Dynamic Running Warmup

 The author pursued two weightlifting goals: getting bigger and lifting max weights. These goals can complement but also conflict. Simultaneously pursuing both can lead to compromising both goals. Muscle growth and strength-building have different principles and mechanisms. Muscle growth requires disrupting homeostasis and proper rest and nutrition. Strength-building relies more on neural adaptation.

To break through a plateau in muscle growth, the author suggests disrupting homeostasis as much as possible through training. This will allow the body to remodel muscle tissue during rest and with proper nutrition. This is the basic principle of muscle growth, according to the author.

The principles for building strength are different from those for muscle growth. The author notes that maximal low-rep strength is largely neural, meaning it occurs in the nervous system rather than the muscle tissue. When the author shifted focus to powerlifting-style max strength, some principles for maximizing muscle growth, such as training to failure, were found to be counterproductive.

The author had to unlearn some of the principles for maximizing muscle growth in order to build maximal strength. The author then identified five foundational laws of strength training that replaced these principles. However, the specific laws are not mentioned and would require further context to explain.

Law 1: Specificity First:

The key to building maximal strength is to focus on specific lifts and prioritize them above others. Inclined presses and lat pull-downs may be less relevant if they don't contribute to improving your priority lifts. The main goal is to become stronger in those priority lifts.

The key to building strength is to focus on what's essential and eliminate everything else. This is where the S.A.I.D. principle comes in, which emphasizes the importance of specific adaptation to imposed demands. This means that if you want to excel at certain lifts, you need to perform them consistently.

Strength training has a significant neural component, meaning that with practice, the nervous system becomes better at performing a particular movement. As a result, fewer motor units are required to lift a given load, allowing for greater loading.

To maximize strength, the author's routine primarily consisted of squats, deadlifts, and bench presses, with variations of these exercises added in as needed. Occasionally, other exercises such as pull-downs, chin-ups, and rows were included, but they were not a major focus.

Training frequency varied from week to week, with some weeks consisting of only two workouts, alternating between squats and pulls each week. Despite this, the author continued to make progress and get stronger.

The author's article, "Get Crazy Strong Squatting and Pulling Every Other Week," provides an in-depth look at this approach to strength training.

Law 2: Speed Is King:

The key to getting stronger in barbell lifts is to train your body to exert maximal force into the bar on the lifting part of the movement. This is where maximal acceleration comes into play. When you accelerate out of the bottom of a lift, it becomes easier to complete the rest of the lift.

However, constantly training with maximal loads can lead to a decline in systemic recovery and joint health, as well as downregulate the nervous system's ability to produce force. So, what's the other option? Sub-maximal loading performed with maximal acceleration.

This type of training offers at least four advantages over maximal-intensity loading. First, it allows you to train with an appropriate amount of volume to practice the lifts and increase your nervous system's knowledge of them. Second, it teaches you to explode against the resistance, which carries over into heavier loads.

Third, speed in combination with appropriate sub-maximal loading activates maximum motor units as effectively as maximal-effort lifting. Fourth, it trains you to lift past sticking points in the movement.

Many lifters try partial movements to get past sticking points. However, if you can't generate enough power in the area preceding the sticking point, then the sticking point will remain. Generating enough power before the sticking point makes it disappear.

By using sub-maximal loading with maximal acceleration, you can train your nervous system to activate high-threshold motor units, increase your power output, and avoid overuse injuries or acute pain. This type of training allows you to train smart and get stronger without sacrificing recovery or joint health.

Compensatory acceleration training is a great way to train for strength. This type of training involves lifting light weights as explosively as possible. It typically involves using weights in the range of 60-80 percent of a one-rep max and doing multiple sets of 3-5 reps. By focusing on lifting explosively, you can activate maximum motor units just as effectively as you would with maximal-intensity loading. This type of training also teaches you to explode against resistance, which will carry over into heavier loads. Additionally, it allows you to train with an appropriate amount of volume to practice the lifts and increase your nervous system's knowledge of them, without tanking your recovery. Finally, it can help you lift past sticking points in the movement.

Law 3: Train Just Heavy Enough:

One of the biggest misconceptions about training for maximal strength is that you should lift really heavy for low reps. While this is partially true, higher loading does usually lead to greater strength development, it should be done in a limited way. Training in the highest intensity ranges, such as 90-100% of 1RM, is incredibly taxing on the body and can only be done for a limited time.

