The Problem
It’s not rare to see a big guy at the gym having trouble with somewhat medium weights. It is always a funny sight since you’d expect a well-build guy like that to push that weight with ease but sadly this usually isn’t the case as during the last decades functionality has given way to aesthetics and so we’ve ended up with a lot of muscular guys that are simply all-show-no-go.
The reason for this phenomenon to have occurred is that in their aim for ever bigger muscles a lot of these men have moved to the repetition range of 10-15 reps, thus optimizing sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. For those of you who don’t know what that is – sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase of the volume of the cell fluid, sarcoplasm. Simply put, although the muscle increases in size there is no increase in muscular strength. Another reason for their relative weakness is that in their aim to get bigger they’ve started to isolate every muscle of their body and working them separately, ditching all compound exercises.
Now, don’t get me wrong, working in the 10-15 rep range and doing isolation lifts is all fine and dandy, but it’s important to remember that these lifts are just assistance exercises, they are NOT the main part of your training routine.
In order for you not to end up as one of those all-show-no-go gym-regulars the main part of your training program should consist of compound strength training oriented exercises.
How To Train For Strength
First off, do compound exercises like the squat, the deadlift, the bench press, the overhead press, the barbell row… These exercises teach your muscles to work together and generate tremendous amounts of force which is why the more muscles you involve in an exercise, the more weight you lift.
Work in the 3-5 rep range to optimize myofibrillar hypertrophy. Again for those who don’t know what that is – myofibrillar hypertrophy is an enlargement of the muscle fiber as it gains more myofibrils, which contract and generate tension in the muscle. In other words, muscular strength increases!
The most important concept in strength training is progressive loading. This simply means adding weight to the bar every workout. On compound exercises like the ones I’ve mentioned above you should add 2.5kg/5.5lbs every workout until you stall.
Of course training methodology is just one aspect of the pursuit of a well-built and functional body – you’ve got to take care of nutrition and sleep too…
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