7 training methods to break plateaus

When each set is set in stone and each repetition has become, well, repetitious, you're either heading for or have already reached the dreaded "plateau" in weight training. In other words, you are stuck in a monotonous weight-training rut, where both mind and muscle are stagnating and your strength gains have screeched to a depressing halt.

Below are seven methods that have been used in the weightlifting world for several years and are guaranteed to help you escape that rut, overcome future plateaus, and energize your workouts. These intense methods are effective for virtually any exercise -- squats, benches, shoulder presses, leg presses, pulldowns, arm curls, and pressdowns -- and they can be used with free weights or machines.

1- Super Slow Reps This is a training method I trialled last year and it hurts!  I experienced some good gains but be warned it is exhausting mentally and physically. You can check out more Super Slow info here. Super Slow protocol is when you use about 50% or 60% of your one-rep maximum, slowly descend, counting five seconds until nearly parallel. Keeping constant tension (no bouncing or pausing), slowly ascend, counting 10 seconds until you are upright at the start of the squat position. Repeat for four or five reps. The Super Slow method is intense and really works each muscle fiber.

4- Reverse Pyramid It's time for another exercise and another method. The bench press is next and you'll do three sets incorporating the "Reverse Pyramid" style. For the first set, use a heavy weight for 3 to 5 reps. The rep tempo is 3-0-2, meaning that you should lower the weight toward your chest in three seconds and, without pausing at the bottom of the movement, press the weight in two seconds. Rest for one minute as you reduce the weight by 10 pounds between sets.

5- Compound Sets Also known as "giant sets," compound sets comprise two, three or even four nonstop exercises for the same muscle or body part. Bench presses immediately followed by dumbbell flyes, parallel dips and incline dumbbell presses (no rest between exercises) would thoroughly fatigue the pectoral muscles. Imagine doing eight reps of bench presses, then grabbing a pair of dumbbells for eight reps of flyes, then immediately going over and doing eight parallel dips, then doing eight incline dumbbell presses.

7- Pre-Exhaust Sets A pre-exhaust set is perhaps the best way to focus on a specific muscle that's insufficiently trained from constantly doing sets of a multi-joint exercise like the bench press. For example, bench presses indirectly work the chest muscles because the deltoids and triceps are also employed in the lift. However, by first doing an isolation or single-joint movement such as flyes (where tricep involvement is practically excluded), the chest muscles are more directly targeted. Therefore, the chest is "pre-exhausted" by doing single-joint flyes first, and more chest muscle fibers are worked by immediately doing multi-joint bench presses.

Plateau no more
Although these seven bodybuilding and weight-training techniques have been around for years, they're anything but standard when it's time to jump-start stale workouts. For variety and a refreshing plateau-busting change, utilize these old-time methods now and then to spice up your customary sets and reps and exercise sequences. As they say, something old can become something new.