Healthy diet for a 25 year old male

25 year old males have specific dietary needs.

As a 25 year old male, you are at an important stage of your life. You aren't a child anymore. You have grown up. It's time to start looking after your health like an adult. What does a diet like that look like?

This diet will help you to prepare for the best life that you can live. Give yourself the fuel to make a significant contribution on this world. At 25 years of age, you need to address the health issues that you have. Are you carrying an extra amount of weight? Do you feel sluggish? Now is the time to set the tone for your best life.

Food is no longer about what tastes good. Your health starts to become more about what food is actually doing to your body. Discover what you should eat to set the tone for great health, energy and productivity for years to come.

Today's habits are tomorrow's rewards.

The healthy diet for a 25 year old male

1. Skip breakfast: Don't flood your body with sugar
2. First meal: Eat 5 different whole fruit and vegetables
3. Second meal: Choose 3 of any of these protein options
4. Third meal: A healthy snack (nuts, grains, fruit, dairy or meat listed)
5. Drink lots of plain water (See the healthy additions to change things up)

Diet chart of the healthiest meal plan for 25 year old men

I made a summary of this diet in an easy-to-follow diet chart to make things easy. Share it on your social media or right click (long press on mobile) to save it the chart. 

If you want to use this meal plan elsewhere (like on your own blog or website), provide credit back to us (either to saspotters.blogspot.com or this specific page).

Easy-to-follow diet chart

1. Skip breakfast: Don't flood your body with sugar

'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day' is a term invented to sell more breakfast cereals by marketing companies.

In fact, your body has all of the energy that it needs to wake up, work mentally and perform physically. Energy is stored in your liver as glycogen and as fat in your body. If you don't give your body time to burn through these energy stores, you overload your body with calories. This leads to many problems of its own.

What happens when you eat too often?

1. Excess nutrients are stored as fat. 
2. Your body gets better at making fat and worse at using it.
3. Insulin is constantly released to counteract frequent sugar consumption. 
4. You develop a resistance to insulin. 
5. This will decrease energy levels and increase hunger levels.
6. Your digestive system does not get a break and cannot go through the important periods of self-recovery. 
7. This can lead to digestive issues.
8. You feel sluggish as soon as you don't have sugar in your system. 
9. This leads to an unhealthy, emotional connection to food.

Our bodies are wonderfully made. They are designed to go through periods without food. In fact, several important processes can only happen in the absence of food. Periods of food deprivation are good for you.

What happens when I don't eat for a certain period of time every day?

1. Your body learns to use fat for energy (which is a much more sustainable source of energy).
2. Autophagy starts to kick in. This is an important part of your bodily processes that can only happen when you don't eat for some time. During this process, your body starts to break down damaged, toxic cells and pathogens and use them as energy.
3. The hunger hormone ghrelin is released. Ghrelin stimulates human growth hormone, which builds muscle, develops the brain and improves physical recovery.
4. Mental performance improves because your body can dedicate all of its resources to performance. It takes a lot of energy to digest food.

If your body is so damaged that you struggle to go through a period of time without food, now is the time to correct that. Start with an hour of no food after you wake up. Once you get comfortable with that, increase it to two hours.

Build yourself up to the point where you go through a period of 16 hours every day without eating food (including your 8 hours of sleep). You will quickly adapt to eating all of your food within an 8 hour window.

Learn more about fasting for your health from Medical News Today.

Skip breakfast to improve your health.

2. First meal: Eat 5 different whole fruit and vegetables

Now that your body is more dependent on its own fat stores for energy, you need to make sure that you give it the kinds of nutrients that it can't get from fat stores. These nutrients include vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber and other plant compounds.

It can be hard to memorize all of these nutrients and make sure that you get enough of them every day. The best way to do this is to eat 5 different fresh fruit and vegetables every day.

You don't necessarily have to do this for your first meal. You can have 5 fruit and vegetables as your second or third meal. It is nice to do it as your first meal, though, because this ensures that you don't skip this very important step.

Will fruit or vegetables load my body with sugar?

