Fitness
3 Strategies to Get Stronger
1.Too Many Reps
So many times when we're exercising, and I fall victim to this all the time, we care more about feeling the burning sensation of our muscles and/or feeling like we’re tired.
But there’s a difference between building muscle and building strength.
And there’s a difference between building endurance and building strength.
And there’s a difference between improving our cardiovascular condition and building strength.
And to be clear, this blog is all about getting stronger - the ability to produce more force with a muscle.
And you don’t build strength by doing a lot of reps.
Instead of doing a ton of reps to feel a good “burn,” or to feel a good “pump,” or to get “tired,” we must have more discipline.
To build strength, stay within a rep range of 1-8 reps.
And when doing those reps, aim to fall within 1-4 reps from failure.
Meaning when you finish a set of 5, you are leaving a little bit left in the tank. You are leaving anywhere from 1-4 reps left in the tank.
Otherwise said, if you're doing a weight where you would fail at 8 reps, you would do anywhere between 4-7 reps with that weight. (1-4 reps in reserve)
If you go too close to failure during a few working sets, you’re going to fatigue your nervous system and muscles dramatically.
You may fatigue them to the point where you don’t have the ability to produce as much force in subsequent sets as is required to build strength.
Stay within 1-8 reps and stay 1-4 reps short of failure.
2. Too Short of Rest
Oftentimes people think less rest = better.
Because that’s when you feel the most tired.
And sure, having short rest times is what you need to do if you’re looking to build muscular endurance but not when you’re looking to build strength.
In order to get stronger, rest anywhere between 90 seconds and 5 minutes between sets.
Depending on your workout and the time you have available, rest times closer to 5 minutes might be unrealistic.
I know that I never rest for 5 minutes in between sets, and I never have my clients rest 5 minutes between sets.
It’s boring to me and takes up a lot of time. But if you have the time, taking that long of rest will allow you to have great performance on each individual set.
And you don’t need to take this long of rest for every exercise.
But pick a few exercises where you really want to lift heavier for, and be sure to give yourself adequate rest time between working sets of at least 90 seconds.
3. Poor Form
Conclusion:
Building strength is hard, especially if you’ve been working out for a long time.
It takes intentionality, consistency, and dedication.
If you’re looking to build strength:
1.Do Reps of 1-8 and Stay 1-4 Reps From Failure
2.Rest 90 Seconds - 5 Minutes in Between Sets
3.Minimize the Use of Momentum During Reps
If you can do these three things, you’ll be well on your way to breaking through your strength plateau.
If you’ve hit a plateau with strength and are looking to break through it, then sign up for the next 10-Week Transformation.
In the 10-WT I will have you manually track your weights on a few exercises on a week-to-week basis so that you can ensure that you're making gains.
Nick
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