5 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Stronger

Check out 5 reasons you aren’t getting stronger in the paragraphs below.

When it comes to enhancing your strength through training, there are pivotal aspects to consider that extend beyond the basics of eating well, getting sufficient rest, and managing stress. Here, we delve into five crucial training-related reasons you might not be witnessing the strength gains you’re aiming for.

And who better than John Meadows to let us know the 5 reasons someone is not getting stronger? John Meadows, “The Mountain Dog”, was a professional bodybuilder, trainer and nutritionist who died in 2021. He is famous for sharing gym tips, workouts and showing how he trained to achieve his goals.

5 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Stronger

1. Rep Range

The impact of repetition ranges on strength development is a fundamental aspect that often gets overlooked. Understanding how different rep ranges affect your body can significantly influence your training outcomes, particularly when it comes to increasing strength.

The Science Behind Rep Ranges

Repetition ranges are closely linked to the body’s energy systems and the types of muscle fibers being recruited during an exercise. Lower rep ranges, typically between one to five repetitions, are predominantly powered by the phosphagen system, which is best suited for short, intense bursts of activity. This range heavily recruits type IIb muscle fibers, which are the largest and most powerful, providing significant strength gains but less endurance.

In contrast, higher rep ranges, above six repetitions, tap into the glycolytic and oxidative systems, which are more endurance-oriented. These rep ranges recruit a higher proportion of type IIa and type I muscle fibers, contributing to muscle endurance and size but not maximally increasing strength.

Why You Need to Stop Doing 3 Sets of 12 Reps for Muscle Growth

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Practical Application in Strength Training

When your goal is to enhance strength, focusing on lower rep ranges ensures that you’re maximally stimulating the muscle fibers with the greatest potential for force production. This doesn’t mean you should exclusively train with low reps; incorporating a variety of rep ranges can be beneficial for overall muscular development and can help prevent plateaus. However, the core of your strength program should emphasize these lower rep ranges to optimally increase muscle strength.

Programming for Strength

When programming your strength training, consider the following:

Periodization: Vary your rep ranges over time, progressively focusing on lower reps to build strength and occasionally incorporating higher reps to prevent overtraining and aid in recovery.
Intensity: Lower reps should be paired with higher intensity, meaning the weights you lift should be challenging while still allowing you to maintain proper form.
Rest Intervals: Adequate rest between sets is crucial, especially when training with lower reps at higher intensities. This allows for full recovery of the phosphagen system, ensuring you can give maximum effort on each set.

Monitoring Progress and Adjusting

It’s essential to track your progress and adjust your training as needed. If you’re not seeing strength gains, reassess your rep ranges, ensuring they align with your strength goals. Be mindful of how your body responds to different rep ranges and be prepared to tailor your program to suit your individual needs.

By understanding and effectively applying the concept of repetition ranges, you can more strategically approach your strength training, leading to more significant and sustained gains in muscle strength.

2. Volume

Finding the appropriate training volume is critical for strength development and requires a nuanced understanding of how much work you’re doing in the gym. Volume, in the context of training, is typically calculated as the number of sets multiplied by the number of reps multiplied by the weight used. However, it’s not just about the numbers; the quality of each rep and set plays a vital role in determining the effectiveness of your training.

Understanding Training Volume

Training volume is a key driver of both hypertrophy and strength, but the relationship between volume and strength gains is not linear. While some volume is necessary to provoke strength adaptations, excessively high volumes can lead to diminished returns and increase the risk of overtraining, particularly when training at high intensities.

Balancing Intensity and Volume

In strength training, intensity refers to the amount of weight lifted relative to your one-repetition maximum (1RM). As intensity increases, the volume typically decreases to manage recovery and reduce the risk of injury. It’s a delicate balance; too much volume at a high intensity can overwhelm your body’s ability to recover, while too little may not sufficiently challenge your muscles to adapt and grow stronger.

Volume Adaptation and Individual Differences

Individual response to training volume can vary widely, influenced by factors such as training experience, genetics, recovery capabilities, and lifestyle factors. Beginners may see rapid strength gains with relatively low volumes, while advanced lifters might require more volume to continue making progress. However, more is not always better, especially with strength training, where quality and intensity take precedence.

