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Sports & Fitness vocabulary · Training & Workouts

Plateau

Meaning in sports & fitness, with examples

/plæˈtoʊ/nounCommon term

In sports & fitness, plateau means: A stage when progress stops for a while, for example when your weight, strength or race times stay the same despite training.

In Turkish: plato, gelişmenin durması

How it is used

Common among trainers and gym members. You hit, reach or break through a plateau; it is also a verb ("My bench press has plateaued"). Coaches change the programme to get past a plateau.

Example sentences

  1. After six months I hit a plateau and stopped getting stronger.

  2. Changing the rep ranges helped her break through the plateau.

Common collocations

  • hit a plateau
  • break through a plateau
  • weight-loss plateau
  • strength plateau
  • progressive overloadThe principle of gradually increasing the demands on the body, such as weight, reps or volume, so that it keeps adapting and improving.
  • training programA planned series of workouts over weeks or months that sets out the exercises, sets, reps, intensity and rest needed to reach a goal.
  • overtrainingDoing more training than the body can recover from over a long period, which can lead to falling performance, fatigue, poor sleep and injury.
  • personal bestThe best time, distance, weight or score an athlete has ever achieved in a particular event or exercise; often shortened to PB or PR.

More terms: Training & Workouts

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