plateau

[Psychotron]

I think i have hit a plateau on every muscle group but my back. Ive been trying tons of things to try to push through it. I changed workouts, frequency, weight, sets, reps. Nothing seems to be working. My arms are not getting bigger, my shoulders arent going anywhere. My legs and chest get stronger, but arent getting bigger.

I am sure I am not overtraining, I only train each body part once a week. Perhaps I should try moving onto doing them twice a week? Maybe try shocking my muscles by lifting at like 6am versus 3pm. I am really stumped for ideas.

[Quake]

Don't know if you're familiar with it, but there's a lot of talk on this forum of the DC method, this link will tell you all about it -

DC method?

It's all about size and strength training. One thing I picked up from it was the "constant state of change" method of training. The DC method does away with this and suggests sticking to exercises for weeks until you hit plateau, then change the exercise you ared doing. I currently change my exercises every week. I am gaining from doing this and am seeing increase when I come back to do an exercise in a few weeks time (not as suggested in the DC method), but I think I might do as the DC method suggests for a little while and see what results I get from doing it that way.

Hope it helps!

[fritz2435]

If your weights have stopped increasing in every body part, I suggest that you take a week off of weight lifting completely.

[Hypertrophy]

"My legs and chest get stronger"

Doesn't sound like a plateau to me. I would follow a "structured periodization."
Do you work with percentages of a 1RM or use repetition max's?

[Psychotron]

I havent checked my 1RM on most body parts in a while. I usually just remember what i did the last time around, and attempt to go heavier. While it seems like I can do the heavier weight, I havent seen an increase in body weight for quite some time.

[PrairieDawg]

if you havent done the dc method yet do it. it will likely break your plateau because its a totally different method than what your body is used to. I was on a plateau for a year and this broke it after just 2 weeks on it.

[Psychotron]

Yea, I just read the whole post on it. To me it does look like too few sets, compared to what I do now. Since i only train each muscle once a week i end up doing like 16 sets. But I think I will start on Monday trying this technique.

I noticed his sample workouts. For example, Incline @ 375 for 15 reps. I cant do 375. Should I figure out what I can do for 15 reps, and try to increase that every week? Is it only one set, and then onto shoulders?

Like what does your workout look like?