Break the Barrier
I’m stuck…
Have you ever been?
If you’ve been training for more than a year, I’m pretty sure you have felt stuck in a “strength rut” at some point in your life.
I’ve seen it with myself and with my clients as well.
Let’s talk “newbie gains”…
When just starting out on a fitness journey, you may have experienced what’s known as “newbie gains”.
That’s where you just begin to exercise and you progress quickly in your exercises.
Progressive overload happens and it is sweet, my friend! A beginner who starts a fitness journey will stimulate muscle fibers and voila…progress happens fast.
Bodyweight squats progress to dumbbells and eventually heavier loads.
A 10 second plank, quickly becomes a 30 second one within weeks.
It’s beautiful!
I’ve seen this time and time again. As a coach it’s a cool thing to witness.
It’s positive.
It’s motivating.
It’s fun.
But….
At some point on our fitness journey, the “newbie gains” come to a halt.
Where leaps and bounds of progress become more like a “slow like molasses” process.
Where you stay “stuck” at the same weight in a deadlift for months and months.
Or where your push-ups stay locked into the same number of reps… week after week.
Or where your attempts at assisted chin-ups feel futile.
Can I tell you something?
I have been “stuck” at my bench press weight for over 6 months now…
Technically, it’s way better and yes, I feel stronger, but the weight on the bar remains the same… week after week.
Month after month.
And that in a nutshell, is the essence of a strength-building journey.
Where the longer you’ve been lifting weights, the harder it is to make significant jumps in strength.
You’re definitely stronger than you used to be say 3 years ago but you’re still not where you’d like to be.
What can/should you do about it?
You can throw up our hands and say “forget about it”… it’ll never happen.
Or you can roll up our sleeves and keep at it, regardless the outcome.
Cuz truth be told, you may NEVER reach that goal you have set.
Or you might.
There’s no way to know unless you continue to do the work and yes, embrace the process (as much as it might suck) in spite of the outcome.
Because the process is the point…
It’s where you uncover your
potential
tenacity
character
resilience
strength
bad-assery
Regardless of the outcome.
My Top Tips…
Keep working at it consistently.. yes, all reps add up over time (even the bad ones)
Train the muscles that can help support the ones needed for the strength exercise you’re working towards. For example, biceps help with chin-ups so maybe add in some isolation work there. Likewise, glutes are key in the deadlift, so isolation glute kickbacks can definitely help the cause!
Be patient. This one ain’t easy because most of us are not and it’s far easier to quit. Patience and perseverance are the necessary ingredients in the secret sauce of success.
Know when to move on. Here’s the thing… there may be some limiting factors as to why you can’t do X or Y. An old injury, scar tissue, a limitation of some sort whereby a certain exercise may never be one that you can master. And that’s OK. Move on. There is no shortage of exercises that we can choose from instead that won’t cause us more frustration than we need.
Final Words…
I’d love to tell you it’s gonna be easy.
That you’ll get it.
That your goal is within reach.
And maybe it is.
But in reality, it’s not easy and you may or may not “get it".
Yet the person you become while pursuing the goal is worth every single (sucky) rep.
Cuz…
The pursuit is the point.
Whether you hit the target.
Or not.
