3 Truths About Strength Training

There are a million ways to get stronger and twice as many people telling you how to do it in no time at all, or super easily. They tell you how they transformed themselves (or their clients) in a couple of months or even weeks.

When you don’t see the same results in your own training, it can feel frustrating. You might question your training program or your coach. So here are three truths you need to know about strength training.

1. It takes a LONG Time.

Unless you’re fairly new to lifting – then you’ll see a lot of progression very quickly.

For anyone else, it’s a very slow process.

Take it from me, gaining strength and actually seeing the results, hitting PBs… that can take a LOOOOOONG time. 

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I haven’t hit a PB on my back squat for about 2 years.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t progressed. My technique has improved; it looks and feels more comfortable. (Obviously it would still be nice to hit a heavier weight at some point…)

But don’t get stressed out by not hitting more weights every single cycle. It can take months or even years.

2. Progress is not always linear

At some point in your training, you will hit a plateau. There’s no doubt about it. There will be days when everything feels super heavy and you can’t lift what you did the week before.

When they don’t see progression, a lot of people will just give up and start hopping from program to program, hoping that will solve their problems – it will not.

Be patient. Be consistent.

If you put the effort in and keep working on your weaknesses, you will see improvements over time.

3. Progressive Overload has to be part of your Program

You could have the best program in the world, it could have the fanciest name you’ve ever seen, marketed so well it will have people drooling for it.

BUT

If there is no progressive phase, where you add intensity or difficulty, you will plateau.

This doesn’t mean just chucking loads of weight onto the barbell though. Progressive Overload comes in many shapes and forms. Adding weight is just one form of progression.

We can also see an increase in strength by:

• Slowing down the Tempo of the movement

• Adding Pauses

• Overloading Partial Reps

• Having less Rest

• Adding in more Reps & Sets

And these are just a few options. You don’t always have to look to add more weight, especially if you have a few issues with certain movements.

In conclusion

Everyone wants a quick fix or a magic pill to get stronger, but unfortunately there isn’t one.

Learn to lift properly.

You will get frustrated with your training and yourself. You’ll probably want to quit every now and then.

But persevere and you’ll learn to love training.

Coach Alex