If you’ve been going to the gym for a few years, you may have hit a plateau where your lifts seem to become stagnant. Despite your best efforts you struggle to lift even a little more, stalling the progressive overloading philosophy. 43-year-old IFBB Pro Marc Lobliner said that sometimes plateaus are nothing more than “people not being patient.” Yet, many it’s that’s not the case.

So Marc Lobliner had tips for people who have been genuinely trying for months but fail to either lift more weight or lose weight. The IFBB Pro explained multiple ways that may help you overcome your plateau. First, the 43-year-old bodybuilder tackled weightlifting plateaus and how to beat them. The bodybuilding veteran’s first technique involved “taking a step back.”

“So let’s say you’re hitting 315 for two reps and you’re stuck there you can’t get that third rep,” hypothesized Marc Lobliner. “One way to do it would be to scale back where you go back to (lifting) 255,” said the IFBB Pro Marc Lobliner. He then recommended increasing the weight by 10 pounds gradually until you hit 315 lbs again. Lobliner said it should make lifting the same weight far easier than before.

“The next week you break it at 320 or 325,” said the IFBB Pro. The 43-year-old said that this method worked for him. The other method the competitive bodybuilder mentioned was sport-specific training. “If your goal is to bench more weight… to squat more… don’t train like a bodybuilder, train like a powerlifter,” said Tiger Fitness founder.

Besides training and weightlifting, the bodybuilding veteran also spoke about stagnating with your diet. While dieting is effective for weight loss, eating extremely low calories may eventually result in diminishing returns. While adding exercise to the mix gets things going, Lobliner recommended lifestyle changes that may help overcome the dieting plateau.

The IFBB Pro recommends making some lifestyle changes

The bodybuilding veteran explained that he used a lifestyle change called “diet breaks” to restart weight loss. If someone is eating 1200 calories and has stagnated, he recommended jumping back up to maintenance calories. Although you may gain one or two pounds, it’ll act as a break. Marc Lobliner then recommended gradually reducing your calories which may help you go past the previous point of weight loss stagnation. While the method isn’t scientifically backed it has worked in his experience of coaching “thousands.”

Besides these central principles, Marc Lobliner also highlighted other lifestyle changes like getting enough sleep. Bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger has written about how sleep deprivation leads to muscle and strength loss while increasing weight. Not eating enough and chronic lack of hydration may also contribute to weightlifting plateaus, explained Lobliner.

So, while hitting a plateau may be common among some experienced lifters, there are several ways you can take action to reclaim your gains in the gym.