Things to consider when trying to Get Stronger
Most people get into Gym training to look good, be healthy and overall feel good. After a few months of playing around with the cardio equipment and fancy machines and jumping in on a class or two, you try your hand at weight training because you want to get stronger.
Being stronger means being able to lift more, move faster and improve vital body stats such as increased muscle mass and bone density. But what if you’re spending time in the gym and not improving? What might be the reasons why you’re not getting stronger?
Just when you think you are making steady progress with your strength training, you suddenly hit a wall. Every session gets hard and and you can’t even remember the last time you increased your weights. If you think you are in this situation right now, there’s a high chance that you are sabotaging your own progress. Here are some things to consider why you may be stuck at a strength plateau and how to overcome it.
Technique and form
The number one priority in Weight Training is to master the basics, then get strong and consistent in your execution, before being able to increase the intensity. When you’ve hit a wall, it’s good to step back and assess the way your body is moving when doing exercises. You might want to check your form, posture or anything that might be negatively affecting your mechanics.
Let’s use the Barbell Back squat as an example. This movement is life in a nutshell. We even use a squat pattern to sit down to go to the toilet. As basic a squat is in nature it can be very technical as it demands understanding of fundamentals and proper movement at the hip knee and ankle. You cannot expect to perfect a barbell squat if you can’t do a Bodyweight squat right. Now, some may argue they have the muscles to lift the heavy bar on their back, but remember that’s not the goal here. Until you correct your faulty mechanics or range of motion, you will have a hard time getting to the next step.
What to do: don’t hesitate to ask the help of your coach in checking your mechanics as frequently as possible. Once you have it right and consistent, you can start to progressively add more weight to your lifts and increase the intensity of your movements.
You Only Do What You Enjoy or What You’re Good At
Sometimes, we tend to get carried away with things we like doing instead of doing what pushes our bodies to grow. Maybe it’s doing more upperbody days than Lowerbody days or skipping core work because you leave it till the end and you are too tired to do it then. However, there’s actually a hidden disadvantage to this.
When you do the same exercise everyday, the same groups of muscles will get accustomed to it. Soon enough, that group of muscles will no longer respond to the stimuli and the exercise will be less and less intense until there is nothing to gain anymore. You can’t get stronger that way. A good strength routine needs enough variety to improve different areas of the body and not just one.
What to do: changing one or two aspects of your workout will allow you to break plateaus. If you see a weakness, face your fear of failure and break your wall. You don’t like training core? Well, start doing more. Always remember to have variety.
You’re Forgetting Accessory Work
To ultimately reach your strength potential, you have to move and perform as efficiently as possible. This is why athletes of all levels shouldn’t slack on accessory work. Done right, accessory work keeps you healthy, protects you from injury, helps address your muscular imbalances and most importantly, aids in your big lifts.
There are a lot of accessory movements that you can include in your training such as lunges, stepups, unilateral movements, arms, core, one arm rows— the list goes on. The more consistently you do these, the quicker you will see the benefits. Commit yourself to doing accessories and over time you will start to see your strength improve, and you will continue to set new personal bests.
What to do: give these exercises some love by giving the same amount of focus and energy as when you do your big lifts. If you are not convinced why a certain accessory movement is beneficial, ask your coach to explain to you its importance so that you are able to execute these movements with conviction.
Nutrition needs dialing in
Being super lean is great for aesthetics; but if you want to get stronger, you’ll need more fuel in your system to help build those muscles you need for your lifts.
Now you may think that eating protein is enough and that you don’t need carbs and fat. Stop this thinking! Our muscles actually love to use carbohydrates and fat for energy. A healthy balance of protein, complex carbs and fats work together to repair muscles as they break down after an intense workout. You’ll be amazed at how much better your body performs and handles heavier loads when it’s properly fueled.
What to do: something that’s overlooked a lot is to eat often but in smaller portions. You can munch on complex carbs (e.g fruit and vegetables) but avoid simple carbohydrates that cause large spikes in blood sugar and hamper your body’s metabolism. Remember to eat organic and avoid processed foods as best you can.
You’re Not Recovering Enough
Sometimes, you confuse gains with time in the gym because truthfully, it makes sense. You overtrain and add more reps with each movement, thinking this should get you stronger. However, a long and hard session doesn’t necessarily do much for muscle gains and can be counterproductive in the long run. If you’re not careful, it can even lead to muscle loss.
You will know you’re overtraining if you notice these things:
- The point of exhaustion comes earlier and earlier with each workout.
- You have aches, pains, injuries or any related symptoms that do not seem to heal.
If your body is telling you to stop, then stop. You must understand that resting is part of the training process and it’s there for a reason. Without it, the body won’t have enough time to let injuries heal and restore muscle tissue breakdown.
What to do: change your perspective to, “I want to work smarter, not harder.” Keep workouts intense but short by decreasing your volume slightly, and be sure to make good use of your recovery days. Meditate. Sleep. Take a bath. Do whatever you can do to rest and make sure you aren’t always draining your system.
I hope this helps. Remember you can always sit down with a strength coach or Personal trainer to have a look at your plan and movement. Just see reception to book this in.
By Joe McManus
Atmosphere PT
