No matter what you say about technology and its importance (certainly not small, of course), physical strength should not be underestimated either. As they say, technique is good, but strength doesn't hurt either. However, there are a great variety of exercises designed to increase the strength of an athlete... How to choose the most effective ones for yourself? This short list will help you here.
1. Deadlift
Base of all bases. An unshakable classic of powerlifting and almost all strength sports. Perhaps nothing strengthens your back and core as much as this exercise. Mainly affects the back muscles ( upper part, slightly latissimus, spinal extensors), hamstrings, gluteal muscles and forearms.
2. Barbell Squats
Whatever one may say, the base cannot be replaced with anything. It is especially important for a wrestler to have strong legs, so eliminating the squat from your training program is hardly a smart idea. No other exercise works the legs as well as regular squats with a barbell on the shoulders. Both the gluteal muscle and the back and front surface of the thigh work here.
3. Barbell or dumbbell press
The main exercise for developing strength pectoral muscles. The wider the grip, the more the chest muscles are involved in the work. The narrower it is, the more the triceps work. Replacing the barbell with dumbbells can significantly increase the range of motion and better stretch the pecs.
4. Turkish get-up with kettlebell
5. Push the barbell
A weightlifting classic. Nothing develops your snatch and balance better than barbell jerking exercises. Almost all major muscles work: arms, shoulders, back, legs. Watch the tutorial and implement the exercise into your training.
6. Deadlift
Straight-legged deadlifts are the best exercise for working out and developing back surface hips and also gluteal muscles. We watch the training video and follow the technique so as not to get injured.
7. Swings with a kettlebell
8. Pull-ups
Pull-ups with additional weight will also help you build a wide, massive back. For elaboration latissimus muscles backs best exercise you won't find it.
Developing strength requires special skills, find out 10 important rules, how to develop strength, lift heavier weights, improve strength and become more powerful.
All gym visitors are divided into 2 types: some are just gaining strength, while others are already strong, but in the end everyone needs strength. Every more or less knowledgeable person involved in fitness knows more strong muscles allow you to lift heavier ones, which causes an increase in muscle volume.
To solve the problem of how to develop grip strength and bring your strength training to a new level, remember the 10 most important rules for developing strength.
1.Warm up and stretch first
Arriving at gym, many are already mentally stressed and ready to take on heavy weights as soon as possible and overcome it, while simultaneously mentally satisfying their psyche and making their body stronger. But stop!!! Don't rush, first you need to have good muscles.
To begin, warm up your muscles on an exercise bike or orbit track, this way you prepare your muscle fibers and joints to work, warming them up and making them more flexible and mobile, this reduces the possibility of injury.
Next, you need to take a warm-up weight, approximately 20% of the one-repetition maximum, this will allow you to remember the movement technique and improve muscle coordination, in addition, this will increase blood flow to the trained muscle, which will automatically prepare it for work.
Before training a specific muscle, always try to carefully prepare it, for example, before using a barbell, do squats with own weight, before , circular swings and so on.
2.Do basic exercises first
At the beginning of the training itself, strength is at its peak, the body is fresh and alert, so at the beginning of the training, throw all your strength into performing heavy, multi-joint exercises, these include, , bench press
Don’t even think about doing simple workouts at first. isolated exercises, after them you will not be able to handle decent weights in a basic exercise, the result will be an insufficient opportunity to develop strength and muscle volume.
Therefore, do everything correctly, first the base, and then isolation of the muscles, otherwise you can forget about developing strength.
3.Use the reverse pyramid principle
Some sources call this training method Egyptian training. The idea is that after performing a preliminary muscle warm-up, working with light weights to warm up the muscles, set the maximum weight at which you do 3-4 repetitions no more, then reduce the weight to do 6 repetitions, 3 sets of 8 repetitions, 4 of 10 repetitions That is, with each approach the weight decreases and the quantity increases - this is the essence of the method.
The big advantage of this approach is post-activation potentiation; our body, having completed a set of 3-4 repetitions with a heavy weight, and doing subsequent approaches with a lighter weight, squeezes the weight much faster, this has new load on the muscles, which means strength and volume increases.
