Getting stronger is one of the few things you can do to yourself in life that does not have a negative side effect.
Of course, the guy that owns a weight room is going to tell you that…
But it is true. All the benefits that come from weight training on a regular basis and eating well will make you healthy as an ox and as strong as one too.
Outside of the minor nuisance of being the person who is called upon to help friends and family move, getting strong will not prove me wrong.
See what I did there?
Athletes will typically jump higher, run faster, be able to change direction more effectively, and dominate the competition in their respective sport.
And they’re not the only ones who will reap its benefits. Getting stronger works for regular old gym folk, both male and female, as well.
Most of our adult population have the same goals: they want to be able to go up flights of stairs without being tired, play in the backyard with their grandkids, or get better in their recreational basketball league. Building a solid foundation of strength is key here.
Even if someone’s goal is fat loss, the more muscle that we can pack on their bodies, the better your body is going to operate. The small caveat to this is you don’t have to be as aggressive on the nutritional side of the equation. However, this does not mean that the process is any easier or that you should just go to McDonald’s every single day. But for all intents and purposes, those who have more muscle generally don’t need to get into the boiled chicken, rice, and broccoli all day, every day when it comes to dieting.
Stronger people tend to be more resilient and don’t get hurt as much. The old saying that “getting stronger is corrective” cannot be said enough times.
Plus, if the zombie apocalypse was ever to happen, you’d be in much better shape to handle the pressure of sprinting away from them.
I have digressed enough.
What are some of the factors that prevent or deter people from getting stronger?
Recovery
Everyone hates this word, but it is the first on the list for a very specific reason: recovery is that important. However, it is the most boring and will likely be the most glossed over point that I am going to make today.
From a physiological standpoint, you don’t get stronger or bigger during your workouts. You’re breaking down tissue and you’re accumulating fatigue.
Both are necessary and it’s what causes your body to adapt, grow, and become stronger.
But it is what allows yourself to recover in between bouts of training, and if you’re able to recover well enough in between said bouts, it is what’s going to dictate your consistency and overall long-term progress.
Recovery to me means:
- Hydration
- Ensuring that you’re eating enough calories in a 24-hour period
- Pre and post-workout nutrition being very important
- Keeping up with soft tissue modalities like foam rolling and occasional massages
- Going to bed on time
But John, it cannot be that simple, can it?
Yes, it can and it is.
I can not tell you how many conversations I’ve had over the years with high school, collegiate, and professional athletes who are scratching their heads as to why they are not getting stronger and why they always feel like they’ve gotten hit by a truck before they come into the gym.
In their heads, it’s:
- They’re not doing enough reps or sets.
- It must be a supplement that they’re missing, and they’re not taking.
If you peel the onion back a little bit, you find out that they’re up till 1 or 2 in the morning playing video games or scrolling mindlessly through Instagram.
Simple solution:
- All screens off at a certain time every single night
- Get yourself some room darkening curtains to block out as much sunlight or general light as possible
- I like having a fan on for some white noise
Long story short, go to bed and get your 8 hours if you can, and do it every single day. You will feel a lot better, and I just saved you a bunch of money on useless supplements.
You’re lifting too heavy too often
I know some people reading this are going to say, “Well, here’s John the science guy trying to tell me about the importance of periodization, deloads, and monitoring your training intensity.”
And they would be right.
In my experience, far too many people are concerned about constantly testing what their 1RM is rather than doing the fundamentals correctly to build that 1RM.
Don’t get me wrong, training in the 85-95% range is very important from a strength development standpoint, and we see many positive adaptations:
- Number of motor units recruited
- Rate coding increase
- Muscle sequencing will increase as well
- And your overall IQ will increase
But if you were to truly look at how professionals train, a bulk of their volume is going to hover in the 60-80% of their 1RM.
And that may be shocking to some people, and maybe in stark contrast to what people perceive as the right approach, but living within that rep range will get you stronger faster than trying to hit a heavy single every single day.
This is not to say that you should never train heavy, as there are blocks throughout the year or in your annual training schedule that are going to allow for you to be in that 90+ percent range. But, training heavy all the time will wear you down. Not only will your joints take a beating, but your neurological system will be taxed as well.
In the end, for most people, it is those sub-maximal weights that should be prioritized more frequently.
Not only does it ensure great technique, which will then allow you to express your strength more effectively, but it helps in building a much larger base so your strength ceiling will increase.
Making things too complicated
If you have ever coached people before, you know that some just want to be crushed in the gym. And that’s cool. I appreciate and respect whenever someone likes to work hard and to just simply get after it.
But making an exercise (hard) for the sake of just making it hard won’t necessarily equate to better results.
We do the minimal effective dosage model here at the gym. Striving to stress people out as little as possible to cause as much adaptation as possible so that they can come back and train more frequently.
When I write a program, I need to be able to back up my rationale for every single exercise that includes reps and sets because, after all, it is easy just to make someone tired.
When it comes to athletes or performance training, it’s a whole nother ball game to enhance their on-the-field performance. You need to be very particular with what movements you choose, rep sets, and blocks put together to make an overall training program etc…
I’ve always kept my exercises as simple as possible. We do basic squats and all their variations, lunges, hinges, vertical, horizontal pulls and a whole lot of core work.
We don’t make people stand on a Bosu ball trying to balance on one leg while juggling four lacrosse balls while they sing the national anthem. That may be challenging, but it doesn’t give us the desired training effect we’re after.
In my mind, the basics are not just the basics. They are the exercises that you have to fine-tune and will carry you throughout your entire lifting career. Doing crazy, weird things you see on Instagram just to make yourself fatigued may not be the best choice as you might not get the desired outcome you want and your chance of injury drastically improves.
If you are experiencing any of the above issues, there is no better time to reach out to us and schedule a consultation! https://getjdfit.com/free-intro-social/
