All lifters and bodybuilders experience muscle building plateau at one point of time. This is something very common and so you may also experience it. But how would you know when you hit muscle building plateau? Let's find out what are the signs of it.

A loss in strength

This is a common sign which will tell you that you have a plateau. You will suddenly experience a loss in overall strength. It's different from when you don't progress in a workout or exercise. You will see a significant decrease in your performance and you will not be able to perform the lifts you once did. It means that your body has not recovered properly and not grown muscle tissue. If there is damage to your muscle tissue, you will become weaker.

Lack of motivation

You will find yourself with no motivation to keep working harder. Such loss of motivation may happen because of different causes including different interests, personal problems and other such causes. But if lack of motivation does not happen because of those causes than it is more likely that you have hit a plateau which is also called as overtraining. Your body will become tired and fatigued. You won't like to train with heavy weights. Your body will communicate with your brain to tell you to stop training. Your body knows better than you think. At this point of time, you will need to provide some time to your body to recover.

No progress in at least 2 workouts

When you're trying to build muscle, you will constantly progress. You'll be able to see your progress after every workout and exercise every week. The progression may not be much but it will help you to trigger a new growth. You will know it when you can add if you reps to your exercise or at little extra weight to your existing weight even though you complete the same reps.

The adapt and grow principle helps you to build more muscle. If your diet is fine and you're training hard, progressing in your workout should not be a big problem for you. But when you eat a plateau, it becomes increasingly difficult for you to see any progress even in the last two workouts. If you have not progressed in any exercises of the two consecutive identical workouts, this can be a sign of reaching muscle building plateau. It means that your body has reached a plateau and you need to change few things.

Not able to achieve a pump

If you are not able to feel a pump in your muscles when you workout, this can be a sign that your body has a plateau. It means your body has not recovered fully and you are overtraining yourself.

References

1. The Anabolic Again Muscle Building Prescription
2. Muscles
3. Improving muscle mass: response of muscle metabolism to exercise, nutrition and anabolic agents