March 2016

‘How do I get stronger?’ This is a common question I often get asked along with more specific questions such as ‘How can I increase my bench press’ or ‘I want to deadlift more. How can I go about it?’ The good news is that there are ways to increase your maximum lifts, even if you feel you are at your genetic potential. There are a number of ways you can do this but today I will be outlining the simplest and most common method. When you commence training with weights, it’s highly likely that your strength will increase without too much effort, as long as you are consistent. This is due to neurological adaptation. Neurological adaptation is the way in which your body adapts to stress and, more specifically, the way in which your nervous system builds tolerance to weight training including heavy lifting. If you have ever trained you would most likely have experienced soreness in the muscle area that you have been targeting. Usually it’s delayed for some time and it may not be until the next day or the day after that you really start to feel it. This is commonly referred to as D.O.M.S or ‘Delayed onset muscle soreness’. Intermediate and advanced trainers will also experience this sensation however newcomers are more likely to be affected by D.O.M.S. I am going to outline the exact method to increase your strength and you can relate this method to any exercise. Let’s pick a common one; the Squat! I like the squat as it is a multi-functional movement that engages many muscle groups. Here is how to go about increasing your strength: • Pick a weight that you are comfortable with. Approximately 70-80% of your maximum lift. If you’re not sure, pick a weight that you can comfortably do 10-12 reps on. • Program this into your weekly workouts, doing it at least twice per week and 3 times per week maximum. One session should take you no longer than 20-25 minutes. • Do 5 sets for 5 reps. Take a 1-2 minute rest between sets (2 minutes maximum). Make sure you have warmed up properly on this exercise prior to starting your first working set. Warm ups are generally with lighter weights and higher repetitions. Do not go to failure during your warm up. Ensure that your goal when warming up is to perform the movement correctly whilst feeling comfortable. You are not aiming for a muscle pump or a heavy lift here, just a warm up. • Once you have chosen your weight, in order to get stronger you must increase this weight as soon as you can do 5 reps on your 5th set comfortably. Increasing your weight for all 5 sets may occur after your first workout using this system, or it may take a few workouts. That is it. Really simple. If you are advanced at increasing your strength then there are more methods you have to consider to get even stronger. These include training the muscles that are referred to as antagonists, training stabilising muscles surrounding the main muscle group (in this case the main muscle worked is the thigh), and performing similar methods to the bullet points above but with exercises that mimic the squat movement or are similar to the squat such as a leg press. Before getting to advanced levels, try this method for at least 3-5 weeks then you can test your strength increase by performing a 1 rep. maximum lift but make sure you are safe (in case you fail) or that you have an experienced spotter. Happy lifting!

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Monthly Archives: March 2016

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