Signs of Excessive Volume

Understanding the signs of excessive training volume can help you adjust your program before encountering serious issues. Symptoms of too much volume include prolonged muscle soreness, stagnation or decreases in strength, persistent fatigue, and increased susceptibility to injuries. If you notice these signs, it may be time to reduce your volume or incorporate a deload week to allow for recovery.

Strategic Volume Adjustments

To optimize strength gains, consider the following strategies:

Periodization: Implement different phases in your training where volume and intensity are systematically varied. For example, you might have phases of higher volume with moderate intensity, followed by phases of lower volume with higher intensity.
Recovery: Ensure you’re allowing enough time for recovery between sessions targeting the same muscle groups. Adequate recovery is as crucial as the training itself for strength development.
Monitoring and Adjusting: Keep a training log to track your volume and progress. If you’re not progressing or if you’re feeling overly fatigued, reassess your volume and make necessary adjustments.

By thoughtfully managing your training volume, you can create an environment where your muscles are sufficiently challenged to grow stronger without pushing them into a state of overtraining, thereby optimizing your strength gains.

3. Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is a cornerstone concept in strength training, emphasizing the need for continual, incremental increases in the load or intensity to facilitate muscular strength and size gains. It’s based on the principle that muscles must be challenged beyond their current capacities to stimulate growth and adaptation.

The Essence of Progressive Overload

Progressive overload can be achieved in various ways, not just by increasing the weight lifted. Altering other training variables like volume (sets and reps), frequency, and intensity, or even modifying rest periods and exercise selection, can contribute to this principle. However, for strength gains, the focus is typically on increasing the weight lifted over time.

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Application in Strength Training

In the realm of strength training, progressive overload is particularly crucial. Incrementally adding weight to your lifts ensures that your muscles are consistently challenged, prompting adaptations in muscle fiber recruitment, neural drive, and intramuscular coordination, all of which contribute to increased strength.

Structured Approach to Progressive Overload

Baseline Measurement: Establish your starting point in terms of the weights you can lift for various exercises. This baseline allows you to track progress and set incremental goals.
Incremental Increases: Aim for small, manageable increases in weight. For most, adding 2.5 to 5 kg (5 to 10 lbs) to a lift is a realistic target. However, these increments can vary based on the exercise and individual capacity.
Periodic Assessment: Regularly assess your progress to ensure that you’re continuously challenging your muscles. If you’ve plateaued, it might be time to adjust your approach to progressive overload.
Deload Phases: Incorporating deload weeks or phases where you intentionally reduce the intensity or volume can help facilitate recovery and prevent overtraining, setting the stage for further progress.

Overload and Recovery

It’s essential to balance progressive overload with adequate recovery. Muscles need time to repair and adapt to the stresses imposed on them. Ignoring recovery can lead to overtraining, where muscle performance can plateau or even decline.

Progressive Overload Beyond Weights

While adding weight is a straightforward method to apply progressive overload, there are other dimensions to consider, especially when increasing weight isn’t feasible or safe:

Increasing Repetitions: You might add reps within a set while maintaining the same weight, especially if adding more weight compromises your form.
Enhancing Technique: Improving your exercise technique can increase the effectiveness of the workout, engaging the targeted muscles more efficiently.
Varying Tempo: Altering the speed of your repetitions, particularly by incorporating slower eccentric (lowering) phases, can increase the time under tension, a critical factor for muscle growth and strength.
Exercise Complexity: Progressing to more challenging variations of an exercise can provide a new stimulus for growth, even when the weight remains unchanged.

By methodically applying the principle of progressive overload and closely monitoring your body’s response, you can continually advance your strength training, ensuring consistent progress towards your strength goals.

4. Exercise Selection

Exercise selection is paramount in strength training, as it determines which muscle groups are engaged and how effectively they are stimulated. Choosing the right exercises is crucial for targeting the appropriate muscle fibers and energy systems to maximise strength gains.

The Importance of Compound Movements

For strength development, compound exercises—those that involve multiple joints and muscle groups—should form the backbone of your training regimen. Movements like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and overhead presses engage a large number of muscles simultaneously, offering a more efficient and functional way to build strength.

Squats: Engage the entire lower body and core, foundational for building leg and back strength.
Deadlifts: Target the posterior chain effectively, crucial for overall body power.
Bench Presses: Develop upper body strength, especially in the chest, shoulders, and triceps.
Overhead Presses: Improve shoulder and upper back strength, essential for a balanced physique.

