Whey of Life
Whey of Life
#77 - Breaking Plateaus: Mastering Techniques and Overcoming Procrastination
What if there was a way to finally break through those frustrating lifting plateaus and stop procrastination from sabotaging your fitness journey? Promise yourself lasting progress and discover practical strategies with me, Gus Holland, in our latest episode. We dive into a range of actionable insights, from revitalizing your training routine with new exercises and adjusting sets, reps, and workout orders, to cranking up workout intensity by adding weight or volume. You'll also learn the critical importance of technique and how recording your workouts or seeking expert feedback can protect you from injury and elevate your performance. Plus, we reveal the often-overlooked benefits of deloading or taking a rest week to keep burnout at bay and ensure long-term success.
Achieving peak fitness isn't just about hitting the gym hard; it's also about what goes into your body. This episode delves into the essential role of nutrition and how neglecting it can stall your progress and lead to future problems. Explore methods like progressive overload and resistance bands to push past exercise plateaus and the necessity of accessory work for stabilizing muscles to prevent injuries. We emphasize the value of keeping a detailed workout log and the game-changing influence of professional coaching for personalized guidance. Finally, we tackle the root cause of procrastination, helping you understand and conquer it to embrace the learning process and reach your fitness goals with confidence. Tune in for a wealth of practical advice and insights to transform your fitness journey.
Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of Way of Life. I'm your host, gus Holland. Before I start today's episode, I want to give a big shout out to the owners of Heat Ups. This is not an ad. I just truly love their company and everything that they've got going on over there. Basically, heat Ups is a meal prep company that provides healthy meals. Their company provides high protein meals that are proportioned in a very healthy way to prevent overeating and really give you some balanced nutrition. I know I eat their meals very often, primarily because of convenience, but also because it's a healthy convenience, so they are definitely worth checking out. They do offer shipping. You can check out their website at heat-upscom or you can visit them at 4242 Copybridge, suite 580 in College Station, texas. Suite 580 in College Station, texas.
Speaker 1:Today's episode is about breaking through plateaus and beating procrastination. So firstly, I'm going to cover breaking through plateaus. As far as your lifting progress goes, a good way to tackle that is varying your training routine. So say, you have a training routine that you've written yourself, or maybe you've paid somebody for it, it doesn't really matter. Um, you can alter your exercises, your sets, your reps or even just the order of your workouts. Um, you can also flip around your training days, so you could literally do your program backwards, you know, or, um, incorporate an additional leg day or an additional arm day or something, something like that, just to have some form of variation. That's a real basic, straightforward approach To, I guess, expand on that. You can increase your intensity, which would be adding more weight to your lifts or increasing the volume of your workouts, or increasing the volume of your workouts. Another way is to decrease your rest time between your sets, to kind of, I guess, put more workload or incorporate some more endurance-based training into your training.
Speaker 1:I guess the third option is to focus on weak points. So if your workout is getting kind of more stagnant or, you know, whatever, for any reason really, you can either incorporate an additional day to focus strictly on weak points, or you can break it up and add kind of like some weak point. You know, tackle some weak points all throughout the week as you're training. So, for example, this could be aesthetic. So, for example, this could be aesthetic. It can be strength-related, it can be flexibility-related, endurance training, even just specifically health-related, like cardiovascular or respiratory performance, cardiovascular or respiratory performance. So, whatever your measurement is, I mean muscular. You know, aesthetic wise, you could be like oh man, I've been hitting shoulders. You know my shoulders have been growing really well, blah, blah, blah, but my rear delts are really lacking and whatever you know. So you can either add some additional exercises to hit the rear delts on the days that you're doing shoulders. You can incorporate them really just however you feel comfortable. You could even throw in an additional day, like furthest away from your shoulder day, um, where you specifically just target weak points.
Speaker 1:So a lot of people that is, their calves and legs cause a lot of guys uh, kind of tend to focus on their upper body. So look into that. Um. So another thing to do is improve on your technique. So I've said this before Ensuring that your form is correct is not only going to prevent injury but it's going to create the most efficiency out of the workouts that you know all of the work that you're putting in.
Speaker 1:So, um, just as like an extremity, if you are performing a Brent bench press and you're, every Monday, you're hitting chest and triceps, you know, every Monday, every Monday, and you're like man, my chest isn't growing, my triceps aren't growing, my strength isn't increasing whatever. Or even if you're trying to lose weight like you're not losing weight. You can really look at your form. Even have somebody whether it's a friend, a coach, a stranger in the gym that you can tell knows what they're actually doing. Just have somebody. Another thing is, if you're too embarrassed or whatever, you can just record yourself to document your form basically. So lots of times I I mean I've done this, I've recorded myself and not known that it's like, oh, wow, like I thought my whatever when I'm doing um, shoulder raises or whatever, it's not like I was. My left arm was a tad bit lower every time, or you know what, or whatever I'm doing, I'm actually twisting my wrist a little bit more over on my right side or whatever. And it's like small things like that that are not only going to affect your physique in the long run if you're like a bodybuilder, but if it truly is poor form, it's going to increase your risk of injury and it might stifle your strength gains as well, just depending on how bad your form is or what it is that you're doing incorrect. And as far as form goes, you can literally Google this. There's a million videos on form for different exercises and everything. Um. But yeah, the uh.
