINS!!
Train Smart And Expect Success!
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