In strength training and related sports, athletes often face the issue of reaching a plateau where progress pauses. Strongman icon Mitchell Hooper addressed this hurdle in his recent YouTube video and gave some tips on overcoming the plateau and heading toward positive results.
To tackle the stagnancy in gaining strength, there were mainly three tips to keep in mind, that involved progressively bettering oneself. Generally, Hooper believed that one might try to solve a training plateau by changing the entire workout altogether. However, he felt there was no need to introduce something entirely new when all one needed was a change in stimulus.
That’s where he introduced his first piece of advice to those who wanted to put an end to the straight line on their progress graph. Adopting a periodization program where one modified their training stimulus and built upon existing blocks was a good way to ease out of plateaus.
One could do this by changing the rep range over a few weeks, improving movement quality, changing the workout tempo to a more explosive one, and so on. As long as one follows some form of progressive overload throughout the different sets of weeks, this technique could work wonders.
“There’s many different ways that we can practically apply progressive overload that doesn’t necessarily have to just be adding more load.”
Apart from this, Hooper mentions that to overcome a plateau, it was crucial to measure the concerned factor over a long period. This gives individuals an idea of their strength distribution during a lack of progress along with consistent training. Hence, it becomes easy to troubleshoot and, consequently, solve the problem.
Lastly, Hooper wanted everyone to refrain from the self-imposed mental limits that fitness enthusiasts often assign to themselves. He advised everyone to remain open-minded in the gym, especially while working with weights. As an extension to this, he also stressed the importance of surrounding oneself with strength athletes to aspire to be better.
“Surround yourself with people who are stronger than you not just because you’re going to learn from them from a technical aspect but…you’re going to see what’s possible.”
With all of these tips in check, Hooper wrapped up by highlighting the importance of recovery throughout all these steps. Strength training could lead to many chances of muscle injuries, and individuals need to perform exercises safely and take time to recover.
Mitchell Hooper recently took time to recover from competition injuries
With a background in Kinesiology and a reputation for always taking care of his physique and muscles while pulling off impressive strength feats, Hooper recently admitted that he wasn’t immune to injuries. The recent World’s Strongest Man event proved to be a bloody affair for him as he showed off his wounds post-championship.
Flaunting his scraped hands bleeding all over, he acknowledged that while he loved the sport to bits, it had dangerous sides. He needed ample time to recover from the strain he put his muscles through in the competition before hitting the gym again.