They don't load your body with sugar. The sugar in fruit and vegetables are locked within hard-to-digest fiber. This prolongs the time it takes before the sugar is released into your blood stream. Slow digestion of fruits and vegetables give you a steady supply of energy that does not drop as quickly as other food. This is why fruit and vegetables score so high when it comes to feeling full and reduced cravings for more food.

Why do the fruit and vegetables need to be raw?

Raw fruit and vegetables are better for mental health than processed fruit and veggies. A lot of the nutrients are lost when you cook them.

Vitamin B and Vitamin C are water soluble. This means that they are lost in the water when they are cooked. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble. They are lost when foods are fried. Minerals are water soluble. Heat also lowers the nutrient count of healthy food. This is why it is important to eat enough raw food for your overall health.

You can have cooked food in your other two meals. Dedicate this meal to eating food the way that nature intended. Our bodies are made to eat food the way that it is found in nature.

Nature's way is the best way.

Is a smoothie or juiced fruit a good replacement for whole fruit and vegetables?

While fruit and vegetable smoothies do have their own benefits, eating the whole fruit or vegetable is much better. It teaches you to associate good food with real food. Whole foods take longer to digest and stop you from eating junk food afterwards. These foods sit for longer in your digestive system and feed good gut bacteria (which make important nutrients and kill off bad bacteria).

Will eating too much fruit make me fat?

Fruit does not lead to weight gain. In a large group of people who ate nothing but fruit and nuts, everybody lost a large amount of fat and improved their health significantly. It is important to include protein in your diet (more on that below) to give your body a complete nutrient profile.

List of fruit and vegetables to eat

Eat 5 different fruit and vegetables any day. You can choose your favorites - or whatever is available to you. Mix it up and alternate your fruit and vegetables every day to get all of the important nutrients.

Here are the best fruit to eat:

1. Grapefruit
2. Peaches
3. Pineapple
4. Avocado
5. Blueberries
6. Apples
7. Pomegranate
8. Mango
9. Strawberries
10. Cranberries
11. Lemons
12. Durian
13. Watermelon
14. Olives
15. Blackberries
16. Oranges
17. Bananas
18. Grapes
19. Guava
20. Papaya
21. Cherries

Here are the best vegetables to eat:

1. Spinach
2. Lettuce
3. Carrots
4. Broccoli
5. Garlic
6. Brussel sprouts
7. Kale
8. Green peas
9. Swiss chard
10. Ginger
11. Asparagus
12. Cabbage
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Collard greens

Choose natural. Choose healthy.

3. Second meal: Choose 3 of any of these protein options

The biggest problem with a fruit and vegetable only diet is the lack of protein and other nutrients that we get from animal foods. This can lead to a nutrient deficiency, lack of energy, a decrease in bone density, anemia, and a hampered immune system.

To make sure that you get all of the nutrients that your body needs, add at least three portions of protein from an animal source.

List of healthy animal proteins:

The best protein sources for you to choose from are:

1. Eggs (eat the yolk along with the egg white)
2. Chicken
3. Pork
4. Beef
5. Fish
6. Turkey
7. Seafood like shellfish prawns and shrimp
8. Cheese
9. Yogurt
10. Milk

You need protein to rebuild tissue.

4. Third meal: A healthy snack (the nuts, grains, fruit, dairy or meat as listed)

The first meal gives your body most of the micro nutrients that you need. The second meal makes up for what the first meal is missing as far as macro nutrients and micro nutrients are concerned. The third and last meal for the day fills a big part of what your diet that is lacking: calories.

You can run into a lot of negative health effects if you don't eat enough calories consistently.

