Introduction to strength training

Or how to improve your strength performance while still packing on muscle mass.

From time to time I get questions like: "What is strength training anyway ?", "Do triathletes go with their maximum performance in every workout ?", "How to improve your performance in the gym ?", "How to train properly ?". And so I decided to write just such an "intro" to increasing strength for now.

So, from the beginning, strength performance depends mainly on how well trained your body is, the ratio between white and red muscle fibers, the ability to use as many muscle fibers as possible during one repetition, the synchronization of muscles during the exercise and the density of muscle, but it does not have to be true that the bigger the muscles, the bigger the strength. But I'm not going to burden you with medical terms here, but let's get straight to how to actually build that strength through training.

The basic principle of all strength routines is to train as often as possible, in practice this means moving right on the edge of overtraining. To make sure we never get beyond this limit, we don't train more than two exercises per batch in a single workout, and most often only one, but basic exercise. The basic exercises are of course squat, benchpress and deadlift. And believe it or not, these exercises will exercise your entire body and give you the biggest boost in strength and muscle volume. These exercises include weightlifting exercises, which don't have such a wide appeal anymore, but you're still exercising several parts at once. And all the other exercises that are isolated (you use them only on one muscle part) we call supplements, which are emphasized only when the basic features of strength training are met, but I will come back to this in more detail in the paragraph on preparing for competitions.

So, now we know that the basics are to practice basic-complex exercises that engage the largest number of muscle fibers, and to do each part at least 2-3 times a week. And now straight to the point how to improve? All strength routines only work when weight is added gradually, i.e. every week I add the weight I am working out with. If you want to strength train, then definitely don't calculate your workout from your max that you once gave in your best form and certainly not from the weights you would like to give, but don't be afraid to undercut your maxes for each discipline by 10kg sometimes more and then every week add for example 5kg to the weight you calculate your workout from.

Never train to failure

It should never happen in your training program that you don't lift something, less is more in this case.... Doing 3 reps in 5 sets with 120kg will be far more effective than doing 2 and a half reps in one set with 130kg. Plus, failure is one of the biggest shocks for the body, from which it will recover and hurt for quite a long time, which is definitely not a plus for us if we already know we need to train as often as possible

One repetition won't get you anything

Know that one repetition will never train anything, it's only point is for getting used to the weight but not for improvement. In addition, at higher weights there is also a higher risk of injury. I definitely don't advise you to train the same amount of reps all the time, because it's good to shock your body by changing the reps, every workout should be different. However, 6 reps is the maximum, more reps is not interesting for lifters, 3-4 reps is ideal.

The number of sets depends on performance, not on the type of training

The higher your power output, the more work sets you can do with a given weight without overtraining or fatiguing yourself to the point that your performance tends to go downhill during work sets. As an example, I'll give you two lifters. One squats 150kg and after doing 5 sets of 4 reps with 120kg knows that was the max and wouldn't do 4 reps in the sixth set, but a lifter with a max of 250kg for squatting will do 7 sets of 4 reps with a 200kg, while both have trained at 80 percent of their max.

Practicing a batch 3 times a week does not mean going three heavy workouts

Not every workout is supposed to be heavy, light workouts will often give you more than heavy ones, and if someone trains heavy once a week and justifies it by saying that they wouldn't legally put that weight the second time and they definitely overtrained, they won't get the same results as the person who goes the same heavy workout and trains the same batch once more in a week with lighter weight, but with the same intensity.

Intensive training should not last more than 2 months

One strength routine should last at least 4 weeks, but no more than 8 weeks, after that the body is exhausted and any continuation will not improve your performance, but will lead you to overtraining at most. The ideal is to take a week or so off from weight training after each routine, or to put on a light workout for a short period of time. Definitely don't try to max your power after every routine, as I wrote above, this won't give you anything and most lifters try their maxes only at competitions, which is like 4 times a year.

And now that we know the basic information about strength routines, we can go straight to how such preparation for a competition takes place. The preparation is usually divided into three phases. The first phase is the volume phase, when the body takes a break from heavy weights, trains with more repetitions and in fewer working sets, puts a lot of emphasis on additional exercises, but still follows the basic principles. The exercises are frequent and hard. This phase definitely does not lead to overtraining and sometimes lasts even 2 months. In this training, mass is built and strength is more or less maintained. But I never said it was any kind of rest, most of the workouts advertised on the internet and in various popular magazines are written by people who know next to nothing about exercise, they just spend their days behind a desk. These ingrained Weiderian principles of mass building have nothing to do with real training. The methods I'm talking about here are used by elite athletes all over the world, and they're all based on the same principle of HFT = High Frequency Training. This phase definitely includes workouts like ABB (Anti-Bodybuilding Training), HST, GVT and others.

In the second phase of training it is only the turn of strength building, this period is already very demanding for recovery, so you really need to spare no nutritional supplements and if you are going for a longer period of time, there are definitely weeks in between either of complete rest or at least lowering weights and skipping some workouts after finishing each strength routine. The number of reps is reduced and the number of sets increased, these individual workouts last for example even 4 hours and training bands, belts, loose training jerseys are already used for training. In this period, the individual parts are trained so often that there is no time or need to practice additional exercises.

The supplementary exercises are only encountered in the third phase, when the strength is already trained, but still need to be fine-tuned in the jersey and now again the supplementary exercises are of great importance, because the jersey will help the first 10cm of the track and protect you from unnecessary injuries. That's why when you see a lifter at this stage they look more like an alchemist, the benchpress is usually replaced by push-ups in a free bench press, boardpress, where the bench press is placed on various high planks placed on the chest, bench press with chains on the ends of the axis, narrow bench press or push-ups with bandages or elastic bands on the ends of the axis, all just to increase the strength of the triceps press. For squatting, again, it's various sit-ups on different height benches instead of deep squats, or the aforementioned chains or bands. For the deadlift, there's not as much to come up with, but box lifts are still popular. When the dumbbell is lying on the stools or the elevator from the mat, when the trainee goes even longer than usual,since he is standing on the mat, this is used to strengthen the lower phase. Variations are possible and the whole workout is highly individual and everyone needs a slightly different routine.

The last phase is the competition phase, lasting about two weeks, when nothing is trained and the only aim is to keep up the strength and rest, not to get injured and to try out the basic attempts in the gym and go racing with gusto. Lift is about what you show at the races, the fact that you lifted so much and so much in the gym is irrelevant to everyone, just show what you have in you in three hours, nothing can go wrong, but that's what it's about. In the last week, it's just a light workout and from Tuesday onwards it's recommended to have a complete fast from exercise and on Saturday it's hooray for competitions.

Written by Jakub Smejkal