Tag: Stronger
How To Know If You’re Getting Stronger In The Gym
Steps To Check Your Strength Gains
How would you feel if you were stuck in the same class while all your friends moved onto higher classes in school? Disappointed, disheartened, or dejected maybe? That’s exactly how you feel when you don’t see any strength improvements in the gym.
Assessing your strength improvements isn’t as easy as reading your school’s report card. The thought of not getting anywhere even after putting in your best in the gym is the last thing you want. In this article, we’ll tell you how to gauge your strength improvements.
Keep a Journal
Since we’re referring to schools, let’s talk about another similarity. Imagine going to school and not taking any notes or keeping a journal. How do you think you would fare at the end of the year?
Many people make the mistake of not keeping track of their workouts and wonder why they can’t see any results. While keeping a training journal might sound intimidating, it isn’t as bad or hard as some people think it is.
If you’re wondering – you don’t need to take a diary with you to the gym. You can use your phone’s notes app to put in the details (exercises, number of sets, reps done, and the weights used) of your workouts. You could take things up a notch by adding how you ‘felt’ during the workout.
Shorter Workouts
For some people, the length of their workouts is equivalent to the quality of the session. This is a flawed concept because as you get stronger, you’ll need shorter periods to recover between sets.
The next time you’re done with your training before the usual time, don’t do more exercises to compensate for the extra time. Note it in your journal and lift heavier weights in the next workout.
Feel The Weights
If you’ve been working out for some time, you might have had times when your usual training weights felt like peanuts. Whenever the weights feel lighter, it’s a sure sign that you’re growing stronger.
On days like these when you feel like you can conquer the world, you should go all out in your training. Train as heavy as you can without compromising on your form, and the bodybuilding Gods will surely bless you with gains.
On the other hand, if the weights feel heavier than usual – could be because of fatigue or exertion – you should drop down the weights and go after the pump. If the weights feel light and you’re able to do more reps than usual, you’ve got good news on hand.
Lifting Bigger
This is the most obvious sign of getting stronger. If you can lift heavier weights without compromising on the form, you’ve gotten stronger. After hitting a PR, don’t make the mistake of camping in your comfort zone.
Keep pushing yourself to ensure that you don’t hit a plateau. Getting a spotter, using advanced training techniques like supersets, drop sets, BFR training, intra-set stretching are fantastic ways of improving your strength.
How much can you bench? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
*Header image courtesy of Envato Elements.
How To Grow Stronger and Hit A PR In 4-Weeks
Steps To Hit A PR In 4-Weeks
Many people join a gym to get bigger and stronger. It’s no secret that to gain muscle mass, you need to be constantly pushing your limits. If you aren’t hitting a PR every four weeks or so, it could be a sign of hitting a plateau.
If you’re reading this article, we’re assuming that you’re encountering an overhead ceiling. Following the steps mentioned below will help you break through the plateau and hit a PR in four weeks.
Set a Goal
Some people confuse PRs (personal record or personal best – PB) with 1RM (One Rep Max). Your personal best can be your 1RM but it can also be the maximum number of reps you can perform with a certain amount of weight.
For instance, your PR goal could be to bench 315lb for one rep or deadlift 225lb for eight reps. Hitting a PR isn’t something which happens randomly. You need to plan and prepare for it in advance.
Think of a PR attempt as an exam. You need to prepare for it on a timeline before you enter the examination hall. Setting a well-defined goal and prepping for it could help you in passing the exam.
Take It Easy On The PR Exercise
Contrary to mainstream thinking, you shouldn’t push too hard on the main exercise while prepping for the PR. Most of the times, weaker secondary (helping) muscles are what keep you from hitting a PR.
Performing more difficult versions of the lifts can help you gain strength for the main exercise. For example, if you want to hit a PR on the squats, performing front squats can prime you by reinforcing an aspect of technique which carries over to the main lift.
In the 4 weeks leading up to the PR attempt, you should perform the main exercise only as a warm-up lift so that your working muscles don’t get too tensed up. Doing other versions can dial in the technique and help you crush your PR.
When you’re looking to hit a PR, you generally want your muscles to be tighter and movements to be explosive. You can achieve tightness and explosiveness by using variations like pause squats, deficit deadlifts, etc.
Use Primer Sets
Primer sets are the sets which you perform before attempting the PR. The primer sets help you in getting in the groove and get your muscles warmed up and ready to go for the set you had been working so hard for for the last four weeks.
Pro tip – Don’t save the primer sets for the D-day. Perform the primer sets for the entire fourth week (without attempting the PR) so your muscles are used to lifting the weights, and you establish a mind-muscle connection.
Primer sets are an incredibly effective way of getting you in the zone for your PR. Performing the primer sets with great form and explosiveness can boost confidence and wake up high threshold motor units to get you ready for your working sets.