Speaker 1:The other thing is, um, to deload or take a rest week so I know people are probably scoffing right now or just in general. Don't like that idea, especially if you're a very dedicated gym goer and you. You like that. Um, consistency and everything. I totally get it. Um, the this is especially if you are feeling run down, if you're having trouble whether you're having trouble sleeping or you're finding yourself needing more and more rest, if you're starting to feel just constantly sore or keep having little like tinges of like Ooh, like that might be a problem down the road of like a potential injury or whatever. You might be over hitting it really hard for a really long time, even a week and a half or something like that, or more of like an active recovery type thing where maybe only you cut it way down, you know you're only working out a couple of days a week instead of like five or six, or you do the deload, which is basically reducing intensity and volume to allow yourself to rest and recover correctly. That also goes with supplementation. Like you can like.
Speaker 1:Supplements are kind of just like the cherry on top is kind of how I like to explain it Like once you have your nutrition and your form and your training split and your, your rest, um, everything, everything kind of like pinned down. That's that's when the supplements really like show the most effect. I guess so kind of fine-tuning your supplementation is going to help you break through some plateaus, but it also might like. I know a lot of people that take multivitamins or all kinds of supplements or whatever, but they really been concerned with or cared about all three supplements having effect the same ingredient in each one, so you're actually getting like way more of something than you actually should or whatever like cause you still want to protect your organs as far as, like, kidney and liver and everything goes.
Speaker 1:Um, when, when you're getting that into detail, um, if you like, if you want to get like super down to like the nitty gritty, you can have some blood work done and where they can actually check all of your like vitamin, uh and hydration levels and everything, and then you can fine tune from there. But that that's getting like super, uh, super into it. Um, but I mean nutrition and recovery are going to play a massive role in it. Besides, you know that's at least 60% of it right there nutrition and recovery, making sure you're having enough calories, protein, other nutrients to support your, your muscle growth and your recovery, or even just to maintain your muscle. Um, because I I know a lot of people like I do not hate on the running community at all Like that's cool, if that's, if that's really really what you, you just like running, then run, you know that's cool.
Speaker 1:But, um, nutrition and health is like super important when, when cause there there is a point of diminishing returns with all forms of exercise and sports and really anything you do in life. Um, so I don't know, I just want y'all to take care of yourselves. Basically, there's a lot of runners, there's a lot of athletes in general that just don't balance their nutrition correctly and just end up setting themselves up for failure down the road or having some major joint or what have you. But, um, anyways, back to to breaking through the plateaus. Um, another way is progressive overload, so that's gradually increasing the weight or resistance you have in your lifts. So super, I mean even super small increments can lead to significant progress over time. I mean they even they make like half pound weights and two and a half pound weights. Like that you can add to a bar and it might not seem like a lot, but if you're kind of like already in that top 5% of lifters in the world or or whatever, you uh that that is going to play a massive role. Um, yeah, uh, a lot of people don't really take into account the?
Speaker 1:Um, the use of resistance bands. Um, it's, it's popular a little bit more popular over time recently but that is one way to vary your training. Like, you can do the same exact training you normally do and add some resistance band. You can even lighten the weight and add resistance bands and that's going to alter that workout enough for you to kind of roll with that and kind of play around with that for a month or several months and probably see some form of progress. See some form of progress, you know.
Speaker 1:So, incorporating accessory work I've kind of already touched on this a little bit, but focusing on like, like I said, this can be spread out throughout your normal workout routine, used as a, as a warmup or as a cool down, or you can just do it as like kind of an active rest type of day. It depends on what your schedule is, obviously. But, um, accessory work is just adding exercises that target smaller stabilizing muscles that support your main lifts. Stabilizing muscles that support your main lifts. So this will help your uh, your overall strength and performance, and also will reduce injury risk. So, like I said, not a lot of people hit their rear uh, hit their rear delts, um enough and that is going to help really not only strengthen your lifts, but it's going to help protect your shoulder from wear and tear and dislocating and all kinds of stuff that could happen. And that's just an example, obviously, thing that almost nobody does like, and I know this from experience just being in the gym almost nobody tracks and analyzes their workouts.
Speaker 1:I say you should always keep a detailed workout log because that will help you identify the patterns, progress and your areas that need improvement. It will also help you, like I mean you can, you can flip back like a month ago and see what you've improved on the, the strength you've gained, the weight that you've lost, like you name it, the, the speed that you've gained, depending on your training. And having this is not only cool to look back on in the future, but it's also going to help you adjust your training plan more efficiently. So there's a lot less guesswork when you know exactly what you did two weeks ago that may or may not be working for you when you know exactly what you did two weeks ago, um, that may or may not be working for you.
