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How to Get Over a Strength Plateau

Q: I have been training in the gym for the past five months. My routine consists of doing three sets of ten to start on each machine and each session I try to do 1 extra rep. i.e. 10 10 10 then 11 10 10, 11 11 10, etc. I started on 30 kgs and have progressed to 50 kgs average weight per machine. Up until now it has been a steady climb but now I am finding in order to go up the weights I need to reduce my reps to 8 and work up. Am I maximisin my training potential? and how could I improve? I do not intend to become big and chunky like arnie but instead be powerful looking with fairly large muscles with high definition and plenty of stamina.... Cheers...

A: It is natural to reach plateaus. My first suggestion would be to move from the machines to free weights, do not worry about whether your reps are 8 or 10 or 12, it is best to utilise a wide rep range across your workouts so as to recruit more fibres and work different things in different ways. My rep range is 1 - 100+ but mainly 3 - 12. I would lift heavy and not be afraid of looking like Arnie as it will not happen, if only it were so easy to look so good! At the moment you are not maximising your potential and a diet and workout review on URB is in order and will ensure that your plateaus are breached and gains will be forthcoming.

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