CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

5 Quick Tips to Increase Strength

There are no “hacks” to getting strong. I’m a firm believer you get out of it what you put in.

It’s hard, and it takes a lot of hard work; oftentimes over the course of several years.

That said, below are a few “quick” tips that can help expedite the process. Admittedly there’s nothing profound or elaborate included, but I felt it important to suggest things that are easily accessible to the bulk of people who read this site.

Hope they resonate and help.5 Quick Tips to Increase Strength

1. WARNING: Captain Obvious suggestion of the day: Creatine

It still dumbfounds me to think there are people out there who train on a consistent basis, yet are still not taking creatine (and yes, this includes you as well ladies). It’s the most researched supplement in human history and it’s efficacy has been proven time and time again.

*It’s safe

*It works

*It’s NOT steroids

Just take five grams of creatine monohydrate (no need to buy the expensive brands that are laced with rocket fuel) per day and that’s that.

ADDENDUM: This is a suggestion. Not mandatory. The first step to addressing lack of progress is to audit your program and nutrition. If those two factors aren’t getting the job done, no one supplement is going to be the panacea.

That said, you still need to go train like a savage. Taking creatine alone isn’t going to mount to much.

2. Deadlift Barefoot

Everyone who trains with me here in Boston is told to take their shoes off when (s)he deadlifts.

To quote a new client I started with the other night

“Why?”

BECAUSE I SAID SO. HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME. KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!

Just kidding.

Well for starters, by taking your shoes off you’re now 1-2 inches closer to the ground, which is 1-2 inches less distance the bar has to travel.

Secondly, and more germane to the point, by taking your shoes off you’re now able to push through your heels. As a result, you’ll recruit more of your glutes and hamstrings to help out.

It’s not uncommon for some people to see a significant increase in how much weight they can pull off the ground from a little more posterior chain recruitment.

Thirdly, people will automatically think you’re badass cause you’re training with no shoes on. Of course, this is contingent on whether or not your feet smell like you’ve been walking through a sewer all day.

In that case, it’s your call.

3. Glute Activation

If your glutes aren’t able to fire full throttle, the hamstrings and lower back have to do more work than they’re accustomed to doing.

So from that standpoint paying more attention to glute activation can have positive repercussions for those suffering through chronic low-back pain.

However, people often forget the badonkadonks are not only the body’s dominant hip extensor which play a key role in athletics and strength, but are also a fairly large muscle that’s aesthetically pleasing to look at (cue obligatory fitness Insta-celebrity pic here).

Don’t worry, I got you too ladies:

By “turning on” the glutes with some simple activation techniques beforehand, you will undoubtedly be able to handle more weight when you squat and/or deadlift.

To that end, while I don’t have any PubMed research articles to back this up, more weight=more strength=more people want to see you naked.

Here are some of my favorites:

Up 2, Down 1

 

I like this variation because it allows for more eccentric overload on the lowering leg. Obviously one will need to master the two-legged variation first, but this is a nice progression to consider.

Band Resisted 1-Legged Hip Thrust

 

This is an ingenious variation I stole from Dean Somerset. If you’re looking to progress you’re 1-Legged Hip Thrust and having a hard time figuring out a way to do so, give this a try.

Creepy McCreepypants Frog Pumps

 

Popularized by none other than Bret Contreras, Frog Pumps are another fantastic exercise that aid in getting the glutes nice and juicy.

Thing is, they’re awkward as fuck to perform in public.

So, there’s only one way, and one way only, to perform them….

…..by copying Bret and Dr. John Rusin’s lead and making direct, intense eye contact with someone and making things creepy AF.1.

Reps can range anywhere from 15 to infinity.

4. Stop Testing Strength and Build It

I’m not the first to say this.

Many other coaches stronger than I – Chad Wesley Smith, Greg Robins, Julia Ladewski, Pavel, to name a few – have reverberated this quote on repeat throughout the years.

Far too often trainees head to the gym week in and week out and “test” their lifts rather than actually build them.

