Here’s why your gains at the gym have stopped

Training is all about progress. What happens when the progress seemingly stops?

The first thing that comes to mind is that we aren’t lifting heavy enough or doing enough reps. However, these may in fact be the reason why your gains seem to have stopped.

Speaking to Men’s Health, Trainer Jeremy Ethier states that, “most people are unaware that you only have a certain number of productive sets that you can do in a single session,” “sets above this threshold seems to increase damage and lengthen recovery.”

The limit is roughly 10 sets per muscle per workout in order to maximize growth. Any more is considered ‘Junk Volume’. 

If you’re wondering why all that time on the leg press hasn’t transformed you into Quadrasaurus Rex, it’s because doing 15 to 20-plus sets is most likely just damaging your muscles. Instead of cramming all those sets into one workout it’s better to “distribute the volume into more than one session per week” explains Ethier, making sure that your sets are being performed to or near failure.

Redundant exercises should also be avoided. Instead of doing 3 sets of bench press, flat dumbbell press, and flat machine press which are basically the same exercise, Ethier says you should work your chest from various angles and resistance profiles by using the incline bench, then the flat bench followed by some cable flys. This provides more stimulus for your muscles.

While it’s important to target your muscles from different angles, don’t switch up your exercises too often. According to Ethier, you start to get the best possible growth after being consistent with an exercise for two to three weeks. You’ll build more muscle by repeatedly performing the boring exercises well than constantly ‘switching it up’ as new exercises cause the most damage before your muscles adapt.

Good luck on those gains, gents!