Health risks of restricting calories too much

1. Slow metabolism
2. Low energy and fatigue 
3. Mental decline 
4. Decreased physical performance
5. Emotional distress such as anxiety and depression
6. Lack of motivation to stick to a healthy lifestyle
7. Tendencies to do unhealthy activities
8. Fat is harder to burn away. Your body will hold onto extra fat stores to restore balance
9. Nutrient deficiencies
10. Weaker immune system
11. Getting sick more often
12. Hormonal imbalances (Woman may miss their periods and men may experience lower testosterone production)
13. Reduced fertility in both genders
14. Inability to sleep properly
15. Weak muscles, bones, joints, ligaments, tendons and connective tissue

Disadvantages of calorie restriction

It is okay to eat fewer calories than what you burn from time to time, but eating too few calories consistently can lead to the above adverse health effects. Make sure that you give your body all the nutrients that it needs.

On this diet for 25 year old males, you will ensure that you get everything that your body needs by having a third meal that gives you a variety of good foods to choose from.

Will I lose weight if I eat a third meal every day?

If the primary reason for this diet is for you to lose weight, you will still do so - even if you eat this third meal. You will lose weight because of the intermittent fasting (going for an extended period of time without food), ample fiber from fresh food and the good protein sources.

This meal is not the opportunity for you to eat whatever you want. You still need to avoid unhealthy food that can harm your health.

As a third meal, you can combine any of the foods from the first two meals or choose from the other healthy snacks listed below.

How many snacks can I have and stay healthy?

You can have as many snacks as you feel like you need - as long as you combine them all into one meal. Calorie restriction (making sure that you don't eat more than you need) comes into play in two other ways in this diet.

Firstly, you don't eat for 16 hours every day because you skip your first meal. Secondly, the fresh plants and healthy proteins will satisfy a large part of your hunger so that your body won't crave too much additional food.

Think of this meal as your reward for following this diet so consistently. 

At 25 years of age, you need to give yourself all of the nutrients that you need to work your way to the top in your career, build a family and maintain a healthy exercise routine. Your nutritional needs are different for each individual. That is why you get to eat your choice of snacks in this meal until you are fully satisfied.

You can have as much as you want of the foods listed in the first two meals. You can also have any combination of the following healthy snacks:

List of snacks that are good for your health

Here is a list of snacks that you can choose from:

1. Nuts (any kind, unsalted, not roasted)
2. Smoothies
3. Peanut butter and multi grain bread
4. Kale chips
5. Dark chocolate
6. Cucumber or celery sticks with hummus
7. Oats and honey (don't use unhealthy sweeteners)
8. Muesli (check for added sugar)
9. Any seeds
10. Chia pudding
11. Beef jerky
12. A protein shake (or a meal replacement shake)

You can mix things up. How's about a bowl of yogurt and mixed berries? What about slices of an apple and peanut butter?

These snacks are good for your health.

5. Drink lots of plain water (See the healthy additions to change things up)

Three quarters of the American population is chronically dehydrated. Most of us aren't drinking enough water.

What does dehydration cause?

1. Fatigue and a lack of energy
2. Sleepiness
3. A slow metabolism 
4. Less fat is burned for energy and you crave more calories
5. Unhealthy cravings for nicotine, caffeine, sugar, sweeteners etc. (that can make dehydration even worse)
6. Moodiness, anxiety, depression, frustration, anger and listlessness
7. Inability to think clearly, concentrate or do simple mental tasks
8. Toxin buildup in the body
9. Kidney stones

Dehydration is dangerous.

Make it a priority to drink more water.

I have found that you can reduce the cigarettes that smokers smoke if they drink a full glass of water whenever they crave a cigarette. They reduced the amount of cigarettes smoked by half! A lot of our issues can be traced back to dehydration. We often mistake dehydration for a craving for something else.

How to stay hydrated:

1. Carry a water bottle wherever you go
2. Keep a jug of water at your desk
3. Incorporate water into your morning routine
4. Drink a glass of water with every meal
5. Drink a glass of water when you have a craving (check if dehydration is the problem)
6. Avoid beverages that are high in sugar, artificial ingredients, carbonated and alcohol (these beverages cause dehydration)

Stay hydrated.

It is possible to overdo it, too. You can drink too much water.

How can I make water less boring?

You should drink plain water most of the time. If you desire something to add a little flavor, from time to time, here are some great additives that you can use sparingly.