4.Less reps, more sets
A typical workout aimed at muscle hypertrophy, involves performing 4 sets of 10-8 repetitions; to develop strength, it is better to perform 8 sets of 4 repetitions, this way the muscle fibers do not have time to get very tired and fill up.
Your goal is to lift heavy weights in short training sessions, not to wear out the muscle. a large number repetitions, this is how peak strength development is achieved. Therefore, when thinking about how to develop strength, know that there are more approaches, fewer repetitions.
5.Pay attention to movement technique
To develop strength, you need to learn how to correctly concentrate all efforts in a certain area of the body; this is achieved by studying correct technique movements.
Some experts believe that in order to perform an exercise correctly, it is necessary to perform it for at least 1000 repetitions; remember boxers - to create the perfect blow, they practice the same movement a huge number of times. It’s not for nothing that Bruce Lee said: “I’m not afraid of the one who performs 10,000 different blows, but of the one who performs 1 blow 10,000 times.”
6. Eliminate bad habits
We will talk about drinking a lot of alcohol, and if your goal is also to lose weight, it will slow down your process.
No one is calling you to become a teetotaler, but try to at least on weekdays minimize your consumption of beer, for example, it is believed that it reduces testosterone, and this growth hormone is very important for strength.
7.Use Full Stop Training
– allows you to do each repetition like the first. Here you eliminate rebound, inertial force and range of motion, the entire load is concentrated on the muscle being trained and it receives a powerful force load.
You can lower the weight quickly during the relaxation phase, but when you lower to the lowest point, pause for a second, exclude any auxiliary movements and perform the repetition as for the first time. Here you will definitely get more tired, the exercise will be more difficult, but the return will be higher.
8. Work explosively
Lift weights at a fast pace, it is acceleration in the initial phase that helps to actively engage fast-twitch fibers in the work, but in no case start the exercise with a jerk, the movement should be powerful, but not jerky, otherwise, especially in the deadlift, this will cause microtrauma lower back.
Try to lift the weight faster, both in working approaches and in warm-up, this allows you to develop strength and engage new muscles that are used to working at a moderate pace. And everyone knows the formula: the more muscles are involved in the work, the faster strength and volume increase.
9. Concentrate on one thing at a time
Everyone wants to achieve different goals at once, while using minimal time. But it is impossible to immediately become muscular, resilient and strong, of course, unless you are on a course of strong steroids.
Concentrate on one thing, in our case the question is one - how to develop strength, devote all your efforts and attention to developing strength. If you want to develop in all directions, use periodization. Work on strength for 1-2 months, then 1-2 months on mass, then on endurance.
10. Concentrate before each approach
Before each approach, you need to fully concentrate, throw all other thoughts out of your head, imagine that now you will conquer this working weight. Use motivating music, take a madman as your partner, who will motivate you with words, helping you lift the weight as hard as you can.
Look at powerlifters, how they tune up before each hike, it seems that they withdraw into themselves and do not see anyone or anything around them.
Learn these 10 important rules and become stronger every day.
How to develop maximum physical strength
Date: 2010-04-17
This is a very old technique for developing strength and power, which many athletes have long forgotten, and for some reason others completely ignore. It is most often practiced by professional powerlifters and weightlifters.
I see no reason why amateur athletes should not use it.
This simplest technique completely excludes any variety and variation. And that's right.
The essence of the technique is to practice the same movement multiple times. different exercises. Rep after rep, set after set. Again and again.
This is a phenomenal way to achieve mind-blowing levels of strength, far greater than you have ever achieved before.
Strength is a skill, ability, mastery and, if you like, art. So if you want to improve your strength prowess, practice lifting countless heavy weights.
Talk to top athletes and bodybuilders and you're sure to hear stories about high-volume training in one or two movements with low reps countless times.
Maybe you read my story about George, the strongest, most foppish guy in our YMCA* hardcore gym where we worked out at the time. In training, George only worked on 1-2 exercises, but performed countless sets. We were all 13 years old at the time, George was not much older than us, but his results amazed us!
