Women’s Plateau Buster
Description
The 8-week Women’s Plateau Buster weight training program is designed to:
- Train all of your major muscle groups
- Build muscle/curves in the 9–11 and 6–8 rep ranges
- Strengthen your core and primal movement patterns
- Introduce you to the pre-exhaustion intensity training protocol
- Help you to break out of plateaus and keep making progress
The program consists of three workouts (A, B, and C). Workout A will train your back, biceps, core, and inner and outer thighs; Workout B will train your chest, shoulders, triceps, and core; and Workout C will train your legs, glutes, and core.
In weeks 1, 3, 5, and 7, you will train in the 9–11 rep range; in weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8, you will train in the 6–8 rep range.
The exercises in each workout have been arranged in accordance with the pre-exhaustion protocol, which will ensure that your prime mover muscles are partially exhausted by isolation exercises before you move on to the major compound exercises. The pre-exhaustion is intended to boost muscular overload and amplify the stimulus for development, thus increasing the program’s chances of helping you to ‘bust’ through plateaus and never stop making progress. You can also use the program as an additional and advanced MCFF mesocycle (‘MCFF 6’).
Please read the Overview of women’s weight training programs before you start this program.
Note: This program is also available in my ebook.
Suitability
- Individuals who have completed Maximum Curves and Functional Fitness 5
- Anyone who has at least 12 months of consistent weight training experience
Instructions
- Complete the workouts (A, B, and C) in the order presented
- The recommend workout schedules are ABCX (i.e. three days on, one day off) or ABCXABX (i.e. three days on, one day off, two days on, one day off, and then continue the sequence from where you left off)
- Perform the exercises in the order presented
- Rest for 30 to 90 seconds between sets
- Rest for 1 to 2 minutes between exercises
- Always use a weight that is heavy enough to make the reps challenging
- Whenever you have to increase the weight, add a maximum of 5 lb (or 2.5 kg) to upper-body exercises or 10 lb (or 5 kg) to lower-body exercises
- Try to master the proper form of each exercise, including proper breathing technique. Also, try to develop a mental connection with your muscles and with the movement patterns
- If you get bored of an exercise, see the Overview of women’s weight training programs for alternatives
- If training at home in the absence of cable machines and other specialized equipment, see below the exercise tables for exercise alternatives
- Don’t forget to warm up before, and stretch after, each workout
- Once you have completed the Women’s Plateau Buster, you must take a deload week. Only then can you repeat the program or one of the other programs
| Workout A (Back, biceps, core, inner and outer thighs) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Exercise | Sets x Reps | |
| Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 | Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 | |
| Cable straight-arm pull-down | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Pull-up | 2 x 6–8 | 2 x 9–11 |
| Seated cable row | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Overhead cable curl | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| EZ bar curl | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Wheel rollout | 3 x 10–15 | 3 x 15–20 |
| Hanging straight leg and hip raise | 2 x 10–15 | 2 x 15–20 |
| Cable hip abduction | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Cable hip adduction | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Workout B (Chest, shoulders, triceps, core) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Exercise | Sets x Reps | |
| Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 | Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 | |
| Dumbbell fly | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Push-up (on knees if necessary) | 2 x 10–15 | 2 x 15–20 |
| Alternating dumbbell front raise | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Seated dumbbell overhead press | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Reverse dumbbell fly | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Cable face pull | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Dumbbell kickback | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Diamond push-up (on knees if necessary) | 2 x 10–15 | 2 x 15–20 |
| Bicycle crunch | 3 x 20–25 | 3 x 25–30 |
| Lying side hip raise | 2 x 20–25 | 2 x 25–30 |
| Workout C (Legs, glutes, core) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Exercise | Sets x Reps | |
| Weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 | Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 | |
| Barbell hip thrust | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Dumbbell forward-leaning lunge | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Barbell sumo squat | 3 x 9–11 | 3 x 6–8 |
| Seated or lying leg curl | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Twisting hyperextension holding plate against chest | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Barbell Romanian deadlift | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
| Machine seated calf raise | 2 x 15–20 | 2 x 10–15 |
| Machine standing calf raise | 3 x 15–20 | 3 x 10–15 |
| Weighted captain’s chair leg and hip raise | 2 x 9–11 | 2 x 6–8 |
Alternatives for the cable/machine exercises
- Cable straight-arm pull-down — Band straight-arm pull-down (YT) or dumbbell pull-over
- Seated cable row — Bent-over dumbbell row, bent-over barbell row, or seated band row (YT)
- Overhead cable curl — Dumbbell concentration curl
- Wheel rollout — Standing ab walkout (YT) or inch worm (YT)
- Cable hip abduction — Band hip abduction (YT) or side plank hip abduction
- Cable hip adduction — Band hip adduction (YT) or side plank hip adduction
- Cable face pull — Band face pull (YT) or dumbbell face pull (YT)
- Seated or lying leg curl — Inverse leg curl, one-leg stability ball leg curl (YT), or band leg curl (YT)
- Twisting hyperextension holding plate against chest — Twisting hyperextension on flat bench holding plate against chest
- Machine seated calf raise — Barbell seated calf raise (YT)
- Machine standing calf raise — Standing dumbbell one-leg calf raise or band standing calf raise (YT)
- Weighted captain’s chair leg and hip raise — Hanging leg and hip raise with dumbbell between feet or lying band leg and hip raise (YT)
