What Happens To Your Body When You Always Lift The Same Amount Of Weight?
Much like our bedtime ritual, most of us tend to gravitate toward routine when it comes to lifting: We often use the same amount of weight, over and over and over again—it’s particularly comforting to select a weight size you know you can handle when you’re at the gym. But experts say that sticking to the same weight size means you’ll be missing out some pretty significant benefits.
Strength training programs require regular adjustments to challenge muscles and sustain growth. If you keep doing the same program day in and day out, without any adaptations, you will invariably hit a plateau where muscle growth stops. “When you train with the same weight week-to-week, over time, your body will adapt to the resistance, and you won’t see gains in muscular strength,” says Jacque Crockford, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise. Compare it to running the same distance every time you hop on the treadmill—at some point, you’re not going to see your body improve, since you’re no longer challenging it.
Weightlifting plateaus are not necessarily a bad thing because it means you've already made progress. But to continue seeing results, you need to make adjustments to your training routine:
One of the easiest ways to overcome a plateau is to make your muscles work harder rather than longer. To break out of a rut, aim for a program with heavier weight and lower reps rather than one with lighter weight and higher reps. If you have been doing three sets of 12 to 15 reps, for example, decrease to three sets of 8 to 10 reps with a heavier weight. The right weight should be challenging but not undermine your form. If you can maintain proper form but start to struggle by the end of a set, that's a good sign that you've chosen the right weight.
You'd be surprised how quickly a muscle group adapts to a specific exercise. So while varying the intensity of an exercise can help overcome a plateau, changing your exercise routine is just as important. Try free weights or a stability ball if you always use machines. If you use a bench press for chest exercises, try doing push-ups. Changing things up keeps your program fresh and recruits an entirely different set of muscles.
Another way to overcome a plateau is to change the sequence of exercises you usually do. For example, if you do the same bicep exercises in the same order, your muscles will fatigue in the same way every time.
You will undoubtedly hit a plateau if you train too hard for too long; adequate rest and recovery are essential for growth. Muscles not only get stronger while you’re pumping iron, but also during the rest periods in between workouts. This is a process known as protein synthesis. In this process, the cells of the body make proteins, which encourage the growth of strong muscles. If you fail to give your muscles any rest (at least a day) between the heavy workouts, the amount of time your body’s cells have to recover and form new proteins decreases. If a particular muscle group is sore, it means that it is still recovering from the tough workout you have put it through earlier.
So what happens to your body when you consistently lift the same amount of weight? Well, nothing much, except maybe a weightlifting plateau. But as frustrating as a plateau can be, it is also very informative; it is a trustworthy indicator letting you know that you need to make some changes. Passively waiting for a plateau to end will not likely work.
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