So, in one workout you can focus on squats, in another on classic bench presses, in another on bench presses, etc.
I recently did one such workout with one type of movement, with different equipment and in different exercises.
The workout consisted entirely of lifting very heavy weights on the chest: single and double dumbbell curls, barbell cleans, and dumbbell “pulls.” That day my shoulders, legs and back received a tremendous load.
Here is my training program:
So, it's time to remove all the unnecessary stuff from your training program and focus on the MAIN THINGS.
Select 2-3 movements from the following list of categories, focus on these GREAT exercises, and watch your strength and muscle mass like you've never experienced before!
Exercise categories:
- Deadlifts (Romanian deadlifts, sumo deadlifts) / Squats (front squats, Zercher squats)
- Upper body pushing movements (handstand push-ups, classic press, bench press, push-ups)
- Pulling movements for the upper body (pull-ups with additional weight, bent-over barbell rows, bent-over dumbbell rows)
- Full body workout (Turkish squats, barbell cleans and subsequent presses, sandbag shoulder raises)
So, choose one or two exercises from the list and practice them to the maximum. It's time for some really tough, hard work.
And if you can't, then go home!
A strength training program involves special approach to exercise, nutrition and work-rest schedule. Strength in sports has always been of paramount importance. But without endurance, flexibility and the ability to coordinate muscle work, this strength is of no use. Therefore, it is important to combine strength development with work on other physical qualities.
Why develop strength?
Not everyone is born with at least average strength. Super strength is already a rarity, although natural heroes still exist.
Let's pay attention to how the childhood of modern children goes, what they do, what kind of motor activity. We will see that, compared to the times of 20 years ago, children have begun to move little: instead of street games, computer games have appeared, sedentary entertainment is 90% replaced by active ones.
In life, the need to develop strength appears not only among athletes, but also among ordinary people. If the body does not receive any physical activity, he is deteriorating, no matter what anyone says.
It is especially important to work in the strength direction for men. Let's see how many people today can lie under a 100 kg barbell and squeeze it at least once? And how many people will squat with their own weight, how many kg can you lift off the floor and not get injured?
The average strength indicators of people in the 21st century are much lower than in the twentieth. And to stay in good physical shape and look like a man, you need to do strength exercises. They are found in most sports.
A more extreme direction is powerlifting training. Athletes work with huge weights to show maximum results in competitions. Today, the weights in such exercises as the bench press and squat go over 400 kg.
An ordinary person has no need to set records equal to even half of the weights given above. I'll explain why later.
Although, of course, it’s up to you to decide in what mode to practice. Either you will go for personal bests, or you will limit yourself to “just being stronger than the majority.” By the way, much more health is preserved in the second option. It’s even increasing, I would say. But powerlifting is far from the safest sport. The superpower of famous athletes is the result of titanic hard work to achieve a goal.
So, let's look at how to develop strength in yourself.
Risks of heavy lifting with weights
The main question is how to develop strength in yourself. The Internet is full of videos on how to increase strength, where they will show you exercises to develop strength. But there are other videos in which people tear their muscles doing the same exercises. And these are not the worst consequences.
Muscle strength is a trainable thing, but “genetics”, nutrition, correct courses (if you have chosen professional sports, without this there is no way).
Also remember that every person has a margin of safety. The rapid development of strength is fraught with the risk that one day something will not withstand it - at best there will be a sprain, in the case of moderate severity - a muscle rupture, and at worst - a rupture along with a bone fracture.
This is a very clear illustration of the fact that there is no need to rush in developing muscle strength. You need to overcome yourself slowly, carefully.
Proper technique protects against injury, but not completely. Muscle strength increases faster than tendon strength. Hence the risks.
Features of strength exercises
To train strength, exercises are performed slightly differently than when gaining weight.
Maximum strength is developed by performing basic exercises with heavy weight for 3-5 repetitions. You should not perform approaches with maximum weight at once - this is a lot of stress for your body. Especially avoid this in the first year of training until your muscles and bones adapt to your working weights.
