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I have been working out since 3 months. My weight, from that time, has increased 3 kgs. But now, since two weeks, the weight has been constant. My trainer told me that perhaps I have hit my plateau stage whereby it becomes difficult to increase weight. What do I do to overcome this stage. Does changing the exercises I do will help me achieve that?

My workout consists of exercising each body part each day. I exercise for 1 hr 15 min, 6 days a week.

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  • How has the weight that you lift progressed?
    – user4644
    Jul 24, 2013 at 5:57
  • Yeah, it has, but the overall progress is slow than I expected. I mean, compared to when I started working out and now, there has been a total increase in the weight that I lift, but the progress is quite slow. I don't know how to tackle that
    – aash
    Jul 25, 2013 at 6:35
  • This answer about lifting and gaining weight might help get a different perspective. Jul 26, 2013 at 3:17
  • What is your age and overall fitness level before you started this program? And I am guessing you are male? Have no idea how people are giving you answers without knowing more about you.
    – DMoore
    Jul 27, 2013 at 16:57
  • I am male, 22 years old, height - 172 cms. My weight, before I started working out was 56 kg. Now it has increased to 59kg. In addition, I sweat a lot while working out
    – aash
    Jul 28, 2013 at 5:14

4 Answers 4

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Personally , I don't believe that weight should matter at all. Its how you look that matters more than weight . If you can carry the same weight but look better due to muscular development over time then that's better than gaining weight but looking more fatter .Muscles carry more weight than fat , so even if you maintain the same weight but increase muscularity , then that's a win win situation.

"My workout consists of exercising each body part each day". Don't do that . Any body part require at least 48 hours for recovery , and larger the body part , larger time it takes to recover . That said do one or two body part once a day with two rest day in a week . Rest adequately and do your workout after full recovery and more intensity . You have to work hard outside the Gym to gain weight/muscles , that is have proper diet , gain knowledge and you will see the results in the gym .

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    "Weight doesn't matter at all" why would he complain about hitting a plateau if weight didn't matter to him
    – aaronman
    Jul 24, 2013 at 16:15
  • Yeah, weight matters a lot, because after I reach my optimum weight, I want to start out with high intensity workouts to get a good muscular look. But I need to increase my weight to a decent level first.
    – aash
    Jul 25, 2013 at 6:40
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No one hits their plateau in 3 months, plenty of people can gain strength and size for years

There are three things that beginners do that can stop their progress

  1. not using good form
  2. not putting enough effort in
  3. not increasing intensity

To me the third one is the most important, people stay with the same weights for months and expect to get stronger and bigger. As a beginner you should be able to increase the weight every week because your progress should be fast.

As for your workout, 6 days a week sounds like a lot, if you workout every day and never rest your muscles have no time to heal and won't get bigger and stronger.

It's hard to know much more than this without knowing more about your current workout and strength but the good news is that your trainer is a moron if he thinks your hit a plateau in 3 months.

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  • Yeah, increasing weights has been a problem for me since the beginning. The reason is because I just can't do it. Only when I am comfortable doing 10-12 reps of the particular exercise do I increase the weight. Isn't this what I should do?
    – aash
    Jul 25, 2013 at 6:33
  • @geeky_sh You most certainly should only increase when you feel comfortable enough to do so. Also, You made no mention as to whether you train with barbells mostly or dumbbells mostly. If you train primarily with barbells then it is easier to increase weight since you only have to increase 5 lbs at a time as opposed to 10 pounds with dumbbells. Just some food for thought. Jul 25, 2013 at 13:05
  • @geeky_sh sometimes it's helpful to drop weight by about 10% and then increase every week to break your plateau
    – aaronman
    Jul 25, 2013 at 17:01
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There's no way you've hit any sort of limit after three months. Keep at it. If you aren't increasing any more, it's very possible that you're overtrained - you're doing a lot of volume. Also, if your goal is to lift more weight, I would recommend doing heavier weights and fewer reps. You build strength in the 3-5 rep range, and honestly, if you're "comfortable" you aren't pushing hard enough. I'm not saying you should try dangerous weight you can't handle, or use poor form, or go to exhaustion every set - I'm just saying that it shouldn't be easy.

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Based on personal experience:

Change your workout. Instead of doing the same things all the time, mix it up. E.g. instead of doing your usual exercise A, then B, the C,D,E, do A, C, and then E, D, B on another session etc.

Also if you're trying to gain weight, which sounds like you are, I think you would need more rest days! - If you can do 6 days a week, with >1hr exercise per session, it sounds like your exercise routine is easy... So, more advise: Exercise say, 3 days a week (the rest are rest days), and in those exercise days, do intense high weight low rep exercises.

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  • I have four different types of exercises for every body part. And each exercise comprises of four sets of 10 reps each.
    – aash
    Jul 25, 2013 at 6:42
  • Yeah that's great, 4x10. Just make sure it isn't 'easy' towards the last few reps.
    – daCoda
    Jul 25, 2013 at 23:36
  • It's what my trainer's advised me, and it's been working for me.
    – daCoda
    Jul 29, 2013 at 23:24

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