If you’re reading this article, you’re probably wondering how to get really strong.
Don’t worry – you’re not alone.
This why I wrote this article about progressive overload which is the basic way to become stronger, more toned, and more fit.
When I first started to lift, I had zero idea what I was doing and wondered how to get really strong?
I would either do what my friends were doing or I would follow some random workout from a jacked dude online.
I thought as long as you went to the gym, you’d instantly get jacked.
And my results were proving it… sort of.
It’s funny because I accidentally fell into progressive overload.
I was following one of Bodybuilding.com workouts which had you almost in tears when you were done.
This is back when I thought it was all about no pain no gain.
For whatever reason, I decided to lift more weight than the previous week because I thought it looked cool.
I actually got some GREAT results from this.
It wasn’t until I got into coaching that I learned about the science of strength training and building muscle and found out what progressive overload was and how to get really strong.
It was crazy to me…
Do the same shit but do it better every week?
Huh….That didn’t sound right.
So, I followed Mind Pumps MAPS Anabolic Program that consists of very basic movements and lifting heavy.
It was different than anything else I’d ever done before because the volume and frequency was so low.
But, after 3 months of focusing on progressive overload, my physique transformed from a kid who looked “fit” to a dude who was jacked.
It was then, that I knew, progressive overload was the secret sauce to gains.
Progressive Overload: The Secret To Get Really Strong
Simply put, progressive overload is progressively doing more in order to stress your body and force it to adapt.
You are “overloading” your body in a “progressive” way.
If all you do is the same thing over and over again, you’re going to get the same results.
It’s inputs and outputs and you’d be crazy to expect otherwise. Which is why a ton of people get frustrated with their lack of results.
Think of a basketball player.
When they first start out, they can probably barely dribble a ball.
And look similar to a dolphin flopping out of water when they shoot.
But, the more they practice, put up shots in the gym, go through dribbling drills, etc… the better they get.
However, if you go from basketball drills one week, to baseball drills the next week, to football drills the following week….
How do you ever expect to get good at one thing?
Yeah, you might be ok over time at those things but you’ll never really get good at one of them.
The same thing applies to strength training – if you don’t follow a plan, you’re not going to get good results.
So, if you’re wondering how to get really strong… you must give your body a reason to.
The Stress/Recovery/Adaptation Cycle
Stress occurs when there has been a disruption to homeostasis – your body’s equilibrium and “safe spot”.
It works something like this…
Strength training places a stress on your muscles, body, and central nervous system.
Your body must then recover and adapt so it can better handle that stress next time.
So, it increases its strength, muscle, and endurance.
Basically, your body gets broken down for a short period of time, then you recover and rebuild until there’s a new homeostasis or baseline – aka adaptation.
This is how you survive and quite honestly grow in every aspect of life.
From stress in life…
To your immune system building up antibodies for a sickness…
To surviving harsh climates and hunting for food…
From an evolutionary perspective, your body has a pretty damn good defense mechanism.
How does this tie into weight lifting and getting really strong?
Well, when you load up that barbell with 45’s on each side and squat to full depth for reps, your body is like “damn, we need to build the strength and muscle to be able to handle that next time”.
So, your muscles, joints, bones, and CNS have to become bigger, stronger, and more efficient to better deal with the stress the weights are placing on it.
And this process continues over time.
9 Ways to Progressive Overload
As you’ll see, there are a bunch of ways to progressive overload.
Because again, all that means is doing more work than your body is used to over time.
Which actually makes training fun and more enjoyable because there is always something you can manipulate and get better at.
Depending on where you’re at in your fitness journey, progressive overload will mean different things.
If you’re a beginner, just picking up a weight is going to be progressive overload.
The reason is that your body has not yet experienced that, so the signal required to make progress is very small.
Because you’re telling your body to fire muscles in a fashion that it’s never done before.
So, even if you did one exercise on week 1, technically that would be more than you were doing.
Here’s the thing…Your muscles are stupid. You can’t confuse them or tell them to grow.
They only know what you’re doing to them which is placing them under enough stress to create a signal for growth.
Therefore, your muscles will not grow unless you force them to. You need to give them a reason to grow.
In the strength training world, we call these “newbie gains”.
And this is the case for the first 6-12 months where your gains are rapid.
However, the more advanced you get, you have to do more for your body to adapt.
