3 Months Into Fitness, Hit a Plateau – How Do I Get Past It?
I started working out 3 months ago. In the first 2 months, I lost 5kg and gained some muscle. But for the past 3 weeks, my weight hasn't budged, and it's hard to increase my workout intensity. I'm still keeping up with my diet... How did you all overcome plateaus? Should I completely change my routine, or is it better to just push through?
5 answers
I went through the exact same plateau at the three-month mark. In my experience, rather than completely changing your routine, gradually applying 'progressive overload' helped. For example, even with the same weight, try increasing the number of sets or reducing rest time by 10 seconds. Also, instead of cutting more calories from your diet, increasing the protein ratio by 1.5 times helped me progress again without losing muscle.
After three months of working out, your body has adapted, so it's natural to hit a plateau. I introduced a 'deload week' during this time. I lowered the intensity to 50% for a week and focused on rest, and surprisingly, I performed even better the following week. Giving your body time to recover is also a strategy.
It's frustrating when you hit a plateau... I rechecked my diet and found that snacks and drinks had more hidden calories than I thought. Could it be that you're overlooking things like protein shakes or nuts? Try changing your workouts to target the same muscle groups from different angles.
I was in a similar situation around the 3-month mark, and I leaned toward 'sticking it out being the answer.' Changing routines too often actually made it harder to adapt, prolonging the plateau. Instead, I reduced rest time between sets to 30 seconds and increased intensity by taking the last set to failure. After holding on for another month, I started seeing progress again.
It reminds me of my beginner days lol. When I hit a plateau, I completely changed my exercise types and saw results. For example, switching from barbells to dumbbells, or from squats to leg presses, brought new stimulation and my muscles responded. I kept my diet the same. Give it a try!