Make water less boring

1. Add a squeeze of lemon juice for other health benefits
2. Drop a bag of green tea for more health benefits in your water
3. Put in some chopped fruit like apples, cucumber, oranges or strawberries

You will give your body all of the nutrients that it needs and burn fat while increasing your metabolism if you follow this diet at 25 years of age. Stay Strong!

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How to break a plateau

Get back to progress.

If you follow the same workout program for too long, you will start to see diminishing results (fewer gains in muscle size and strength) over time as your body adapts to the stimulus placed on it. This is called homeostasis.

You want to grow as fast as possible, right? A gym program is only as good as the strength and size gains that it brings you. 

There might be nothing wrong with your program, but if you’re doing the same thing over and over, your body will have adapted to it and stop growing to meet the same old physical demands.

Signs that you've hit a plateau

1. No increase in physical performance for two weeks or longer
2. You aren’t losing fat or building muscle anymore: Your body weight isn't changing
3. Your gym regime seems more like a daily routine instead a challenge
4. The work seems easy but you still reach failure and can’t push past your previous bench marks

Change it up.

1. No increase in physical performance for two weeks or more

You aren’t increasing your reps and weights anymore. You're stuck at the same place that you were two weeks ago. 

It needs to be for two weeks in a row for you to be concerned, because all of us suffer from drops in performance for a day or two, every now and then. If your physical performance is not improving, your body won't either.

2. You aren’t losing fat or building extra muscle: Your body weight isn't changing

This is a classic plateau symptom. Your body has adapted to your exercise routine and has become comfortable. It does not feel the need to change because it feels safe with its physical expectations and output.

3. Your gym regime seems more like a daily routine, instead a challenge for your body to overcome

This is a psychological symptom of a plateau. If your workout no longer challenges you, and if you don't need that much determination to finish your workout, it might be good time for change. 

I personally change my workout plan whenever I feel like it is getting boring to avoid hitting a plateau. This will also encourage that lack of motivation, since you aren't feeling or seeing any physical changes as a result of your hard work anymore.

4. The work seems easy but you still reach failure and can’t push past your previous bench marks

This is a classic, common sign that you've hit a plateau. If you don't feel like your workout is taking a lot out of you, even though your body won't let you go any further, you've most probably hit a plateau. 

If the maximum volume, time, reps or weight that you can do stays the same; you've hit a plateau. If your maximum output decreases, you might have over trained.

Change is awesome.

Although over training and plateau’s can interlink, they are not the same thing. 

It is possible to over train without hitting a plateau - and it is possible to hit a plateau without over training.

A plateau leads to a lack of physical progress. Over training leads to reversed progress (you get weaker instead of stronger), joint pain or injury, and exercise-induced depression.

Signs of over training 

If you’ve overtrained then you need to remedy that instead of trying to break a plateau. Click here to heal from over training.

1. Insomnia or oversleeping

2. Lack of motivation

3. Extreme appetite changes (no appetite or extremely high appetite)

4. Moodiness, frustration, depression or emotional outbursts

5. Diminished physical performance

6. Muscle spasms and twitches

7. Low immune system

8. Constant, unquenchable thirst

Note that it is extremely unlikely to get any of these symptoms from a plateau (except for the emotional response for people who tie their self-worth to their exercise performance or physical progress).

Don't push your body too far.

1. Sleep: you suffer from insomnia or oversleeping

Ironically, struggling to get good sleep, sleeping too much or the constant desire for more sleep is all caused by over training. All three symptoms can arise from too much physical stress being placed on your body. 

For people who struggle to sleep, your body is under so much stress on the central nervous system that it can't calm down to recover properly. Read more about your central nervous system, how over training affects it and how to help it recover here. 

Sleeping for too long is common among others who are over-trained because your body needs more time to recover, but the stimulus placed on it is so high that it never catches up on needed recovery.

This will also explain lethargy, fatigue and the desire to sleep all the time. This is how to fall asleep ASAP.

Sleep problems are rarely caused by a plateau, though.

2. Lack of motivation (could also be present in a plateau, but not as much)

While a plateau can also sap out your motivation to further your goals, over training attacks your motivation more aggressively. 

