If you’re a person like me with big goals and aspirations, gaining strength is good, but gaining strength fast is even better!
This article will teach you four of the best methods to get strong fast. First, we’re going to define strength, the law of diminishing returns, and the relationship between these variables as well my guidelines to strength training. Then, we are going to explore the four methods that I use with my athletes to catapult their strengths to new levels.
After you read this article, choose one method and get to work!
Strength is best described as the ability to produce high amounts of force. If you back squat a heavy weight, your muscles need to produce a high amount of force so that you can stand up. Muscles get better at producing high amounts of force by using more muscle fibers and/or increasing how fast/coordinated these muscle fibers work.
Strength can be improved over time with consistent practice because strength is a skill. Even if you aren’t strong today, if you practice getting strong, you will become strong!
The Law of Diminishing Returns
One rule that you need to be aware of before we go further is The Law of Diminishing Returns. As you get stronger, the rate at which you get stronger decreases over time. This explains why you can’t train the same way every session and expect to get stronger.
For the purposes of this article, this means that if any of the methods discussed below are to be used, make sure to choose the method you have not used before in order to reap the most benefits. That is how you overcome this law!
My Guidelines to Strength Training
For the purpose of this article, there are three guidelines I use to become stronger.
Guideline Number 1
You are normally at or near your strongest when you feel your strongest.
Explanation: I often hear people tell stories of how they surprised themselves by hitting PR’s, despite felt horrible while warming up. Personally, I’m not a fan of this. I’ve had too many days where I didn’t feel strong, pushed through, and got injured. That’s why I believe if you wake up in the morning and your body is aching, sore, or injured, it’s safe to say you are not at your strongest that day. Strength is an attribute that doesn’t typically work optimally well with pain or fatigue. All things being equal, well-rested, injury-free people will always outperform tired, injured people.
Guideline Number 2
Strength is a skill.
Explanation: If you want to get strong, discover what movement you want to get strong at and practice that movement a lot. Simplicity is the key to strength. However, it’s very hard to get skilled at many exercises at the same time, especially when you become more advanced. Therefore, make sure to wisely choose what exercises you want to get strong at! For example, I know that if I work on handstand and planche pushup progressions at the same time, I won’t make any progress. My shoulders will be far too tired! I need to choose one or the other to get stronger.
Guideline Number 3
Perform multiple sets that consist of low numbers of repetitions.
Explanation: In order to make laws 1 and 2 work to the fullest potential, guideline number 3 enforces these guidelines by:
1. Ensuring that you don’t get tired or injured by long, taxing sets (Guideline 1)
2. Ensuring that you practice an adequate amount (Guideline 2)
Isometric Method
The first method for gaining strength that we are going to explore are isometrics. Isometrics are defined as a type of muscle contraction where the angle of the joint that is doing the work does not change.
There are many methods that exist within the realm of isometric training that can be used for athletic performance. In order to increase strength, there are three methods that I think will work the best.
The first of these methods are extreme isometrics.
Extreme isometrics aka long-duration isometrics are simply put, a nightmare.
Example: An example of an extreme isometric for the upper body would be to hold yourself an inch off the ground while doing pushups and stay there for a predetermined length of time, which is typically a few minutes.
Why: This method works so well because muscles produce a maximal isometric muscle contraction which has been proven to use more muscle fibers than any other form of muscle contraction. The more muscle fibers that you can use, the more force that you can potentially produce. Additionally, isometric contractions are typically less fatiguing making this an excellent option to complete while tired.
Overcoming isometrics are the next type of isometrics that you can use in your training.
Example: A good example of an overcoming isometric for the upper body is pushing against an immovable object or wall with your arms for 5-10 seconds.
Why: By pushing against an immovable object, a high number of muscle fibers are stimulated.
This method is most commonly used for breaking through plateaus in strength by performing it at the joint angle where a lifter struggles the most. Josh Bryant of Jailhouse Strong in collaboration with another great coach, Mark Bell, made an excellent video on the topic in regards to bench press.
Yielding isometrics are the last type of isometric that I believe will be helpful for getting strong in the shortest amount of time.
Example: An example of a yielding isometric for the upper body would be to get in a bench press position and hold a bar that is 5-10% higher than your 1RM over your head for a few seconds.