If all you do is pick up baby weights, go through the motions, and take booty pics for the gram, you’re not going to get anywhere and your physique will suffer.
So, if you’re wondering how to get really strong and change your physique, follow these 9 methods down below:
1. How To Get Really Strong: Form Comes First
I put this one first because I think it often gets overlooked.
Yeah, lifting more weight is a big part of progressive overload, but so is how well you perform the movement.
The problem is far too often people jump to lifting as much as possible.
That’s cool for the ego, but your results are going to suffer.
You can do too much too soon which will lead to plateaus, shitty form, and potential injuries.
I like to think of strength training as a skill that you can practice and get better at.
You’re teaching your body how to move and apply force strong enough so that you can lift heavy weight.
Your CNS has to learn how to fire your muscles, when to fire them, and how to use all of your muscles together in a coordinated fashion to perform the movement.
This is why if you’ve ever done a movement that is new to you and it feels uncoordinated it will get more coordinated after you’ve done it a few times.
And the cool thing is, there’s always room for improvement.
Which is why the main compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench, overhead press) are so valuable.
Basically, you’re attempting to make the exercises look better and feel better which is going to be your progress.
Let me put it to you this way…
If you can “activate” and “connect” to 50% of your leg muscles in week 1 with 10 lbs, but connect to 70% with 10 lbs in week 4, with better technique, control, and efficiency, do you think that’s progress?
Of course! Now, that’s not the exact numbers but hopefully you get the point.
Now, of course I have to mention not to get caught up in going through the motions.
You can definitely over do it with the form, never increase weight, and stop making progress.
(I’ve been there lol)
So, earn the right to add weight, then start adding weight.
2. How To Get Really Strong: Add Weight
If you’ve wondered how to get really strong, I’m sure the first thing that pops up in your head is to add weight.
And you’d be correct!
This is done by slowly increasing weight over time to send a stronger signal to your body so it can adapt.
Strength is primarily reliant on your Central Nervous System (CNS).
Your CNS consists of your brain and spinal cord and is connected to your muscle fibers via things called motor neurons.
Your CNS fires (contracts) your muscles to lift weight up.
And the more muscle fibers your CNS can fire at once, the stronger you’ll be.
(This also plays a role into building muscle because the more muscle fibers you have, the greater potential for strength you have)
Therefore, as you lift more weight, your CNS starts to connect to and activate more muscle fibers.
And you’ll get stronger and build more muscle as a result of it.
So, once your form is on point, slowly add about 5-10 lbs each week.
First, because it will allow your joints, tendons, and ligaments to catch up so you don’t get injured.
Second, it will make for longer and more sustainable progress over time without plateauing.
A side note: strength is one of the best indicators that you’re making progress on your program.
If you’re not getting stronger, it’s a shitty program.
3. How To Get Really Strong: Increase Reps With The Same Weight
Eventually, your strength gains will slow down.
If they didn’t, we’d all be lifting 1,000’s of pounds which would be freaking awesome… but not possible.
If you’re able to do more reps with the same weight, that is more work than you did before. It’s a sign that you’re getting stronger.
For example, if week one you curled 20 lbs for 8 reps and increased that to 20 lbs for 10 reps week 2, you did more work.
Therefore, you overloaded the muscle and CNS.
This is especially great for exercises that involve smaller muscle groups where you won’t be able to increase the weight that often.
Because you’re using one muscle vs multiple muscles so you’re limited with how much weight you can lift.
Think of a side lateral raise for example.
Without using much momentum, you’re using your side delts which are the little muscle on the upper part of your arm.
That small muscle won’t be able to handle as much weight as the bigger muscles on your body would.
So, you have to find a way to progress it without adding weight or else your form will suffer.
The reason being is that your bigger and stronger muscles will take over which takes the tension off of the smaller muscle.
This is where something called double progression comes in:
Set a rep range, gradually increase the reps until you can hit the top end of that rep range with the same weight, then increase the weight 2.5-5 lbs.
Example: 3 sets for 8-10 reps
- Week 1: 20 lbs for 8 reps
- Week 2: 20 lbs for 9 reps
- Week 3: 20 lbs for 10 reps
- Week 4: 25 lbs for 8 reps
4. How To Get Really Strong: Add In More Volume
If you ask 5 different people what volume is, you’ll probably get 5 different definitions.
