Plateau at 16 months — what helped me push through

Around the 16-month mark in Powerlifting I hit a wall. My progress with bracing and Valsalva wasn't improving and I felt like I was spinning wheels. It's apparently common but that didn't make it less frustrating.

What helped: going back to fundamentals with my coach, spending more time drilling the big three slowly rather than at full speed, and watching Stefi Cohen breakdowns to understand what I was missing. competition day atmosphere eventually returned once I let go of trying to advance too fast. learning to brace and Valsalva properly was actually the underlying cause of the plateau — once I addressed it, things moved again. If you hit that wall, stick with it. It passes.