Some people don't lose their motivation when they've hit a plateau. They just fall into the monogamous routine of doing the same thing over and over again - even when they don't see new results anymore. 

Over training is the most common culprit among athletes who begin to wonder why they are putting so much effort into their sports or exercise efforts in the first place. 

Many of them start to hate the sport that they do or dread the idea of practicing or exercising. Over training can cause depression, whereas hitting a plateau does not have as a big an impact on your emotional state.

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3. Diet: lack of appetite or constant cravings for high calorie/fast food

This is a very common sign of over training that isn't usually present in people who have hit a plateau. 

Since their bodies are bombarded with physical stress and they are frantically trying to recover, they might not be able to regulate their hunger (ghrelin) and satisfaction (leptin) hormones properly.

Again, different people will experience this in different ways. Some people will lose their appetite completely because their bodies are starting to break down from too much physical stress. 

Others crave high calorie and high fat foods because their bodies try to get as much energy from food as possible to compensate for drastic energy depletion. 

If you feel like this might refer to you, you need to recover from over training.

4. Moodiness

This is commonly seen in athletes who have over trained. Since the physical stress starts to crush the body from the inside out, the emotional state suffers as well. 

The brain does not have enough time to recover during sleep, since the body is taking as many resources as possible to recover physically. 

Also, mood-regulating hormones fall out of balance along with the rest of the body's normal mechanisms.

5. Halted or diminishing physical performance

When you train more than what your body can recover from, your physical performance will not increase but slowly start to decrease. 

The longer you stay in this overtrained state, the faster the rate at which physical performance declines. The longer you over train, the longer it will take to recover.

Too much of anything is unhealthy.

6. Muscle spasms and twitches

This is due to the central nervous system being over stressed. It starts to fall apart. Getting this from hitting a plateau is almost impossible.

7. Lowered immune system: Falling ill more easily and more frequently

Your immune system also takes a big hit when your body suffers from over training. If you are getting sick more often, you might have over trained and your body probably needs a good long break.

8. Constant, unquenchable thirst

This is another common symptom that is associated with over training. You might also feel nauseous often as well. In other cases, it also becomes harder to follow your normal daily routine (waking up, working, spending time with friends and family, bed time, etc.)

There 8 other possible reasons for extreme thirst from exercise.

If you have over trained (nearing or at the point of over exertion), a few rest days might be all that you need. Here are great ways to make your rest day the best recovery day that you've ever had.

Rest is good for you.

Now that we've distinguished the difference between over training and hitting a plateau, read on if you think that you have hit a plateau.

How to break a plateau

There are 8 ways to break a plateau. These methods can turn your workout routine back into the body-enhancing agent that it is meant to be.

1. Take a rest week

2. Change your diet

3. Use creatine

4. Change your exercise routine

5. Get more sleep

6. Increase sunlight exposure

7. Invite a friend to your workout

8. Mix in some music

Do this and prosper.

1. Take a rest week

A rest week might be all that your body needs. 

Your body adapts between workouts the best that it can for the time being, but there is also a long-term recovery that the body can use to maximize your progress. 

It is recommended to take a rest week off every 10 weeks that you spend hitting the iron so that your body can repair itself on a deeper level. 

Lack of long rest might be causing your plateau as the need for deep recovery starts to accumulate.

Avoiding this kind of long rest for too long and you risk eventual over training.

Benefits of a rest week

Have you ever noticed that your muscles look bigger when you've skipped a few days of exercise?

A rest week will allow your body to re-align muscle fibers, strengthen bones and joints and stock up on inter-muscular nutrients without the stress of quickly recovering as best it can before the next workout. 

Many people have larger muscle growth rates in their rest weeks than on normal training weeks! I am one of these people. 

People often return to the gym with increased strength, stamina and motivation. I recommend that you spend two days during this week at the gym - only stretching and relaxing in the sauna, which will help to maximize your body’s recovery.

