Want to Increase Strength without Adding Muscle?

Why? I've always wondered about this? Are you such an Adonis but at the same time so weak that you need to work your butt off so that you can become as strong as you look? Even pro bodybuilders are pretty darn strong compared to the average Joe. But let's just stick with the average Joe, not the pro. Let me ask again, why would you want to get strong without adding any muscle?

I wonder this because at least once a month I see a new article explaining how to do this. Why is this concept so popular? Is it because:

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What Is Force?

Training for maximal strength is essentially training to exert maximum muscular force. So what is force? The easiest way to think of a force is as a simple push or pull. When you push or pull on a barbell or other implement you are exerting a force. The pull of the Earth's gravity on an object is a force. Friction is a force. To be more precise, then, a force is something that causes or tends to cause a change in the motion or the shape of an object.

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Do Not Have a Huge List of Absolutely Essential Exercises

One big problem that trainees have in designing strength training templates is the Exercise List. These tend to be lists of 35 to 40 exercises that the trainee is attached to for some reason and if he or she is not working hard on all of them then the program is just not right. But that is wrong.

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Gripping the Bar for Deadlifts: Correct Grip, Supporting Strength, and Calluses

This post is meant to discuss three basic propositions about training the deadlift. The first concerns a statement that we frequently read or hear concerning the development of supporting grip strength for deadlifts: Deadlifting is all you need to train your grip for deadlifts. I'm going to explain to you why this false assumption is made and how it is not true for everyone. The second has to do with the correct way to grip the bar. I am not sure that many people even know there is a correct method to grip the bar that results in a more secure grip and more protection against ripping the skin, and ripping off calluses. The third concerns calluses themselves. So here goes.

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Easily Convert Kg to Pounds (Lbs) in Your Head

I was in the gym this morning and trying to convert kilograms to pounds. I asked around until someone told me about an ancient powerlifting formula. Okay, the truth is I asked my father how to do a quick conversion. He is retired now but still hits the gym. Since he was a butcher he worked with lbs for years and only recently had to use KG's when the UK switched. He told me a quick and easy way to convert Kgs to Lbs in your head that I thought I would share with you all.

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Quantitative Measurements and Quality Evaluations: The Difference Between Numbers and Performance

My post on rest periods for strength training makes fun of that old bodybuilding forum question "what's your stats?" You know the one when you ask any question and you always get the same response asking you your weight and how much you can squat, deadlift, and bench press. The idea is that the respondent is doing some quick and dirty calculations based on your "stats" and this will lead them to the correct answer to your particular question. In reality they don't know what the hell they are doing and are just trying to sound like they are about to give you 'individualized' answers.

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Lifting and Carrying Stuff: It's Not Just About Your Legs and Arms

Bench press, bench press, bench press. I'm amazed at how many bench press warriors I come across. No, I'm not talking about the guys who just love to bench press and like to see those numbers go up, but they try to keep their training balanced. I'm talking about people who only train upper body and actually consider bench press (and curls) to be a good measure of "strength".

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Front Squat Misconceptions

The front squat exercise is beginning to get more and more love. It's really about time. True, the back squat is still called the King by many but the front squat is coming into it's own. It's a daunting thing to master. Uncomfortable at first and just so downright weird for those used to the back squat. Heck, throw the overhead squat into the mix and it's like a whole new world.

The front squat is just as good as the back squat as a mass builder. In fact, though I cannot prove it, I tend to think it is better. Well, lest you shout sacrilege let me remind you that mass is not my "specialty."

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It's All About Time: Ideas for Manipulating Rest Periods in Strength Training for Force Potential (not Bodybuilding)

Most people know two things about interset rest periods for strength training: you can rest shorter or you can rest longer. If you rest shorter you are training for endurance and if you rest longer you are training for strength.

That is a fairly simplistic way of viewing it and yet that is just about the level of sophistication that most trainees bring to thinking about rest periods. But wait! It makes sense on some level. To keep things simple, for our purposes we can define strength and endurance in the following way:

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Bruce Lee Strength Training Myths

Bruce Lee has had a profound influence on all manner of cultural pursuits. He impacts the world of fitness as much as he does the world of martial arts. His legacy, to me, is unmatched. And one thing that Lee was, if he was anything, was an idea man. Dismissing things out of hand was not something he did, nor did he blindly keep following paths that lead to nowhere.

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What Muscle Should I Feel Working When I Do Deadlifts and Why Do I Feel It Mostly in My Back?

One of the most common questions out there is what muscle group one should predominantly feel working during the deadlift. Also related to this is where one should expect to get DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) after they deadlift.

The question occurs because many trainees have been told, rightly, that the deadlift is not a "back exercise" but a hip dominant exercise that utilizes the entire posterior chain. So, when trainees feel that most of the work seems to be centered in the lower back they become concerned that they are not performing the lift correctly.

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Should I Lift Fast or Slow? Training to Failure, Single Sets versus Multiple Sets, Non Sequitors and False Dilemmas

Apparently there is a debate about whether training to failure is better than doing one single set of exercise. Well, okay, no there is not really a debate about this but sometimes those who do a lot of "research" about resistance training while simultaneously not having a clue about resistance training think that these kinds of debates exist. The actual debate is about multiple versus single sets to failure. That is a bit different than training to failure versus training with single sets, is it not?

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Soon Ripe Soon Rotten: Newbie Gains, Detraining and Strength Maintenance for Lifts that Last

Chances are if you are a beginner to strength training you've heard about "newbie gains". Newbie gains are what we call the easy and all but automatic results that beginners to strength training (or bodybuilding) get. When you first start out you get a period of easy strength increases. This extends to performance physiology in general. Early gains in performance come easy and there is also a period of general adaptation wherein the same general adaptations tend to occur to different exercise stimuli. So it seems that not only do strength gains come easy at first but they come "regardless".

These easy gains do not mean there are not better and worse ways to train and the phrase newbie gains should not be taken to be an excuse to train stupid! Really we just use it to shout down 15 year olds who think they have some kind of innate talent because the plates just keep piling on so fast. Lots of us started out thinking we found the magic fruit tree of strength training. But as they say in the East: Soon Ripe Soon Rotten!

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Grip Strength Training Equipment: Using A Blob For Pinch Strength

What is a blob?

A blob is a mass of steel or concrete (hence the name blob), typically weighing 10-50 lbs or more. The rough dimensions of a 50 lb blob are 5-1/2” (thickness) by 7-1/2” (diameter), with the original 50 lb York blobs simply being one of the bells of a 100 lb York dumbbell. The video below should be enough to make you realize why they don’t get much heavier than 50 lbs, unless you’re Wade Gillingham, in that case you can lift an 81.5 lb blob.

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The Perfect Strength Training Program

I recently came across an article by Chad Aichs called Mistakes Made and Truths About Strength Learned. This blog update is a reflection of my thoughts regarding Chad’s article.

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