The weightlifting “plateau” is one of the most frustrating roadblocks nearly every weightlifter will encounter at one time or another. Sometimes putting your time, sweat, and tears into your old gym routine just isn’t enough. If you’re not mixing up your regular gym routine, your progress will slow down and you’ll hit that dreaded plateau. Don’t worry, though: Proactively changing your routine will break through a plateau before it even starts.

plan to mix it up

There are countless ways to plan for the change in routine, but I’ll list a few here to point you in the right direction. Feel free to experiment with these and make any adjustments you see fit.

• Have 12 different weight lifting routines, one for each month.
• Set aside 1 week each month to do something different. Go back to your regular routine for the next 3 weeks and then do something different again for that 1 week.
• Alternate between 2 different routines every 2 weeks.

How to adjust your routine

Again, these are just a few suggestions and some may work better for you than others, but they should make you think.

• Adjust your sets to the rep ratio. If you’re currently doing 3 sets of 12 reps for each exercise, switch and try 4 sets of 9. This simple adjustment is easy to do because you’ll be using the same equipment with the same weight, but it can have a huge impact on your muscle-building efforts.
• Slow down. Lower the weight a few notches and do the lifts extra slow. As you begin the lift, slowly count to three (remember to exhale). Then when you come back down, slowly count to three. This forces the muscle fibers to work in ways they are not used to, which is important.
• Do super sets. A superset is when you do two (or more) exercises in a row without stopping. They can work two different muscle groups or the same one, you decide. Get ready to feel your heart rate jump during these!
• Go back to basics. Weightlifters are often tempted to forget their good old core exercises as they get stronger. However, push-ups, pull-ups, and squats are still some of the most effective exercises you can do to get stronger and build muscle.
• Change the weight. Obviously, it’s going to be hard to increase the weight if you’re experiencing a plateau, but this is another great way to switch up your routine before you hit that point. You can try increasing the weight and decreasing the number of reps in a set or even decreasing the weight and increasing the number of reps/sets. You can also try starting with a low weight and increasing the weight at the end of each set or you can try the opposite and starting with a high weight and decreasing the weight after each set.

This is clearly not an exhaustive list of everything you can try to mix up, but here are some good strategies that will confuse your muscles into getting bigger and stronger.