We are constantly in a battle against gravity. Gravity is the weight upon our shoulders every minute of every day. The stronger we are the easier it is to move through life. Strength is a universal skill for life. The stronger you are the easier life will be.
There are a few things that are required for strength building.
- Progressive overload
- Rest
- Proper Nutrition
- Grit
For most people, these four things are all that is needed for substantial strength gains.
Progressive Overload
Progressive overload is a gradual increase of stress placed on the body. This can be done with the variables of load, time the muscle is under tension, technical difficulty, range of motion, speed of movement, and stability and joint angle. The most frequently used variable for progressive overload is load. Open up your progressive overload game by experimenting with some of the other variables.
Rest
Rest is critical. Let me repeat that REST IS CRITICAL. There are three main times to rest. Rest between sets, rest between repetitions during a set, and rest between workouts. Optimize them all for optimal results. The amount of rest needed varies from person to person. As an example generally, women need less rest between sets than men. Play around with your rest periods to determine what is optimal for you.
Proper Nutrition
Without proper nutrition, you will be spinning your wheels. You must feed your body the proper foods to support your training efforts. If you do not optimize your nutrition strength gains will be hard to come by. (Hit the easy button on this by using our Nutrition Accelerator)
Grit
I will use the definition created by psychologist Angela Duckworth and her colleagues: perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Strength gains take time. When you first start training you will see rapid gains simply due to improved muscular contraction from neural adaptation. These are not “true” strength gains. You are gaining strength because of your body learning how to fire more muscle fibers and coordinate better. After the initial neural gains things slow down a bit and the stronger you get the slower the gains come. Thus, the need for grit.
If you want to take your strength seriously we have the program for you. Click the link below for the details of our strength training program:
>>>Me. Get. Strong. Program Details
These training sessions are capped and once we are full you will have to wait until somebody drops out. If you want to get stronger than you have ever been, act now to get on the roster.