Speaker 1:So, lastly, I say, um, something to look into that isn't necessarily for everybody but does help some, is to consider coaching or some form of professional guidance. Um, coaching or some form of professional guidance? Um, I personally prefer in-person trainers. Um, if you're going to go that route, there it's a lot more more hands-on approach that where they can, like I said, they can critique your form right then and there they can help spot you. They can help. The best trainers and coaches, in my opinion, teach you as they coach, like you shouldn't it's kind of like a therapist Like you shouldn't need that person for the rest of your life. You should be able to be taught as you go and constantly improve until the point where you don't need them anymore. It's always a good tool to have, but it's not a necessity. But sometimes an external perspective, like I said, can provide insights that you may have missed or even just increase your accountability. You know, some people just need some form of additional motivation or somebody that really holds them accountable, you know. So these are just a few options. Those are. I would say that's the majority of what you could do to get past a plateau or increase your strength or whatever, or increase your nutrition, your sleeping habits, what have you?
Speaker 1:In regards to the whole procrastination thing and overcoming procrastination, motivation plays a massive part in that for a lot of people. Motivation is oftentimes necessary for a lot of people to kind of like break through their cycle of procrastination. So procrastination is oftentimes just your fear of the unknown. You are normally and it's a generalization but often people are afraid of failure or afraid of embarrassment, afraid of hurting themselves or looking like they are a fool or don't know what they're doing. You know ignorant basically, and it's okay because, like, everybody is some of that at some point. So it's, it's kind of part of life to accept some of that as as kind of like inevitable. Not necessarily with lifting it might not happen at all, so, um, but it's, it's kind of, it's partially out of your control. I mean, you can. You can watch all of the lifting videos and and tips and tricks and training uh techniques and listen to all the podcasts, all the way of life episodes, as you want.
Speaker 1:Um, that doesn't mean that you're going to go into the gym for the first time and not like and know exactly what you're doing all of the time. I don't know. 15, 20 years, somewhere between I don't I'm not going to do the math right now, but somewhere between 15 and 20 years of, like gym experience or whatever you want to call it. And yeah, I mean, sometimes you just like kind of have a brain fart and forget to hook something up to you know, to your cable machine, or you put the wrong weight on there or do the wrong math or whatever. You know, like it's like stuff happens and it's okay. So, um, you're going to be okay, the um, like I've always said this in previous episodes but like a lot of the fitness community is there for you. Like there are some jerks and stuff like that, but like I'm, I'm here for you. Uh, if, if you want to email the podcast and even if you're just asking a question about a lift or something, that's cool, you know, um, spotify, there's an actual place on there to uh text the show, I believe, and you can do that. You can ask a friend to to kind of like be an accountability buddy or to kind of like take some of the awkwardness away, you know, by by being there at the gym with you if that helps, helps you, but you know it's, it's going to be all right.
Speaker 1:And as far as motivation goes, I mean some. Some people think some of what I'm going to say is like ridiculous or silly or stupid or whatever, but it works for some people. So vision boards were pretty popular back in the day. They've kind of like lost some favor or whatever, but it's kind of the same as like hanging posters up in your wall when you're a teenager of like chicks, that you like cars, that you like guys, you want to be like like whatever your favorite rock bands or whatever that gets you pumped up. You know, like those are just examples.
Speaker 1:But, um, a vision board, uh, some form of journal or even like it's just record keeping of your thoughts or, like I said, your workouts, like some people go through their workout log as motivation because you're like man, look at the progress I've made. Or the opposite, like hey, I'm slacking here, I need to hit it and hit it harder. You know, like whatever's going to work for you. But, um, some people watch a bunch of those videos on on Instagram and Tik TOK where they're talking about how you know I'm not going to quote anybody because I'm not hating on anybody, but some because you'll get. You'll get in a cycle of just like constantly like overloading yourself with that type of content and then it flips on you and it actually kind of like starts making you feel bad. You know, like you're, you're lesser than, or you're not doing enough or whatever. So it's cool to use it a little bit as motivation as as it's getting you in the gym or working toward your goals. So, yeah, other than that, music is a great motivator and Way of Life has playlists available to you so you can find those on Spotify. They're also linked on the Instagram, which is way of life podcast. So, anyways, I'm going to wrap it up.
Speaker 1:I really really appreciate y'all's patience with these episodes, your support. If you like this episode or any of the other episodes, please share it with a friend. That is the number one way to get this podcast out there. You can check out the pod, the uh the website at um, way of life podcastcom and yeah, there's some some merch on there if you want to check out the merch. But really, like I said, the number one way is to share it with a friend and leave a rating and review, but I will be talking to you all very soon. Obviously, there was a big gap. There's like a little over two-month gap in episodes. I'm really sorry. I did finish my bachelor's though in that time period, so I'm super excited about that, and stuff is kind of at least in my life is kind of. I'm wrapping up a lot of stuff, so I'm excited to be putting out a lot more episodes from here on out. But anyways, thanks again for the support and be talking to y'all soon.