Now, mind you, lifting heavy things (90% + of 1 rep-max) is a non-negotiable factor to getting strong. However, as I noted in THIS blog post sub-maximal training (I.e., predominately using loads in the 65-85% range) is much UNDER-valued component to strength training.

In other words: loads in those ranges help one to BUILD strength.

Moreover, utilizing more sub-maximal training – while having an obvious muscle building effect (bigger muscles often equate to more force output) – also allows trainees to hone their technique and to get into (and maintain) proper positions to exhibit their strength more effectively.

5. Use Novelty Sparingly

Unlike coaches Dan John or Mike Boyle, I don’t find myself to be a very quotable person.

However, I am proud of this one:

“Look, I’m not bashing exercise variety. Variety has a time and place. However, the greatest gap in most people’s training isn’t lack of novelty, but rather lack of mastery.”

Many trainees have what I like to call “Squirrel Syndrome” when it comes to working out.

They start doing an exercise (or in most cases start an exercise program) and before they’ve put down the dumbbell on their first set they’re distracted by a new “squirrel.”

 

In this case the squirrel is an entirely new exercise program or a bright, shiny, new exercise.

– “Jumping Jack BOSU Bicep Curls?”

– “Sweet Christmas, I need that in my life.”

Want to get stronger?

Stop hopping exercise to exercise or program to program. It’s almost impossible to see steady progress if you’re heavy-handed on the novelty.

I like Jim Wendler’s approach to programming for strength:

“The boring shit works.”

Observe anyone who’s strong or has a physique you admire and almost always they’re doing very vanilla things in the weight room.

Contrarily, watch most other asshats who cry afoul about hitting their genetic ceiling2(or something equally as lame):

Jumping Jack BOSU Bicep Curls.

CategoriesStrength Training

Stuff That Works But People Think Doesn’t But It Does: Submaximal Training Edition

The movie The Bourne Identity, based off the novel of the same name written by Robert Ludlum, was released in the summer of 2002 and starred one Matt Damon.

Up until that point Damon wasn’t a no-name actor. He was most recognized for his roles in Good Will Hunting, Rounders, The Rainmaker, and Ocean’s 11, to name a few.

I, like many others upon hearing the news Matt Damon was going to be playing Jason Bourne – an iconic, bonafide, badass – had this reaction:

“The fuck?”

Matt Damon?

Matt Damon the same guy who was in The Talented Mr. Ripley and All the Pretty Horses? That Matt Damon?

“Pfffft, no way it’ll work,” I thought. “A piece of french toast comes across as more badass than Matt Damon.”

Clearly I, and everyone else, didn’t know what the hell we were talking about.

15 years and four installments later (five if you count The Bourne Legacy) it’s hard to think of anyone else playing Bourne.

Damon was/is a legit boss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJz7P1V3_M4

 

Needless to say it worked.

People didn’t think it would, but it did.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, I notice the same parallel in the strength & conditioning world.

People think something won’t or doesn’t work, but it does.

Take for instance sub-maximal training.

Sub-Maximal Say What Now?

Loosely described, maximal (or max-effort) training is a load – usually a one, three, or five rep max – that can’t be completed for an additional rep.

For example if you squat 275 lbs for three reps, but attempted a fourth and know you’ll perform the world’s fastest face plant, that’s your 3-rep max.

I.e., you’re unable to complete an additional rep.

Alternatively, sub-maximal training is best described by strength coach Todd Bumgardner:

“Submaximal effort training is simply work done with heavy loads that don’t require maximal effort. The weights exist in the range between seventy-five and ninety percent of one rep maximum and each set finishes with a few reps left in the tank.”

There’s been a shift in recent years of people always training to failure and always utilizing maximal loads, because, you know, #peoplearefuckingstupid.

While I can appreciate one’s desire to want to train hard and at maximal effort, for many, most of time, it’s a less than optimal approach to take (long-term).

