Anyone who has been working out for a significant and steady time period knows that, inevitably, you will encounter a results "plateau." All we mean by this is that progress toward whatever goal you are training to achieve seemingly stops. There are a lot of ways to break through and jump-start the achievement process again. While you may think of incorporating some obscure or unconventional methods, it's important to keep in mind that many of the most effective methods used to beat a training plateau require taking a step back to the basics.

Continuous Training Principle

The continuous training principle is a battle-tested, tried-and-true principle that will never fail to put your training on the right track. This principle basically says that you should minimize momentum, adhere to strict form and maintain maximal constant tension on the muscle(s) being trained throughout every moment of a given set. Many times, even in a really focused workout, we tend to let the weight rest for just a moment at the top or bottom of a repetition, perhaps we begin to increase rep speed as the muscle starts to burn or we begin to "cheat" with our body in order to ensure we achieve a specific number of reps. With continuous tension, all of that is out the window!

Personal Honesty

This is the principle of personal honesty. For continuous tension to be effective, you must first be honest with yourself. It's easy to tell yourself that you are giving 100% and take just a little rest at the top of that barbell curl, or maybe you go ahead and lock the knees at the top of a squat just long enough to let the burn subside. These types of shortcuts just won't cut it when trying to break through a training plateau using the continuous tension principle.

Try It Out

Do yourself a big favor! Select a muscle group and dedicate yourself to performing every rep of every set using the continuous training principle. Do slow controlled reps, ensure you aren't cheating with excess body motion, make sure you aren't fully locking your joints at the top of reps and make sure you aren't bouncing or using momentum at the bottom of the reps. Once you've mastered the principle of continuous tension, your plateaus will be less frequent and if you do hit a plateau, it's guaranteed to be short-lived. Break through training plateaus and achieve optimal results with the continuous training principle.