Feeling like you’ve hit a rut in your workout? Not gaining any further strength? Before you toss in the towel, thinking you’ve come as far as you’ll go, it’s critical that you take into account some plateau busting tips.

Very often, there is a simple explanation of why you are stuck in that plateau and with a quick tweak in your program or diet plan, you can get past this and move on to greater gains once again.

Here’s how.

USE PYRAMID SETS

The very first thing to consider is utilizing pyramid sets. With this technique, you’re going to perform ascending sets, decreasing the weight as you go.

This allows you to work your body across a number of different ranges, providing a deeper stress on the muscles.

As you pyramid up, try and keep the weight as heavy as possible, while still reaching that top rep range. Then when you go back to straight reps again, watch how much stronger you feel.

DROP SET

The next technique to consider is the drop set technique. With this technique, you’ll perform your normal straight set to the point of exhaustion and upon reaching it, you’ll drop the weight and perform another set immediately after that.

Once that set is finished, drop the weight one more time and perform a third and final set. By pushing the body to this high point of fatigue, you’re going to find that when you do move back to straight sets, the normal heavy weight feels easier. This could allow you to then boost the weight up, breaking that plateau.

Since drop sets are very intense, only perform one or two of these per workout session. Too many would just lead to overtraining and that’ll cramp progress faster than anything else.

CHECK YOUR NUTRITION

It’s also a wise move to check your nutrition. Are you eating sufficient calories each day? Lack of calories will definitely decrease the rate of strength gains you experience as well as decrease the level of size you put on as well.

Always make sure you’re in a slight calorie surplus if strength is the goal. Even just 100 calories over maintenance will do it.

If you’ve recently put on more weight and haven’t adjusted your calories upward since, this could very well be the reason you aren’t getting stronger.

Your previous calorie surplus is now your maintenance level.

TAKE ONE WEEK OFF

Finally, if all else fails, get out of the gym for a week. If you are on the verge of overtraining and your body isn’t recovering as quickly as it should, that too will hamper all strength gains.

Many people think that taking a weak off will cause them to grow weaker when usually, they come back feeling stronger than ever.

So keep these quick tips in mind. If you’re in a strength plateau, bust through it with any of these tips and you can be sure you’re back seeing progress once again.