The reasons for such a “plateau” in muscle gains can vary. Applying some of these simple strategies below should quickly produce further muscle gains. Most guys mistakenly assume, when reaching a plateau, that their maximum muscular potential has been reached. That is simply not case. Your true potential is incredibly high. Very few guys come close to even “scratching” their limits.

Now. Taking a brief layoff, is first recommendation when experiencing a sticking point in your training. After returning to regular training, if you are still unable to increase your muscle size, two further strategies can be applied to produce bigger and better gains.

You have a home gym, treadmill, elliptical trainer, or some other piece of home fitness

equipment. But it’s sitting in corner of room being used as a clothes rack. You haven’t

gotten any use out of it for months, and you might be thinking of selling it off.

There’s a reason why you initially bought this piece of equipment, and I can bet that it wasn’t

meant to hang your clothes on (there are much cheaper alternatives than that).

It was probably along lines of “toning up” or “losing weight” or “getting fit” and so on and

so forth.

You know it’s probably a good idea to start exercising again, but you might be thinking:

1. “I’m too busy with (insert your reasons here), and I just don’t have time

right now.”

2. “I’ll do it later.”

3. “I’m not too sure what exercises to do.”

4. “I just don’t have any motivation right now. Maybe in future when I get fired up I’ll

start again.”

5. “I’m feeling pretty tired these days with everything going on. I’ll get to it once I have

some energy.”

But what were reasons that made you buy this machine? How long did you actually use this

machine? Why did you stop? And why aren’t you using it now?

What you’ll do is examine your reasons why, and give you an actionable guide to get you off your

couch, take clothes off your home gym and start using it way it was meant to be used (and

start achieving your goals!)

Here is a Solution…

You need to set some goals, and you need to set a plan to get to those goals. That’s right, just

like what all self help guru preaches, this is what you need to do. The reason why you need

to set goals is that then you’ll have something to work towards.

And I’m not talking about some up-in-the-air, vague goals like, “I want to look toned”, or “I

want to lose weight”.

I’m talking about detailed, specific goals. Something along lines of, “I will lose 10 pounds

of fat in 60 days”.

Also, along with setting goals, you need to write down your “reasons why” you want to achieve

this goal. Losing 10 pounds of fat in 60 days is fine and dandy, but you’ll be way more

motivated to exercise if you’re constantly reminded that your wedding is in 60 days!

Here’s an acronym that will help you set and attain your fitness goals:

S.M.A.R.T-R (pronounced “smarter”)

SMART-R stands for:

S-Specific

M-Measurable

A-Action oriented

R-Reasonable

T-Timed

R-Reasons why

Let’s go into details of each point:

Specific

“The more specific and measurable your goal, more quickly you will be able to

identify, locate, create, and implement use of necessary resources for its

achievement.” -Charles J. Givens

"I want to lose weight" is different from "I want to lose 10lbs of fat and gain muscle mass by

doing 3-5 cardio workouts and 3-5 resistance training workouts per week at gym over

course of next 3 months."

Your fitness goals should be detailed, clearly defined, and stress exactly what you’re going to

do and you want to achieve.

For example, instead of setting a goal to lose weight, set a specific goal to lose 3 inches off

your waist, lost 5% body fat, or lose 3 pounds of fat.

Measurable

"Make measurable progress in reasonable time." -Jim Rohn

If you’re not keeping score, you don’t know whether you’re winning or losing! And keeping score

is all done with numbers. Do you want to lose 3 inches off your waist? Do you want to drop down

from 20% to 12% body fat? Do you want to lose 10 pounds?

Whatever goal you choose, make sure that you can measure it. You need to do this so you can see

and measure progress over time. For example, losing 1 pound per week would be a goal that is

measurable over time.

Also, things that you can’t measure (happiness, etc.) will come along with achieving your

goals.

Action-Oriented

“You'll always achieve more through movement than meditation” -Gary Halbert

Virtually no goals can be attained unless there’s some action taken. If you plan to lose 10

pounds of body fat, you have to figure out “action” that you need to take attain this