By the way, if you are working on strength. Get ready to live in the gym for a bit. After each approach, you will need a full rest of 3-5 minutes, or even more. Powerlifting training programs are designed for long sessions. For example, 2 hours of training.
Drink at least 1-2 liters of clean water per day.
Strength for Health
For those who do not strive to lift a barbell, but want to improve their health and master their own weight, a horizontal bar and uneven bars will be enough for their body. In this case there is no need training programs in powerlifting.
Muscle strength during such training will be average, but coupled with coordination, flexibility and endurance, this will give a very noticeable effect in terms of physical development.
If there is a desire, physical fitness and age allows, you will always be able to discover the world of iron and heavier weights. Then the question of how to build up strength will be relevant, along with the concept of what maximum strength is.
And, in conclusion, I would like to say that success in heavy strength sports will greatly depend on the age and genetic aspects of the body: how strong the tendons are, how elastic the connective tissue is.
If you decide to work on your body for the first time in 30 years of your life, it is natural that the training will be more difficult than in more early age. The same is true at 40 years old relative to 30 years old.
However, it is rightly said that you can start at any age. It’s just that every year the question “how to increase strength” changes to “how to maintain strength.” Therefore, engage in your development without delaying until later. Be patient and make progress.
Every experienced bodybuilder knows that gaining muscle mass occurs through cycling. This means when we increase our strength levels, after which we move on to high repetition exercises. This is done to ensure that the muscles reach their peak form. Next, again comes a period of increasing strength. In fact, that period is the most important in bodybuilding. Then a very simple question arises: “How to increase physical strength?”
Back in the distant 50s of the last century, the famous Joe Weider came up with a method of cyclic loading, it was about exercises according to a training scheme. A good athlete spends half of his training on developing physical strength. Only good strength indicators will help increase sporting achievements time after time. Of course, it is worth noting that after a strength cycle there is increased hypertrophy. Her elevation is impressive.
If we look at strength training cycles from a mechanical point of view, we can see that strength training increases the secretion of growth hormone and insulin in the blood, while increasing testosterone levels in the blood. With the simultaneous production of these hormones - anabolic steroids, the priority of muscle growth increases. Of course, it’s worth saying that if you use training aimed at simultaneously developing large quantity growth hormone and testosterone, there will be no results as such. Our body cannot adequately respond to such heavy loads. In most cases, such training leads to. How can one understand, under such conditions, about muscle growth out of the question.
The good thing about cyclical training is that while we use some hormones, others, so to speak, rest. As a result of the training itself, it does not deplete hormonal metabolism. This feature allows us to progress. By the way, in order to increase physical strength, you need to use barbells and dumbbells special simulators for the hall. For example, as shown in the picture.
Many people are mistaken that it is enough to change the number of repetitions. The basis for this is the lifting range: 3-8 repetitions. Unfortunately, this is just another stereotype in bodybuilding. In fact, it requires you to make drastic changes in your physical activity.
Typically bodybuilders build up muscle groups separately. Many people use this exact method to increase their strength characteristics. The basic theory is that if you develop muscle groups individually, the total progress is ensured. This is one of the biggest mistakes. To develop strength, you need to teach your muscles to work together. At this point, the neuromuscular connection, as well as stabilizer muscles, come into play. Your priority is to teach muscle groups to perform heavy movements together.
This technique involves gradual development. The point is that power does not increase linearly.
To increase physical strength, you can use the two-phase technique. Training should be done three times a week. The first workout will be strength training. The remaining two will be unloading in nature. On the first day you should use maximum weights, designed for 6-8 repetitions, but you should perform only 3 repetitions per set. The fact is that developing strength does not involve working to failure. The number of repetitions per set should vary from 3 to 5 repetitions, depending on how you feel.
Regarding the rest fasting days, then a weight of 10-15 repetitions is used here. According to such a program, you need to train for 6 weeks, after which you switch to a standard bodybuilding training program designed for 3 weeks, after which you need to return to the cycle of increasing strength.
Of course, you can train well by doing your best in training, observing all the necessary elements. But nutrition plays just as important a role in gaining muscle mass and strength. important role. So you need to eat accordingly.