Isometrics are really useful for what I like to call “unlocking hidden strength.” This method can teach you to use more muscle fibers then you were previously able to use. As I mentioned earlier, the more muscle fibers that you can use, the higher your strength potential is. If you want to learn more about isometrics, check out this amazing guide to isometrics created by Joel Smith at Just Fly Sports!
Isotonic Method
Next, let’s talk about the most popular method of increasing strength: the isotonic method. This method uses all 3 types of muscle contraction to build strength. Most people are familiar with the isotonic method and utilize it using compound movements that work multiple muscle groups at once like squats or pushups.
This method is often paired with a traditional periodization style where an athlete lifts progressively heavier weights for 3 to 6 weeks, then reduces the load or volume during a down week while their muscles recuperate. After this down or deload week, the person is typically a lot stronger than ever before because they built muscle over the last month and rested for one week to let the muscles recover.
Why: By building muscle using this method, you can increase your potential strength by:
1. Giving your body more muscle fibers to use
2. Performing compound movements repeatedly in order to increase the speed and coordination that your muscles work at
Overreaching Isotonic Method
The next method I want to talk about is very similar to the traditional method, but with one key difference. This method, which is called overreaching, has the same setup as the traditional method. However, a person who is overreaching works out harder by doing more sets and repetitions with heavier weights. This purposely leads to them becoming extremely fatigued.
Why: They do this so that their body compensates for all the fatigue caused by their hard work and gifts them by helping them become stronger than ever before. This is explained in the fitness fatigue model which you can see in the following video.
In the traditional method, a person stops lifting when they are slightly fatigued and deloads in order to get a slight increase in strength. In this method, a person stops lifting when they are heavily fatigued and deloads to reaps the benefits of a larger increase in strength.
However, this method can be difficult to use appropriately because it can be hard to predict exactly how fatigued a person’s body is and how long to rest to reap the rewards of a larger increase in strength.
Greasing the Groove
The last method that I want to talk about is one of the most notorious methods of increasing strength ever created. This method is a former secret of the Russian military used during the Cold War in order to increase the strength of their soldiers. Strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline exposed this secret to the western strength world, and it has since been adopted by many sections of the US military in order to increase the strength of our soldiers. This is the method behind the madness when soldiers undergo basic training!
It is referred to as greasing the groove. It’s very simple to perform.
Example: When I want to get better at pull ups, I can perform this method by setting up a pull up bar in front of my bedroom door. Every time I walk by the door, I perform an easy set of pull-ups. By easy, I mean that I should stop my set of pull-ups far before failure. If I wanted to work to failure, I can typically perform as many as five to six more repetitions, but that’s not the goal here. Using this method everyday, adds up to the completion of massive amounts of pull-ups throughout a day.
Why: With this method, you get better at a movement simply by practicing this movement a lot. Additionally, you minimize fatigue by staying far away from failure (Guideline 2).
This method is commonly used within the calisthenics community, so please check out this video by calisthenics expert, Daniel Vadnal of Fitness FAQS, on how he uses this method to gain strength.
Can You Use All of These Methods Together?
I don’t recommend that you use all of these methods at the same time if you are a beginner to strength training. More advanced trainees can utilize multiple methods in a program, but as a beginner, I cannot stress enough that simplicity is key! Simplicity will maximize the effects of any method, so only choose one method and do it exactly as explained above.
However, I will give you an example where I use all 4 training methods to achieve a training goal of getting better at pullups.
4 Step Method to Use all 4 Training Methods
Goal: Become stronger at pullups
Step 1: I use the traditional isotonic method with pullups to gain strength for around a month by performing a few sets of pullups with every workout.
Step 2: I overreach in the last week by performing a lot of pullups to failure and rest until I feel strong again.
Step 3: Then, I grease the groove everyday for another month and perform massive amounts of pullups everyday.
By this point, I am assuredly an expert in doing pullups. As an expert, I know what part of the pullup I struggle most with. Therefore, this leads to:
Step 4: Perform overcoming or yielding isometrics at the angle in which I struggle the most.
Make sure to comment any questions that you have about using these methods down below and be sure to check out my upcoming social media posts on getting strong fast, where I will give you more details on how I use these techniques!
Peace!