This is why great coaches usually build training cycles primarily within the 60-80% range. They aren't loading the bar maximally each week, and when they do, it's for a very short period. The goal is to systematically ramp up the loading closer to competition or testing for the next training cycle.

When a lifter is competing, the goal is to overreach and then deload to allow for super-compensation to occur, which is known as "peaking." However, if the lifter is testing for the next training cycle, it doesn't need to be a true max test. The lifter can use a specific loading for a set number of repetitions and, depending on the lifting speed, use it as a fairly accurate way to determine how to set up the next training cycle in terms of loading.

It's important to note that training for maximal strength is not just about lifting heavy weights. It's also about training your body to exert maximal force into the bar on the concentric half of the lift, activating and relying on high-threshold motor units. This can be done through sub-maximal loading performed with maximal acceleration, which allows for appropriate volume and teaches you to explode against the resistance, activate maximum motor units, and train you to lift past sticking points in the movement.

Compensatory acceleration training, or lifting light weights as explosively as possible, is often a lifter's best friend. This type of training usually involves using 60-80% of a one-rep max and performing multiple sets of 3-5 reps. This training method offers several advantages over maximal-intensity loading, including activating maximum motor units just as effectively as max-effort lifting, training you to lift past sticking points in the movement, and allowing for better systemic recovery to avoid overuse injuries and acute pain.

To build maximal strength, lifting heavy weights for low reps is important. However, training in near-maximal loading zones should be limited to short periods of time. Most great coaches build training cycles in the 60-80 percent range. Testing for the next training cycle can be done with a specific loading for a set number of repetitions, allowing the lifter to determine how to set up the next training cycle in terms of loading. The patient lifter who focuses on technique improvement and bar speed will see direct carryover into higher intensity training phases.

Law 4: Program With Your Average, Not Your All-Time Best:

During an interview, I once said that if you go into the gym and have an unusually awesome day and squat an all-time best of 650, it doesn't make you a 650 squatter. The conversation was about how to effectively program your intensities during your training cycles. You don't take your all-time best lifts to base those training cycles around because you're not capable of squatting that weight all the time. Thus, in your programming, you're "not a 650 squatter."

Programming with your ego and your PRs can lead to injury and setbacks. Your body will tell you when you're pushing yourself too hard, and ignoring those warning signs can result in pain and injury. It's important to listen to your body and program intelligently based on your current abilities and goals. Building strength takes time, patience, and consistency, and it's important to have a long-term perspective on your training.

I gained a significant insight into producing results through effective training cycles, and as a result, I was able to consistently execute productive training cycles. Instead of programming my workouts around my best or desired lifts, I shifted my focus to what I could realistically lift 90 percent of the time, which I refer to as the everyday max or EDM.

The EDM is the weight I can lift even on off days, when I feel sluggish or unwell, or when I am contemplating a deload. For example, if someone's all-time best squat is 650, but they can lift 585 on most days, that would be their EDM.

With this approach, I can design my training cycle around a weight that my body can handle more often than not. By doing this, I can easily hit most of my sets each week and steadily gain confidence. Additionally, this effective loading enables me to refine my technique during the training cycle, and by the end, I am squatting more efficiently and without undue exhaustion. Overall, this method of programming is a smart way to train.

Law 5: Be Patient:

The difference between the 650 and 585 programming lies in their approach to patience. The 650 lifter lacks it and wants their bests all the time. They may be the type to max out on bench press every Monday in the gym. In contrast, the 585 lifter understands that reaching their goals takes time and multiple well-planned training cycles to execute consistently.

Impatience is often driven by coveting - wanting what someone else has or can do. This can diminish the joy of recognizing one's own abilities and potential and is not conducive to success.

Buckle Down For The Long Term:

If you're struggling to make progress in your strength training, it's possible that you're violating some of these rules, such as constantly lifting heavy weights without focusing on specific areas of improvement. Rather than continuing to do what hasn't worked in the past, try reducing the weight, emphasizing speed, and concentrating on the areas you want to improve. Be patient and allow the strength adaptations to take place through multiple training cycles.

Remember, building maximal strength is a gradual process that requires patience and smart training. For example, Paul's four-week program Jacked in 3 features a balanced mix of heavy lifting and volume to promote growth, with three weekly sessions that include arm training in every workout. This program is available exclusively in BodyFit.