It is hard to avoid the gym, road or studio when you've finally built up the dedication to make exercise a daily habit. Trust me when I say that the results (and mental benefits) are worth it. You will return with more motivation than ever.

Try it out at least once and see how you feel when you return. 

In the meantime, use this opportunity to clean your house, spend some extra time with the family or do something fun. 

A nice, relaxed walk can do wonders for you, both mentally and physically, during a rest week. The goal is not to stop moving completely. It is to allow the body to go into a deep state of recovery.

Not sure what do to with your extra time on rest days? Turn an awful rest week into an awesome recovery week. 

Here is the perfect rest guide if you're only doing it for a single day.

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2. Change your diet

You’ll be surprised how often too much or too little of something is the cause of that annoying plateau. 

Are you consuming enough calories to sustain muscle growth or energy output? Are your macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, fat, fruit and vegetables) in the right proportion and size according to your current physical needs? 

There are many ways to customize your diet.

1. Try a simple/fast-acting carbohydrate food straight after your workouts to replenish glycogen stores in your muscles quickly

Your body might need more energy to advance to the next level. Use MyFitnessPal to monitor whether you eat enough calories.

2. Increase protein and water intake (throughout your daily meal plan)

You need water to recover. Avoid beverages that cause dehydration. You can't build new cells or repair them without protein.

3. Increase the total daily calories you consume

If maximum muscle growth is your primary goal, try a diet high in calories for maximum muscle gain.

4. Switch out your protein sources (too much whey, too little fish?)

Try taking protein supplements according to the way the protein enters your body so that your body always has the protein that it needs to recover.

5. Add micro-nutrients like vitamins, minerals or oils

Are you eating enough fruit and vegetables to get important nutrients that your body uses for recovery? Do you need more minerals or electrolytes? You lose precious nutrients every time that you sweat.

6. Check your supplements: Are they really perfect or is it time for a change-up?

I've seen many cases where simply changing supplements increased muscle growth. Here are the supplement basics that everybody should know.

7. What else can you add or subtract to help your body get its growth back?

Is all the sugar in your diet slowing you down? Perhaps you eat too much junk food or too little carbohydrates for sufficient energy production.

Try a few of the points above until you find what works for you. I battled with a shoulder joint injury until I supplemented with fish oil daily.

Try different things to find what works.

3. Go on a creatine cycle or use a pre-workout

A good pre-workout or creatine cycle will give your body a boost to blast past that wall it can’t climb over. 

Start with a half dose for 2 weeks. Advance a full dose for 2 weeks. Go back to a half dose for the following 2 weeks. Keeping the same reps and weight numbers you did on the full dose when you do the second half dose. 

Sometimes our bodies just need a good push in the right direction to get them growing again.

Find the form of creatine that works best for you. Don't use creatine for too long without giving your body a break. You should always cycle creatine.

Try other types of supplements for muscle performance.

4. Change your exercise program

This is the most common way to overcome a plateau. I've listed it at the fourth best way to overcome a plateau (instead of the first) because you should automatically change your program at least every 2 months.

How long have you been following the program that you are currently on? Go back to the other points if you've hit a plateau and you've changed your program within the last 2 months. 

It’s time to change things up if you use the same exercise plan that you did 2 or more months ago (regardless of whether you hit a plateau or not).

Change the whole program completely (like from a standard 5-day split to a Push-Pull-Legs (PPL) program or vice versa) or change a few small things within the program if you want to keep at it a little longer. 

If you are ready for a real challenge (advanced weight lifters only), try the GARRY workout program. You can also check out our research on what the best workout split for muscle growth is.

There are many things you can change in your existing program to bring back your body’s awesome adaption mechanism.

Change equals growth.

1. Rep range

Many people cycle between a week of higher reps and a week of lower reps to keep the body in its prime adaption phase. Try using heavier weights with fewer reps or lighter weights with more reps.

Changing your rep range can have a great counter-plateau effect. High reps can also build muscle mass.

2. Rep times

Increase your TUT (total time under tension) with each rep. 

If your reps are usually under a second, take a full second to lift the weight, another second to hold it there and two seconds to lower the weight back to your resting position. 

