How to reverse a plateau

Ah plateaus, super common but still kind of annoying. Still, plateaus are not the end of your health and fitness road. We chat to Aquanation trainer Lachlan Kewley about how to spot a plateau and get back on track.

How to spot a plateau

If you’ve heard the term but not really sure what a plateau actually is, it’s essentially “when improvements or progression towards your goal, whether that’s increasing strength, performance or body composition comes to a slower stage,” explains Kewley.

And although a little bit of a slump in progress is very common, sometimes you may not realise that you’re actually experiencing plateau. “Signs of a plateau might be a lack in motivation to training, feeling lethargic, tiredness, frequent muscle soreness, inconsistent training sessions and sometimes you might have a suppression of an immune response,” says the trainer.

Is it the end of your goal reaching road 

Nope (hooray!), there are so many ways to pivot or work with your plateau and keep the good times rolling. “Goals need to be realistic and achievable but I think giving up on a goal that’s important to you due to a lack of progress should never form part of this belief that it’s time to give up once we plateau,” Kewley says encouragingly.

He adds that plateauing is our body helping us find out what it is that will help project positive results again. “In theory, it’s unsustainable for us as humans to project linear improvements all the time,” the trainer reminds us. “Plateauing is a normal part of the training journey but in terms of our goals, it’s definitely not the end of the road because we can flip it and create new goals,” Kewley adds. 

How to use nutrition to pivot

When you hit a snag, your first stop for pivoting is how you’re fuelling your body. “I think if we look at gaining muscle our bodies need to be in some sort of calorie surplus or equilibrium between calories in versus calories out,” says Kewley.

He adds that it all comes down to your goals when taking successful steps forward. So if your goal is to increase your muscle size in particular, the trainer recommends increasing your lean protein intake with foods such as “chicken, fish, legumes, tofu is a better way of reaching a calorie surplus in a more holistic sense with nutrition rather than chugging a protein shake - which has its place with convenience - but I think there are a lot of different minerals and vitamins that you can get from eating wholesome foods,” Kewley recommends.

If your aiming for losing weight, the trainer says you’ll need to focus on expending more calories than we consume is key. In this instance, he suggest foods “high in fibre and lean proteins should be top priority because they will maintain satiety.” Additionally, Kewley reckons portion control is super important, along with “limiting foods with a high calorie count such as takeaway or soft drinks are really important steps for moving forward in achieving weight loss goals.”

Is number one tip for nutrition overall is a goodie too. “My hot tip is replace the foods in your diet with more healthy options but go at a slow pace,” says Kewley. Here he refers uses the example of soft drink and making easy swaps that’ll do your goals wonders. “If you’re drinking heaps of soft drink which has heaps of sugar, switch to a zero-sugar option so if you’re struggling on that pathway to taking soft drink out of your diet, go for something that’s got less sugar in it then move to the healthiest option which is water.”

See, easy! The trainer also recommends steering away from too much calorie counting. “Reversing a plateau is about getting all of those food groups into your diet: good carbs, good proteins, lean proteins,” says Kewley. So, to put your best fork forward, the trainer says looking for healthier options of what you’re already eating.

“Mincemeat is quite fatty, so you could look at getting the extra lean versions of mincemeat or even try substituting with turkey instead which is a lot leaner.”

Kewley suggests having a holistic view of your diet, rather than analysing every element of it. “If you understand a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle and how it all integrates then just looking at your food options that you’re already eating and choosing healthier options is great if you’ve hit a plateau,” he recommends.

How to workout your plateau 

When you’re working out you’re essentially providing a stimulus to your muscles. Unfortunately, your muscles get used to adapting that stimulus. “With our training we need to work out ways to shock the body by doing different exercises and often in plateaus we’ll find the issue has been over or undertraining,” explains Kewley. He adds that often when we’ve hit a plateau the issue is usually either over or undertraining because “that’s where familiarisation comes into effect with any program.”

With overtraining, Kewley says one solution is to incorporate more rest, otherwise you’re just cutting your lunch with progression. Shaking things up is always a good thing too. According to Kewley, “training differently will help the process, so moving for example from a strength program into a power program might just provide a different stimulus to similar training.”

That’s right, thinking outside the weight lifting box will absolutely do you good. Kewley suggests “undertaking something completely different like yoga or Pilates that are focused on mobility and flexibility could absolutely help you improve, people underestimate the power of variety.”

Check yourself before you wreck yourself 

Yes nutrition and exercise are absolutely important to your wellbeing, but there are so many other lifestyle factors that can hamper your success. So when it comes to a plateau, it’s worth checking in on what’s happening in other aspects of your life and how they might be feeding into your progress.

“Stress management is a huge factor for reaching our goals, when you look at pain holistically stress comes into a lot of lifestyle factors,” says Kewley.

He adds that doing things to manage your stress, “taking time to do the things you enjoy, if exercise is what you like doing take some time to enjoy go for a walk with friend are great ways to take mental reprieve.”

Although more social, less intensive exercise might not initially appear beneficial, Kewley is reassuring that the results will come. “I think a lot of people think exercise has to be at the gym, swimming or a named activity but it can be incidental and a lot of things that aren’t a main part of your day can certainly help your plateau.”

The trainer also recommends “prioritsing “getting a good sleep because that’s where most of our regeneration happens.”

Above all, Kewley recommends a holistic approach to your health and fitness, whether you’re in a slump or not, to reach your goals.

“Most importantly it’s about engaging consistently in those healthy behaviours: exercising regularly, having good nutrition behaviours and making sure you have that social support there as well for overall health and wellbeing.”