The Three Plateaus of bodybuilding

Three years ago, I learnt all about what it means to love yourself.

Last year I learnt about proper posture and decided to take up bodybuilding!

[Me before starting out]

After back pain for the past 12 years of my life, I thought, why not take control of my body and get muscles that will help my posture! Also make me look SEXY! However, that's when I learnt about the plateaus...


1 - Actually starting out


See the body is a lot like you, it's a second personality. So if you don't work out, chances are you're a bit lazy and the body is now too. The plateau is maintaining consistency in the beginning. The body will try everything it can to convince you to NOT go to the GYM. Once you get over that and start to enjoy your post-workout endorphin levels, consistency is not a problem. Now that you're going all the time, you'll see your next plateau.



2- The results plateau

[4 months in]

The body, while it's used to the new found love for endorphins, also feels what you feel mentally. You'll start looking in the mirror and thinking, where are my results? First off, I'm assuming you all do the exercises with proper posture and have done the necessary learning required to almost be a personal trainer. Because you don't take chances with your body, you learn every little thing about muscles and training.


Working out has its phases:

(1st month or so) The start - In the first few weeks, you'll probably see next to ZERO gains (definitely lower body fat though). This is because the body is in a state of WTF and shock. It'll take a while for your body to say "Hmmm, I get what you're doing, and let's adapt." All because your body hasn't learnt to adapt or train before. After a while you'll see how responsive and how quick your body can change.


(The next 6 months - 1 year) The Newbie gains era - After the start, you realize your reflection in the mirror is changing, weekly if not daily. You'll find out what works for you, start eating more, and you'll feel amazing. There's nothing better than seeing the fruits of your hard labor paying off, it's excellent feedback for the mind and body. You feel happy, start to gain better focus, everything's great! Until the gains slow down, but it's ok because you've heard this before. So you work out harder and gains are smaller. But that's only until..

[1 year in, meeting my plateau head on]

3- The final battle between mind and body.

You've reached your plateau, nothing makes you any bigger, the only thing you can do now is chase the pump. Pump up your muscles for a few hours, sure it helps, but there's no size change anymore. Discouragement settles in, changing up routines doesn't help much either. It's probably a good time to point out, it's usually at this phase some bodybuilders take steroids. This plateau is a BITCH.

Well that's because the body is an ASSHOLE, it's a lazy piece of work. See the human body has not evolved from our nomadic times. It still has its damned defense mechanism of conserving energy so that you don't get sick or have less than enough strength to make it back to a safe place. It ACTIVELY tries to stop you from giving it ALL YOU'VE GOT!

Next time you're in the gym, when your body tells you that it's "sore" or "tired", no it's not. Keep going, if you can stand, raise your arms, if you ain't cryin' or pourin' sweat you ain't tryin'. The body tries to trick you, it tries to tell you it's sore, tired and ready to go home. The body will do so much to play tricks on you, why? Because the body likes this optimal state you've put it in. It doesn't see the reason you should get any bigger, so it decides to trick its host instead to get it to follow its bidding. Much like how drug addiction plays out? The body will rationalize with your mind, hell it wants you to stop! Well, don't!

That's why this is the last stretch between you and physical enlightenment. Mind Over Body.

What do you do? You have to ignore the body, learn to listen to it of course, but don't follow it. You need to destroy yourself. You need to up the weight, you need to up the reps, you need to trash your routine, get new ones, trash them next. As Arnold said, "You need to shock the muscles". It's not enough to just get sore anymore, now you have break the final barrier.

Good luck, getting this far and learning this much was a trip in itself. I hit that plateau 3 months ago, and it's taken me a while to figure this out about my body. No doubt breaking this last barrier won't be easy nor will it be quick. It will be a long battle. Who will win? The body or the mind? All I know is, I won't give up, maybe that in itself is enough. Who knows, only time will tell.

Michael Snake