The burn you feel in your muscles after doing this will definitely be an indication of greater stimulus being put on the muscle.

3. Number of sets

Change the number of sets to a higher or lower number. 

Would your muscles benefit from a few more sets per exercise? Are you doing too many sets for them to recover sufficiently before the next exercise session? 

4. Change the exercises

Switch rows with pull-ups. Replace cable presses with bench presses. Do hack squats instead of knee extensions.

This will help you to bust out of that plateau instantly.

5. Change your grip

Reverse the grip on all of your exercises to work the muscles from an angle that they are not used to. This will force them to adapt to a new form of stimuli.

I was shocked at the positive change that this simple hack brought to my own training regime when a friend recommended it to me.

6. Change your set format

Swap the standard 8, 8, 8 set for a pyramid style (15, 12, 10, 8, 6); drop set (6, 10, 12, 15, 20) or super-set (bench press and dips in the same set) to keep forcing your muscles to grow.

7. Intensity

Decrease the amount of time that you rest in between sets. 

Now muscles will need to get stronger and bigger to be able to cope with less recovery time they have before being recruited to work again. 

You can also increase your rest time, so that you have more strength with each set.

Discover which rest times work best between sets.

8. Exercise order

Change the order of exercises you do, so that different fibers in the muscles are recruited at different exercises. 

The bench press might be exhausting your triceps before you hit the dips. 

Now your triceps can do more on the dips and your chest will need to step it up to complete the bench press afterwards.

9. Rest between exercise sessions

You might rest too little in-between sessions that use the same muscles. They therefore aren’t at their full potential next time round. You might rest for too long. In this case, they are over-rested and have started shrinking back to normal before they are stimulated again.

Keep it fresh.

You don't have to implement all of these changes at once. Choose the ones that you are going to change and take it from there. 

The next time you feel a plateau coming on; you can change a few of the other elements. 

Sometimes, all it takes is one good change instead of many. 

If you really want to change everything up at once, go ahead. That's also okay.

5. Get more sleep

You might feel fine, but an extra hour or two of shut eye might be all that your body needs to recover to the max for its next workout session.

Most muscle growth happens when you sleep. It is important that we get enough of it and have the right nutrients in our bodies when we sleep so that our muscles can do what we want them to – grow!

This is how to fall asleep efficiently at night.

6. Get some sunshine

Expose your skin to the natural rays of the sun. This will increase your testosterone levels naturally through the vitamin D that our skin makes during contact with sunlight.

No wonder why our energy levels are lower and we're just plain lazy during winter!

There are many ways to increase your testosterone naturally.

Sun and sleep help with performance.

7. Add a friend to your workout session

Studies show that people perform better at physical exercises when their friends are with them. 

Some healthy competition between you and a bud will increase your muscular output. This might sound crazy, but who cares if you're getting stronger?

8. Mix some music into your workout

Music can increase physical performance during exercise.

Imagine beating your personal best just because the right track was playing!

My personal, top 3 methods to blast past a plateau

Everybody hits a plateau (although some plan ahead and make changes before they plateau). My personal, favorite ways to speed up muscle growth are:

1. Taking a rest week

I like the idea of getting a good, deep recovery every few weeks. I personally feel like it sets my last cycle’s gains well into my new cycle’s starting point. 

After a week of rest, my new size and strength gains become the new ‘starting stats' for me to improve on before my next rest week. 

I take a rest week every 8 weeks.

2. Going on a creatine cycle

I feel like creatine can be the jumper cables to a body that wants to start slow down. 

It is natural for our bodies to save energy whenever they can. They will only grow when it feels like it has to in order to survive. 

A helping hand from mister C never hurts.

3. Change of program

I generally do a rest week and then a creatine cycle once I've maxed out. 

I then create a total change in my exercise program (different exercises, reps, split and everything). 

I love the soreness in my muscles when starting a new program because I feel like the muscle is being forced to grow even bigger. 

If my muscles aren't suffering, why would they grow?

STAY STRONG!

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