PT Ian Gardner shares his expert tips to help you bust that rut and build more muscle

It's a tale as old as time/gym memberships: you hit the gym consistenly, five days a week, fuelled by that pre-workout that makes your fingers tingle and replenished by that post-workout shake you were told would guarantee 'serious gains'. You're feeling good, looking good, and lifting heavier than ever before. But then, suddenly, all that all changes – or should I say, nothing changes. You're not packing on any more muscle and you're not lifting any heavier weights. No matter how much time and effort you put in, you just can't make any changes. You, my friend, have hit the dreaded plateau. But don't cancel your membership and turn to a lift-free life just yet. Help is at hand in the form of these simple strategies for mixing up your routine and seeing progress once more.

1. EAT LIKE YOU MEAN IT

Nutrition is EVERYTHING. Building muscle requires energy. Food provides energy. To be able to build muscle you need to have a caloric surplus. Your body requires calories just to survive at rest, as well as calories to fuel your daily tasks – it's only then that it will use any extra calories to help build muscle size. So if you're eating 2,900 calories worth of chicken, rice and veg every day, but are then burning 3,100 calories, you simply will not put on muscle size. What all too many people do when it comes to nutrition is leave it down to chance. Don't be that guy. Work out how many calories you need per day to increase your weight — there are plenty of websites and apps out there to help you do this, for example I use (and would recommend) MyFitnessPal, which is available on Android and iOS — and then track how many calories you are consuming per day to make sure you are exceeding this number.