How can you specifically build and increase your strength in strength training? What needs to be considered? For many exercisers, progress stagnates after a while: they can no longer increase the weights or repetitions in the exercises and also notice no further physical development in terms of body fat reduction or muscle mass. However, there are numerous methods to structure training plans so that muscle building can take place beyond maximum strength in basic exercises. Especially those who have been training for a long time will eventually have to use specific training methods for this.
No muscle building despite training?
Often, the initial period of strength training is associated with rapid strength gains and physical changes due to the new metabolic stimuli. Especially for completely untrained individuals, every training stimulus is new input for the metabolism, which is why beginners will make progress even with less meaningful training programs. However, muscle building often stagnates after this initial phase of success if there are no exceptionally good genetic prerequisites or if the training programs are not regularly structured and individually updated. There are even cases where no muscle building is visible from the start despite training, or where only very minimal, barely noticeable progress occurs.
Building strength: Which basic exercises should I definitely perform?
With building and increasing strength in this context always means that the basic exercises such as bench press, squats, deadlifts and pull-ups are increased. These holistic exercises always have a very global training effect and always train several muscle groups at the same time. Some serve as the main muscles for the execution of the movements, while others act as smaller stabilizers. For example, in the classic deadlift, the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings work primarily, while the upper back, chest, calves, a small part of the quadriceps, arms, abs, and many other small muscles perform tasks that support the large movement.
Why is it useful to be strong in the first place?
There are several reasons why strength building can be important. Only the most important ones are listed here:
- Being able to perform the basic exercises through their full range of motion with certain weight ratios has health benefits: Strong, balanced muscles protect against neck, back, and knee pain, which a large part of the population struggles with.
- Those who want to build more visible muscles train more efficiently with higher weights. Moving more weight in a clean execution of the exercise means that more mechanical tension is created. This, in turn, creates greater stimuli for the muscles to grow.
- For amateur and competitive athletes, it is important to train maximum strength in the basic exercises, because the stronger they are, the faster and more reactive they will be in their sport. In addition, strength training is the best injury prevention, because the chain usually breaks at its weakest link. This is often the knee, for example, which is why it makes sense to strengthen deep squats in the full range of motion, because they strengthen the muscles of the thigh that stabilize the knee.
How can I build and increase my strength?
A training plan for steady strength building is not just a single plan, but a structured cycle of several programs. These must be individually tailored to the goals and circumstances of the respective person. For this, you should seek professional support from a coach for maximum success. However, if you want to experiment a bit yourself first, you can try out some methods that offer high chances of building strength. Some of these options will be described in the next section.
However, first some basics should be addressed that many do not take into account and are thus often already the limiting factor for steady strength gains :
- The training plan should be renewed every three to four weeks, although five to six weeks are also possible for beginners. The more advanced the exercisers are, the faster the body adapts to the training method and, accordingly, the organism needs new stimuli more often.
- The intensity of the basic exercises should vary from one training plan to the next. For simplicity, intensity here means how many repetitions are performed in the basic exercises per set. If you are training in the maximum strength range, i.e., completing between 1 and 4 repetitions per set, for example, there is a high intensity. The intensity from one training program to the next should not differ too much and should always go up a bit and then down again.
- You should always think in advance about which basic exercises are to be increased in the current training plan cycle. Is it barbell flat bench press or standing shoulder press? Is it Romanian deadlifts or deadlifts from the floor? Is it pull-ups with a narrow neutral grip or the wide pronated grip, where the palms face forward? Accordingly, you can then smartly select the isolated accessory exercises that strengthen the respective exercise variation.
- The big basic exercises that are to be strengthened should always be performed at the beginning of the training. If you perform isolated exercises beforehand, pre-fatigue will subsequently limit you in strength.
Of course, there are occasional exceptions to these basics in specific methods and individual prerequisites. However, as already mentioned above, you should seek an experienced trainer for such more detailed analyses and training plans.
- A training plan in which maximum strength is built should - like any other - document every training and contain parameters that ensure reliability. The rest periods between sets, the number of sets, and the tempo of exercise execution should always be specified.
- To be able to build strength in sports, the eccentric movement of the exercise should always be performed slower than the concentric. The eccentric movement is the one in which the weight is lowered and you can control the exercise well. This would be the part of the pull-up where you lower yourself back into extension, in the squat the first movement where you go down into the squat. The concentric movement should be performed explosively or within one second. This is the part of the exercise where weights are pushed or pulled. The pull-up or the bench press are examples of this. The weight should be lowered in a controlled manner in three to 6 seconds to achieve an automatic strength increase in the concentric movement.
For powerlifters or in Olympic weightlifting, this is different, but explaining this in more detail would exceed the scope of this post here.
3 Methods for Your Training Plan to Achieve Strength Gains
Keep it Simple: Build up to a heavy set
You do 5 or more sets of the respective basic exercise for - depending on the desired intensity – 2-4, 3-5, 5-7, or 6-8 repetitions per set. Between sets, you take a 90 to 150s break. The higher the intensity, the longer the breaks. You start the first set with a weight that challenges you but does not yet bring you completely to the limit and increase the weights every set, so that the last set is the heaviest. Since there is a range of, for example, 5-7 repetitions, it makes sense to go so far in the last set that only 5 or 6 repetitions are possible with the respective weight.
Cluster – advanced method for exercisers with good basic strength:
In cluster training, you choose, for example, a weight that you would normally manage for 4 repetitions. You then do only 3 repetitions with this weight, put the weight down briefly for 10-15 seconds and take a good breath, then do another repetition, pause again for 10-15 seconds, put the weight down again and do a final repetition after 10-15 seconds. With this system, you can do 6 repetitions with a weight that you would normally only manage for 4. This method requires a lot of the nervous system and should not be used for longer than three to four weeks, as the immune system could otherwise be overstressed or you could enter overtraining due to the high load and no longer recover properly.
1 ¼ repetitions – double the specific partial movements of an exercise
This method is especially useful when you know that you are weaker in a partial movement of the respective basic exercise. However, it also makes many exercisers stronger without a major such deficit. Of course, you have to adjust the weights accordingly for this method. You must therefore take between 15 and 20% less weight for 6-8 repetitions with 1 ¼ repetitions than you would normally be able to move for this number of repetitions. An example of execution would be the pull-up with a shoulder-width neutral grip, which starts with completely hanging arms, you pull yourself all the way up to the bar, let yourself down controlled ¼, and pull yourself all the way up again and only then let yourself down again into extension.
Of course, there are numerous other methods to get stronger. However, the mentioned basics and the three example methods could help you design a training plan with which you can specifically build strength and increase it sustainably.