Masheen

Progress

Plateau

Also called stall, stalling, strength plateau, lifting plateau

A plateau is a stretch of training in which a lift stops improving: session after session, no more weight and no more reps.

4 sessions, no changeEst. 1RMSession 1Session 7
Session 7: 67.5 kg, a new best. Estimated one-rep max by session: 60, 62.5, 65, 65, 65, 65, 67.5 kg. The three sessions with no new best are the plateau.

In plain words

Nothing is coming off the bar and nothing is going on it. The weight you lift and the reps you get are the same as last session, and the one before that. Lifters also say a lift has stalled. There is no agreed length. One poor session is not a plateau; several in a row with no new best is; and every program draws the line in its own place. Small steady gains do not count either: 100 kg, then 100.5, then 101 is progress, slow as it looks. A plateau is a flat line, not a shallow one.

An example

Here is one lift's estimated one-rep max, session by session: 60, 62.5, 65, 65, 65, 65, 67.5 kg. The first 65 was a new best. The next three sessions matched it and beat nothing: that flat run of three is the plateau. Then 67.5 kg went up and the lift was moving again.

Often confused with

Deload A plateau is the problem, no progress; a deload is one planned answer to it, a short spell of lighter training.
Deload A deload is a short planned spell of easier training, usually a week, with less weight, fewer sets or both.
Progressive overload Progressive overload is the principle that training has to get a little harder over time: more weight, more reps or more sets than before.
Estimated 1RM An estimated 1RM, or e1RM, is a calculated guess at your one-rep max, worked out from a set of several reps with a formula instead of a heavy single.
PR A personal record, or PR, is the best you have ever done at something in the gym: the heaviest weight, the most reps at a weight, the highest estimated max.

Go deeper

Progressive overload, explained with a log What progressive overload is, five ways to add load ranked by how easy they are to write down, and one month of squats in a log with the sums done. Updated

Updated . How these pages are researched and corrected: editorial policy. Every term in the glossary.