Plateau

What exactly is hitting a plateau? Physically

Plateau in PE or in physical exercise are the same. It basically means you come to a point where you stop seeing gains or progress in your development. Typically you’ll have to alter your routine in order to start gain and get back on track. In what reference or meaning are you talking about plateau? Physical work outs? PE? Or something else?

I’ve read studies which state plateau is a lot to do with your mental state as well, I think being and staying healthy, has a big effect on when someone might plateau (of course everyone is different) but, I think plateau is just as much mental as physical. We too easily get on ourselves and question ourselves which isn’t good on the mental state of a person.

Plateau Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

Sorry I meant inside the body. What’s stopping or slowing it? Also PE.

The simplest explanation is your body adapting to the specific exercise. With muscles, putting them under strain creates microtears that are then repaired, which adds to the muscle’s mass. After a while, these tears are almost no longer created as that ‘direction’ has been thoroughly worked for so long that the muscle is no longer damaged. I’m not sure of the specific tissues in PE, but your tissues would still adapt to, say, being stretched in a certain direction.

Thank you all for your great responses.

Sticking just with PE, we all know about newbie gains and increased size from better EQ. You start a program and you make gains, smooth muscle cells enlarge, divide, etc., from those exercises. Eventually you reach a point where those cells are no longer being stressed and they reach a point of equilibrium. The only way to move past that is by changing your program. Sounds easy enough, but what changes are needed are different for everybody. Some might need to use different exercises, some fewer days off/on, or perhaps the same routine only with more reps and/or intensity. A lot of variables to look at on an individual basis. That is why some continue to gain while others stop, because some don’t put in the time or effort to determine what is the best course of action for them personally. Doesn’t help that we haven’t even talked about genetics playing a part in how much or how fast one can gain.