Introduction

It is inevitable, if you are trying to get stronger and build muscle, you will plateau. There are dozens of variables that go into building strength, but you should look to these three areas first. If your strength won't budge after these three interventions, then  further diagnostics are needed.

Number One

The most detrimental action or habit for building strength is of course inadequate sleep. It sounds too easy, but sleep will reck your gains faster than anything else. 

When we workout, that isn't when our tissues grow and build. They get broken down and damaged during exercise or bouts of stress have been placed on them. Once we eat and go to sleep, that is when the growth and adaptation happen. Without the sleep portion, the eating and workouts become useless through the lens of strength and hypertrophy.  Ignoring sleep, is ignoring the window of opportunity for it to recover and build on top of what it has.

So yes sleep is the number one obstructor to building strength. You should strive for 8 hours a night of uninterrupted sleep and this has to be done 90% of the time. Not once in a while or when you don't have work the next day. Use common sense as to why your sleep may be suffering as well. Usually sleep is suboptimal because of a sacrifice you aren't making. It could be the time you get into bed, caffeine consumption, lack of a routine bed time, etc.

Number Two

The second most common killer of building strength is overtraining or the wrong amount of volume and intensity on your body. In order to illicit adaptation we must provide a stimulus for our body. That stimulus has to be the right amount. Not too much, not too little. The collective understanding of proper volume usually involves basing it on soreness. People think the amount of soreness will equate to more muscle and strength. That is far from the truth. It is pretty damn hard to build strength and go up in weight if you are continuously sore. And for motivation sake, it makes the gym feel a lot harder to go to.

Here are some questions to ask and look towards to know you are doing the right amount of volume and intensity. Do I feel better at the end of the workout than at the beginning? Is lifting weights carrying over to the rest of my life? How long has it been since I went up in weight and repetitions with the same weight? How is my energy throughout the day outside of exercise?

If lifting weights doesn't make you feel better after workouts or have sustained energy throughout the day. Your volume is likely too much. Bring your volume down until all those statements are true. You feel better at the end of workouts than at the beginning. You have sustained energy throughout the day. You see a little progress with weights and reps going up.

Number Three

The last major contributor to strength is protein intake. After looking at sleep and volume, look at protein. Protein is the nutrient that your muscles are derived from and what your body uses to repair and build them. Not enough raw materials for your body and it won't be able to rebuild the tissues and adapt. The thing about protein too, is it is hard to eat a lot of it by accident. You have to be conscious of it and seek it out.

The general recommendation for protein is anywhere between 0.7-1.0 gram per pound of weight. If you're needing to improve your protein intake start with one meal at a time. Divide your protein total up between 3 meals a day and then just work on one meal. Then when that's sufficient, go to the next and the next. Until you are eating in that -.7 - 1.0 gram per pound of weight.

Conclusion

Hopefully you found this article helpful and if you notice you're not doing all 3 of these actions, try implementing some of these techniques one at a time. Do not go guns a-blazing into all of them. It will be hard to make numerous sustainable changes to your life all at once.

If none of these fix your plateau, further individual advice is needed. My email is attached if that is you or you have further questions about these techniques.

email: chasewenzl@uncivilized-wellness.com