Exercise Selection Tailored to Your Goals

The specific exercises you choose should align with your strength goals and address your individual needs, including any weaknesses or imbalances.

Weakness Identification: Understanding your weak points in certain lifts can guide you to select accessory exercises that target those areas. For instance, if you’re struggling with the lockout in your bench press, incorporating exercises like board presses or tricep extensions can be beneficial.
Balanced Development: Ensure your exercise selection promotes balanced muscular development. Overemphasising one muscle group while neglecting others can lead to imbalances and increase the risk of injury.

Functional and Sport-Specific Training

For athletes, exercise selection should reflect the movements and demands of their sport, focusing on functional exercises that enhance performance in their specific sporting context.

Sport-Specific Movements: Choose exercises that mimic the actions and energy systems used in your sport to improve your functional strength and performance.
Core Stability: Incorporating exercises that build core strength and stability can enhance your overall athleticism and reduce the risk of injuries.

Variety and Adaptation

While consistency in your exercises is vital for tracking progress and developing strength, periodically introducing new exercises or variations can prevent plateaus and stimulate further adaptations.

Exercise Rotation: Subtly changing your exercise selection every few weeks can challenge your muscles in new ways, promoting continued strength gains.
Variation Within Fundamentals: Even minor adjustments, like changing your grip width on a bench press, can introduce a new stimulus while still focusing on the primary movement pattern.

By carefully selecting exercises that align with your strength goals, address your weaknesses, and offer variety, you can create a more effective and comprehensive strength training program. This strategic approach not only maximises your strength gains but also contributes to a well-rounded and resilient physique.

5. Training Frequency

How often you engage in strength training sessions plays a crucial role in your overall strength development. It’s about finding the optimal balance that allows for maximum strength gains while ensuring adequate recovery to prevent overtraining and injuries.

Understanding Training Frequency

Training frequency should be tailored to your individual recovery capacity, the intensity of your workouts, and your overall lifestyle, including factors like sleep, nutrition, and stress levels. While higher frequency can lead to faster strength gains, it must be carefully managed to avoid diminishing returns.

Individual Variation in Frequency Needs

Each person’s ideal training frequency can vary based on several factors:

Experience Level: Beginners may benefit from training each muscle group 2-3 times per week, as they can recover faster and need more frequent stimulation to learn and adapt. More advanced lifters might need more time to recover and thus might train each muscle group once or twice a week.
Intensity and Volume: The intensity (how heavy you lift) and volume (total amount of weight lifted) of your workouts will influence how much recovery time you need. Higher intensity and volume typically require longer recovery periods.
Recovery Capacity: This can be influenced by age, nutrition, sleep, stress, and genetics. Listening to your body and adjusting your frequency based on how well you’re recovering is essential.

Frequency and Muscle Groups

Different muscle groups can have varying capacities for recovery. For example, smaller muscle groups like the arms may recover faster than larger muscle groups like the legs. Thus, you might be able to train them more frequently.

Frequency for Compound vs. Isolation Exercises

Compound Exercises: These exercises, which work multiple muscle groups, typically require more recovery time due to the greater stress they place on the body. Therefore, they are usually performed less frequently.
Isolation Exercises: Since these target smaller muscle groups, they may be done more frequently. However, the focus should remain on how they fit into the overall program without compromising recovery.

Monitoring and Adjusting Frequency

It’s crucial to monitor your progress and adjust your training frequency based on your results and how you feel. Signs that you might need to adjust your frequency include plateauing strength levels, persistent fatigue, or feeling under-recovered at the start of your workouts.

Implementing Frequency Intelligently

Split Routines: Using different training splits, such as upper/lower or push/pull/legs, can allow you to increase the frequency of training each muscle group while ensuring each has time to recover.
Deload Periods: Intentionally reducing training frequency, intensity, or volume for a week every few months can help prevent overtraining and promote long-term progress.

By thoughtfully managing your training frequency, you can ensure that you’re providing your body with the stimulus it needs to grow stronger while also giving it enough time to recover and adapt. This balance is key to sustainable and effective strength training.

In summary, optimising your strength training involves more than just lifting weights. It requires a strategic approach that considers rep ranges, volume, progressive overload, exercise selection, and training frequency. By fine-tuning these elements, you can maximise your strength gains and achieve your training objectives more effectively.

For a more detailed explanation about the 5 reasons you aren’t getting stronger, you can simply watch John Meadows’ video below.