For the sake of this article, we’ll say volume is the amount of sets you do per week per muscle group and/or movement.
The general recommendation is to aim for 10-20 sets per week.
Here is the thing though with volume….
Volume has a bell shaped curve, meaning that you need a certain amount of volume to make progress. But, there’s also diminishing returns where you can do too much and not make progress either.
So, take caution when adding in more sets.
Trust me, I’ve made this mistake before.
There was one time I did German Volume Training (10×10) – because no pain no gain bro – and I was sore for a week straight.
It hurt to get out of bed… that’s how bad it was.
Lesson learned there and sometimes you need shit like that to happen to learn.
Here’s a general recommendation:
If you’re always sore, fatigued, and not making much progress, then you’re probably doing too much volume for your body to handle and will have to cut it back.
And if you’re feeling great and making progress, don’t fix what’s not broken.
However, if you stop making progress with your lifts, your biofeedback looks good, you feel good, etc… then you can maybe add in more sets and eventually another day of training.
But, as you may tell by now, it’s going to depend on the individual and how well you recover and can handle higher and lower volumes.
And, you’re not going to be able to add sets to every single muscle group at once.
That would be way too much for your body to handle.
So, you have to sub something out for what you sub in.
For example, if you want to grow your glutes and want to aim for 20 sets per week, you can’t also be doing 20 sets for back and quads as well.
One, if not both of those, will have to decrease as well.
And if you are training hard, this is where de-load weeks or lower volume weeks come into play that allows your body to recover so you can get back to hitting your higher volume training again.
So, aim for 10-20 sets per week, start on the lower end and once you stop progressing and all of your biofeedback looks good, then you can start to add sets.
5. How To Get Really Strong: Harder Variation of the Same Movement
When you do a harder variation of the same movement, your muscles have to work harder.
Therefore, that is progress.
Doing a goblet box squat compared to a BB back squat is a totally different ball game.
A goblet box squat is relatively more simple since you’re holding the weight in front of your body which allows you to activate your core more and sit down deeper on the box.
While a BB back squat is much more technical and takes longer to learn the skill of it.
Plus, you can lift a ton more weight with a barbell back squat than you can with a goblet squat.
Or, if you have trouble balancing on a lunge, you can hold onto something for more stability.
And to make it harder, now you have to rely on your core to stabilize your body which ultimately makes the movement more challenging.
There are plenty of ways to make a movement different and more challenging which will be laid out below in the next few ways on how to get really strong.
6. How To Get Really Strong: Manipulate Tempo
Tempo is basically slowing down or speeding up the speed at which you perform a repetition.
Manipulating tempo is a great way to create more time under tension and create a stronger mind to muscle connections which = GAINS.
This is one of my favorite things to manipulate with my online coaching clients because you don’t have to switch many things except the pace at which you lift.
And it helps with controlling the weight and improving your form.
So it’s a very safe tool to use to progress.
To further understand tempo, let’s break down a movement into its three parts:
- Concentric: when the muscle is shortening
- Eccentric: when the muscle is lengthening
- Isometric: when the muscle length does not change – think of at the top or bottom of a movement
The most important part is the eccentric portion because that is where you’re the strongest, where you recruit the most muscle fibers, and build the most muscle and strength.
And most importantly, if you don’t use your muscles to lower the weight, gravity takes over and essentially, your muscles don’t do any of the work.
So, control the weight!
In general, aim for a 1-2 second concentric and 2-4 sec eccentric. That way, you make sure that your muscles are doing the work instead of momentum.
Here are a few other ways to manipulate the tempo to make a movement more challenging:
- Slow down the eccentric to make it more difficult
- Add a pause at the bottom of the movement to work your muscles isometrically in the hardest portion
- Focus on explosive concentric to get the muscles firing more forcefully
- Add in 1.5 reps (hehehe) to place more time under tension in the hardest part of the movement.
Fair warning on these though… it may seem easy but just wait.
Which means you’ll have to leave your ego at the front desk when you walk in the gym because it is a very humbling experience.
A little bit of weight goes a long way.
7. How To Get Really Strong: Add In Novelty
Your body is sensitive to new stimuli.
Now, you don’t want to be too novel or else you’ll always leave your body guessing and it won’t be able to progress at anything.