What is your bench press PR? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Header image courtesy of Envato Elements
6 Reasons Why You Are Not Getting Stronger
Most people join a gym to get over some kind of insecurity.
Lifting weights has this uncanny ability to make you feel powerful and in control. Hit the gym for a few years, and you will start feeling like you can beat a grizzly bear in a bare-knuckle fight.
But the question remains – If it is so good, why do some people quit training soon after they get a gym membership? One of the biggest reasons is that these people have no results to show for the hard work they put in the gym.
The adrenaline rush is one of the biggest hooks for weightlifting. Graduating from a 40lb dumbbell to a 45lb dumbbell is a thrilling moment for a lifter. On the other hand, being stuck on the same weight for too long can be discouraging.
Let’s be honest. Resistance training is hard. Not seeing the needle budge in the right direction even after performing thousands of reps day in and day out can be pretty disappointing. The day an individual begins questioning their results is the beginning of the end of their fitness journey.
Knowing what you are doing wrong can help you save time, effort, and frustration that comes with following an ineffective routine. While an inability to meet your daily macro goal, lack of discipline, and rest are potent causes for stalled progress, they are far from being the only reasons. In this article, we are going to dig deeper into why you are not getting stronger.
Reasons Why You Are Not Getting Stronger
1. You Do What You Love And Love What You Do
While ‘Do what you love and love what you do’ might be a great advertising campaign, it doesn’t work so well in the gym. Most people have an exercise that they love performing, like the bicep curl and leg extension, and then there are some exercises that don’t get the same love – like squats.
Sticking to the same exercises in every workout might make you feel great, but the strength void you are creating by avoiding the “hard” lifts gets bigger with every training session. Also, performing the same exercises in every workout is one of the fastest ways to hit a plateau.
In the gym (just like in life), the things that push you out of your comfort zone are the things that will help you grow and succeed. There is no place for comfort in the gym. The next time you find yourself heading towards the leg press machine, take a stop-over at the squat rack.
2. The Ego Is The Enemy
The iron paradise is a high-testosterone zone, and it is not the place to go looking for the world’s most humble men. Egos usually run high in places where people are trying to outdo each other, and the gym is no different.
There are two types of ego lifters:
Bros who put on more weight on the bar than they can handle. These folks let their form go for a toss as they struggle to lift the weight.
People who never push themselves to lift heavier than they usually do. They avoid attempting a PR on the squat or bench press to avoid the embarrassment of failing at the lift.
While the first scenario is more dangerous than the second, both are toxic for your gains and should be avoided if you want to get stronger. While entering the gym, drop your ego at the front door and practice lifting with a leveled head. Remember: don’t starve but also don’t bite off more than you can chew.
3. You Are Jumping Ships Too Often
Most people make the mistake of switching training programs too often. In today’s fast-paced world, people want quick fixes. Fast food, super glue, instant noodles, and quick money trading Dogecoin (thanks, Elon). They carry the same mindset to the gym as well.
These people start a training program, and if they don’t see results in a few weeks (which they usually don’t), they switch programs in hopes of getting stronger and turning around their physiques. And then they switch to a new program after a few more weeks.
While following the same program for a long period can cause you to hit a plateau, jumping ships too often do not give your muscles enough time to get the most out of your routine. You should stick with a training program for at least eight weeks before switching things up.
4. Everyone And Everything Has A Limit
It would be great if we could grow a little stronger every day. Some people say they focus on getting 1% better every day in whatever it is they are trying to improve. If you apply this to weight lifting, it won’t be long before you could star in the next Hulk movie.
Train long enough, and you will reach a point where your strength will plateau, and you won’t get any stronger. The genetic ceiling is for real, and even unsavory things like steroids will only get you so far before you hit the new overhead ceiling.
5. You Are Unaware About ‘Supramaximal Training’
Supramaximal training involves exposing the body to higher or greater than a corresponding maximal stimulus. This technique can shock your muscles into growing by exposing them to a higher set of demands than they are used to.
If you want to increase muscle strength and hypertrophy, you should focus on increasing your TuT (time under tension) during supramaximal training sets using eccentric loading.
The TuT component of eccentric loading can be incredibly effective in plateau-breaking and prove invaluable for pushing the muscles and the nervous system to a new level of performance.
6. Bad Mechanics
The human brain finds the most efficient way to move through space while facing the least amount of resistance. This feature of our mind has served us Homo sapiens and our evolution well, but the same cannot be said for resistance training.
While lifting, many people subconsciously get into positions that limit the load on the joints and, therefore, the muscles. If you are one of these people, you should take a step back and assess your form while lifting.
When you are in the gym, you should put the evolutionary brain to rest and focus on making your body work hard for the gains. There are no two ways about it.
What is your bench press PR?
Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.