5 REASONS YOU ARE NOT GETTING STRONGER!

5 REASONS YOU ARE NOT GETTING STRONGER!

In today's world strength is a high priced commodity. People will go to great lengths and pay a big money to increase their strength and muscle size. Strength is being displayed all around us every day. We see it at gyms and through various media outlets. We also hear about it constantly. As a high school athlete it wasn't uncommon for 2 total strangers to share stories about their strength feats whether on the field on in the weight room. We'd ask about who benched what or who manhandled who on the field. In school you got respect for being strong. At work and in the gym and even at home strength always gives someone that little extra something,...... respect, attention or just flat out fear. So it's no wonder that of all the questions I get daily, 70% or more have to do strength.

In this article I'm not going to give you keys on 'how' to get stronger. There is so much content on this subject now-a-days that you would have a harder time NOT finding something than you would trying to find something about strength. I'm simply going to address some of the possible reasons on why you may not be seeing your strength increase. Because of all the content that is available, its easy to get information overload. I see people so often today going from one program to the next with completely conflicting styles  and completely different requirements. People need to understand that information should be gained, but knowledge is for the purpose of improvement and correction. It shouldn't be used to produce a 'schizophrenic" mind set that has us jumping from program to program. 

For the sake of this article, im going to assume that many of the readers are already on a strength program of some sort. Whether its a body building type program or a athlete based program, programs all have the same basic requirements when it comes to strength. PMT! Plan, method and timing. This topic itself is a separate article but the premise is that any program needs the proper plan, the method for which to execute the plan, and time to allow the method to work. If there is any breakdown in any 1 of these areas, you're going to have problems. 

More specifically when I ask to see a persons program or inquire of what they are currently doing, I usually get an idea of where they are going wrong. With that said, here are some of the reason why many of you may not be seeing your strength increase:

1 - Lack of Heavy Weights in the program - Make no mistake, the number #1 way to get stronger is to lift heavy weights progressively loading over time. Heavy weight training stimulates the CNS to call upon the biggest most powerful muscles to achieve the task needed. When there is a lack of heavy training, this system cannot develop properly. High rep training and other forms muscle building should not be confused with building strength. Make sure you include an adequate amount of 'max effort' training and you'll be sure to see increases in strength.


2 - Too many assistance exercises - When I first began strength training for a living I was all about assistance exercises. 2-3 different assistance exercises for each body part 2-3 times a week. This was something I grew up doing because much of what I learned came from an old body building techniques and people who'd learned that same way. I'd notice a change in muscle size but not really as much in strength. The problem was NOT the assistance exercises, but rather the large quantity of assistance exercises. Too many assistance exercises in your programs will keep your strength levels at bay. This happens because strength is NOT about sets and reps. Again, strength is a nervous system response to external loads. Big multi-joint compound movements cause your CNS to activate more muscles to help achieve that specific task. When your CNS can call on a particular groups of muscles to work with proper activation, symmetry and timing....strength is achieved. Assistance exercises are usually more localized and can help improve local strength, cross section (size) and improve physique. However, too much focus on them and the overall goal will be diminished. If strength is the goal, cut back on large amounts of assistance work. 2-3 exercises will produce far more carryover than 2-3 per muscle group. On top of that you'll feel much better and have much more variety for your weekly training sessions. 

3 - Too much volume - When I was in school we had a program that literally had 15lifts in one workout. Volume overload! We did an explosive lift, followed by a "core" lift like a squat, bench press or a dead lift. Then we did an assistance lift or 2. Then we did a ton of supplemental lifts which are lifts that are usually involving shoulder cuff stability and or ascetic work like arms and calf work. The workout was "supposed" to take our team 45 min but it usually took us closer to 90 min due to the sheer volume of exercises that had to be done. The training effect of the major lifts was almost gone because we had done so much else that it became one huge loss and waste of time.  Too much volume in training is similar to using too much water on a plant. When a plant grows it requires water, sunlight and rest. If you sat there and watered it all day, the growth of that plant would be hindered. Well likewise, programs with too much volume (sets and reps) will not yield proper strength results. You would be better off doing less (volume) and eating/resting more than you would doing more. Its just too much stress to recover from and the effect that you are trying to gain from training would be lost. You wouldn't eat a main course and 10 sides with dinner, correct? Usually 2-3 sides (all with a planned purpose) will suffice. Likewise, strength gains will be negatively effected by too much volume in training.

3 - Too much cardio - I always find it funny when I see guys who claim they want to get big and strong but spend all day doing cardio. Cardiovascular training to some degree should be a part of every program, but if your goal is to gain strength, cardiovascular training would have to be monitored so that your gains would could be optimized.

Steady state cardio is great for recovery and building a good aerobic base. However, if you engage in too much volume, you are going to see strength levels go down. This is basically because maximal strength requires a high amount of fast twitch muscle activation & longer rest periods. Too much aerobic base cardio training will stimulate more slow twitch muscle fibers thus creating two separate adaptations that are in fact opposing one another. Bottom line is, if you want to get stronger...lift heavier weights and rest more. Use aerobic training for recovery and restoration and not make it the main focus in your training.

Anaerobic cardiovascular training can also produce negative effects if used improperly. Because of the high threshold motor units being activated, rest is extremely important if strength gains are going to go up. Using methods like plyometrics, sprints, barbell complexes etc will all have to be scheduled and programmed properly if you are going to maximize strength gains. If any fast twitch training is used, it must be done at its maximal intensity and with adequate amounts of rest. It also must be accompanied by max effort training. simply doing heavy barbell complexes alone will not get you stronger. It may help burn some glycogen and fat due to the alactic nature of the training. But strength will not go up from this type of training. 

4 - Not enough rest between sets - I've already mentioned that rest is a vital necessity when it comes to building strength. But most people dont rest enough. Especially those of us who train people for a living and only have so much time to work with people. Rest to a 'restless soul' seems like a pure waste of time especially when you're in a bind with time. But if you're going to optimize your ability to build strength....you need to rest between sets. During heavy lifting your high threshold motor units are being recruited and all your fast twitch muscles are being used to complete the lift. It is highly important that in-between reps of heavy maximal effort lifting you allow the regeneration process of storing additional ATP and the removing of waste products to take place. If you rush back in for the next set, you may not have fully recovered from the previous bout and will not be at your maximal capacity for the next lift. This happens all too often in lifting because people feel as though they need to rush and build up an incredible sweat for the workout to be effective. If you're lifting for strength, its quite possible that you'll sweat very little at times. But if your goal is strength and your program layout is correct, then you'll see results. Rushing between sets should be reserved for another type of training, but not with building strength. 

5 - Poor program layout - This should probably be listed 1st because it is probably the #1 factor why people cannot get stronger. Many program layouts are just not right. There is too much of the wrong things with too little of the right things all at the same time. Because of the length and depth of the volume of programs out there, its hard to discuss how each of them may be flawed. The important thing to remember it that strength requires major compound multi-joint movements that recruit the highest amount of muscle at 1 time.In addition your nervous system will recruit the most muscles possible which stimulates the highest level of hormonal production improving the biological adaptation of strength. If you need help with your program layout contact me at key2sportstraining@gmail.com and we can help you construct a program that works best for you.

Until next time -

Get Strong / Be Explosive!

Cornell Key
www.Key2SportsTraining.com
732-749-3093