For example, if you do BB back squats week 1, and then BGSS week 2, then Leg press week 3, you’re never really getting good at the movements, and the specific muscles that work during those movements, are never able to adapt.
This goes with the sports analogy from the beginning of this article. To get good and improve at a thing, you have to do that thing.
So, we 100% want to stick to the same routine for a month or two but doing it for too long will hurt your progress as well.
(Remember that bell curve I talked about before?)
If you do the same routine for too long, eventually your body becomes too good – because remember, it’s stubborn and wants to be good at everything.
So, adding in something new can almost “shock” your body and force it to have to adapt again and lead to better results.
Therefore, I’d recommend doing what you’re NOT currently doing.
This could mean trying a new split, adding in more frequency, a different style of programming, different rep ranges, etc.
For example, if all you do is big compound movements, try more bodybuilding type movements or more athletic based movements.
If all you do is lift in the higher rep range to get the pump… even though it’s the best feeling in the world, switch to some heavier lower rep training to focus on strength and building more “dense” muscles.
If all you do is take 3-5 minute rest periods, try going with 60-90 sec rest periods to play around with your body’s capacity to recover.
You can do this with movements as well.
For example, you can:
- add a deficit
- hold the weight on the working leg side or non-working leg side
- hold the weight in a goblet position
- place a barbell on your back
- use a trap bar
- hold the weight in a front rack position
- and plenty of other methods
There are plenty of ways to “shock” the system.
I recommend sticking with the same program for 4-8 weeks, then switching it up.
8. How to Get Really Strong: Lifting Through A Greater Range Of Motion
Range of motion stands for “the extent or limit to which a part of the body can be moved around a joint or a fixed position during exercise.”
Another way to think about it is how much your muscle stretches and contracts during a movement.
Think of a muscle like a rubber band. The more you pull on the rubber band, the more tension and tighter it gets. Then when you bring it back together, there’s not much tension left.
This is similar to how your muscles work when they’re stretched out.
The more your muscle stretches, the tension is created, leading to more muscle fibers getting recruited, and the stronger the muscle building signal is.
Research actually shows that working muscles from longer lengths (ie. when they’re more stretched) will lead to more muscle growth than working muscles from shorter lengths.
For example, if you’re doing a bicep curl, the greatest amount of muscle building will come from the bicep being fully stretched.
So, if you can do more range of motion with the same weight, you’re recruiting more muscle fibers and working them at longer lengths which again, and sending a stronger muscle building signal to your body.
Plus, you’re going to get the functional benefits as well of more mobility and less aches and pains.
So don’t half rep that shit because you’re going to get better results and feel better overall from lifting through a full ROM – even if that means lowering the weight.
Another way to do this is to force your body and muscles to work through a greater range of motion.
We can see this with a lot of lower body exercises where we perform the movement through a deficit (i.e. elevating ourselves).
Think of a deficit deadlift where your feet are 2 inches off the ground on a plate.
Or an elevated reverse lunge where you’re lunging from a few inches off the ground.
Or a step up where, the higher the box, the more of a stretch will be on your glutes.
The more of a stretch your muscles go through, the better results you’ll get.
9. How to Get Really Strong: Intensity Techniques
I’ll be honest, I very rarely use most of these for my clients because they’re not needed for most people so I’ll keep this short.
However, they can be fun when used sparingly.
Plus, the more advanced you get, the stronger and more powerful the signal is going to have to be to build muscle.
And increasing intensity is one way to do that ie. going to or past failure.
Things like: failure training, drops sets, rest pauses, cluster sets (big fan), forced reps, etc…
These are fucking brutal and should be used sparingly.
So maybe on the last set of your workout if you’re short on time and need extra volume or just because you’re a crazy human being and love to punish yourself.
These can be added in to help you make more progress.
Final Thoughts:
Hopefully you have all of the tools you need on how to get really strong.
The thing I want you to think of is the long game vs the short game because this shit takes time.
Play around with one or two of these at a time. Get really good at them.
And if you have this mindset over the weeks, months, and years, you’ll always have something to work on and progress.
Hope this helps!
-Coach Bob
Ps. If you want a quick start on getting more defined, strong, and confident, download my FREE Fat Loss Cheat Sheet HERE.
Pps. If you want to take it to the next level and get a more personalized approach specifically tailored to you and your goals, apply for 1:1 Online Coaching HERE and we’ll see if we’re a good fit.