For starters, maximal training beats up the body. Now, before some snooty internet warrior chimes in with something like “but Tony, isn’t that the point of lifting weights? To challenge the body and force it to adapt?” let me explain.

Yes, I’d agree with that comment. Most people could benefit from training a little more savagely. Often, when someone says he or she isn’t getting results there’s a convenient correlation to how “hard” they’re working in the gym.

I.e., they’re not.

However, if you’re someone who’s routinely training at “max-effort” and/or training to failure and missing reps all the time I’d garner a guess you’re routinely compromising your ability to recover.

Ergo, unless your name is Wolverine or you’re *cough, cough* taking supplements, sustained max-effort training isn’t a smart choice.

Utilizing loads in the 75-90% range tends to be spot-on for the bulk of trainees. It serves as an obvious option for adding volume, which is an important component to adding muscle.

Moreover, sub-maximal training, when implemented intelligently, won’t brutalize your joints and it’ll allow you to train more frequently.

It’s a win-win.

NOTE: All this is not to insinuate maximal-effort training should be avoided at all costs. Don’t be cray-cray. If that’s how you’re interpreting things please take your face and throw it against a wall.

Training with sub-maximal loads isn’t only great for adding mass, but it’s also a great way to get strong.

Think of it this way: If you make your 3 rep-max your 5-rep max, it’ll also likely result in your 1-rep max seeing a boost too.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a real-world example.

Two months ago I started working with a female client, a coach herself, who walked in on day one with a 300 lb (straight bar) deadlift.

She was already very strong.

She wanted to work with me to help “audit” her deadlift and to help prep for her first barbell competition – not a powerlifting meet.

Some Brief Context: she’s actually a co-owner of a gym here in Boston that specializes in kettlebell training and is StrongFirst certified herself. The name alludes me at the moment (sleep deprivation sucks), but she and a few of her colleagues/co-workers are competing in a StrongFirst “event” that includes some barbell lifts, with the deadlift as the main course.3

Like I said, she walked in on day one with an already impressive pull of 300 lbs. Nevertheless, I was up for the challenge and wanted to see how much progress we could make in two months.

For eight weeks, we never pulled anything heavier than 250 lbs. In fact, I had her perform all sets based off 90% of her 1-rep max.4

This allowed us to utilize a bit more volume (she deadlifted 2x per week: one “heavy” day and one “light” day), albeit under the premise technique was going be at a premium (honing in on attaining a lifter’s wedge) while also ensuring reps stayed snappy.

For deadlifting success (and for a spine that won’t hate you) this is mucho important. Top video = zero lifter’s wedge. You’ll notice when I initiate the pull my armpits are way in front of the bar and subsequently shear loading on spine is significantly higher. Bottom Video = what the lifter’s wedge should look like (a term popularized by @backfitpro). I use the barbell as a counterbalance to pull my chest up (upper back extends) in addition to getting my weight back and armpits above the bar. Likewise I push my feet into the ground to generate more stability and force. Resultantly my back is placed into a much more biomechanically sound position (less shear) and I’m pretty sure this guarantees I’ll be nominated for People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. Pffffft, who needs pecs that can cut diamonds and an 8-figure bank account. Overrated if you ask me. NOTE: load used in both videos was 390 lbs. You should notice a much smoother & faster bar path with the latter video.

A post shared by Tony Gentilcore (@tonygentilcore) on

The Result?

This past Monday marked the “ten days out” point from her competition and I wanted to test the waters.

Jessica ended up hitting a pretty damn clean 330 lbs (with more in the tank). We’re hoping she’ll match that number (if not add another 15-20 lbs) when it’s go time.

Remember: she hadn’t touched anything heavier than 250 lbs for eight weeks.

I know some of you reading will clamor for the meat and potatoes of her programming. That’s NOT the point of this post.5

The point is that you don’t have to shit a spleen and hoist max effort loads every time you walk into the gym. More often than not you should focus on quality reps (but strain sometimes), end each session kinda-sorta refreshed, and wanting more.

Sub-maximal training is a thing.

And it works.