Muscle Plateau
I regularly see seasoned lifters whose development has abruptly slowed after years of continuous increases in muscle growth and strength. This blatant decline in performance has a devastating effect on the athletes' mentality and motivation.
The majority of weightlifters follow a set routine of exercises. Common compound exercises (like as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc.) are typically performed alongside a wide variety of complementary exercises. Especially in the first few years of training, these activities will provide significant improvements. But eventually the muscles become used to the same lifting patterns and performance suffers.
Our capacity to lift weights is strictly under the direction of our nervous system, which must also be stimulated. The "motor unit" refers to the neural circuit that transmits signals from the brain to the skeletal muscles (1).
Both the motor neuron and the muscle fibres it innervates are considered to be part of a motor unit (2).
When a muscle's maximum force is required, such when lifting big weights, as many of its motor units as feasible must be activated.
On the other hand, the body will try to activate the fewest number of muscle fibres feasible if the neural pathways are trained to perform just particular lifting patterns. The term "General Adaptation Syndrome" describes this phenomenon (GAS). Muscles exhibit "GAS" when they adapt to a novel stimulus by allowing the lifter to use the same amount of effort to raise a heavier weight as they did to raise a lesser weight. (3)
This brain explanation is only one of several possible causes of your lifting plateaus and the resulting stagnation in muscular growth. Just how can you push through those stale moments in the weight room? For the average lifter who sticks to the tried-and-true methods of resistance training, there may be an entire subculture of lifting that remains mysterious.
Is there a specific kind of weight training that has been proven to both improve the number of newly formed muscle fibres and the size and strength of existing muscle tissue? When I say "olympic style lifting," what I mean is explosive lifting.
Among the explosive lifting techniques are the Snatch, the Clean & Jerk, and the Power Clean. Olympic weightlifters complete the same moves. These lifts are excellent because they target every muscle in the body and activate a wide variety of muscle fibres.
The Snatch is a challenging exercise that requires mastery of a series of progressively increasingly difficult lifts. If done properly, explosive lifts are one of the safer types of weight training.
An excellent strategy to spice up your lifting routine and encourage growth in both your nervous system and muscle fibres is to adopt an explosive style of lifting.
Correct technique must be stressed, as these lifts call for fast, strong movements. Finding a coach who is trained in Olympic-style weightlifting is far superior to learning the correct form from a book or magazine.
A CSCS from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) or a Level 2 from the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA) is your best bet when looking for a coach in Australia (Australian Strength & Conditioning Association). Another option is to get in touch with a local weightlifting club.
Stay tuned for more tough and innovative High Performance Training methods to help you reach your goals. If you have any questions about training, conditioning, or nutrition, feel free to post them in the healthfitness.com.au Q&A Forum, where I would be happy to respond. Don't hesitate to get in touch with me to talk about your training plan.
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