If You’re Not Getting Stronger, Here’s Why

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Okay, you’ve been training for some time now, maybe years and years. I don’t know why you started training with weights (or by means of bodyweight exercises), but I’m willing to bet among the reasons was to get stronger. Nobody wants to remain at their current strength level for an extended period of time. It just wouldn’t make sense. So let me ask you a question … are you actually getting stronger?

Well, are you?

If you’re like most people who’ve been training for quite a while, chances are you’ve reached a certain strength level and decided (consciously or not) to stay there. There might well be some very understandable reasons for not venturing beyond that strength level … such as a painful injury, or one that limits your range of movement … but it might also just be that you’ve settled for that level without realising it. Maybe it just feels right. And by that I mean the thought of going beyond it might just not feel right. It might even feel like you’re tempting fate.

So you stick where you are, year in and year out. Which, quite frankly, will limit your chances of improving in other ways, such as achieving some eye-popping muscularity, or creating the symmetry that would put the finishing touches to your physique.

So how come you’re not getting stronger?

gadgetsAnother reason you might be stuck at a certain level is that you’ve become preoccupied with unimportant details. It’s pretty common these days to see folk overly concerned with such things as recording their progress. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good thing to keep an eye on your progress, and it’s a good thing to document it, but there’s a time and place. And that time and place is usually not while you’re in the gym, and in between sets!

Gadgets and accoutrements … now there’s something that can divert your attention from your main goal. Some people are taken in by every new shiny object they see, and they suddenly want one! Training just wouldn’t be the same without that new thing. So they buy it, or somehow get access to it … and they use it … and they talk about it … and basically they obsess over it, to the extent that it becomes uppermost in their minds. When all along the one thing that should be uppermost in their minds is their goal. Which is, or at least should include, getting stronger.

You’ll see these people using gym balls and balance boards, for example, when they really should be lifting weights.

If you want to get stronger … get stronger

Lifting weights … I hate to state the blindingly obvious, but lifting heavy things is basically at the root of getting stronger. Nobody ever got stronger lifting tiny weights. It just didn’t happen … ever. Like no-one ever became a better runner without actually running. Or a better swimmer without actually getting into the water. It’s that basic. You want to get stronger … you lift weights and make yourself stronger.

You can plan all you like, draw up progress charts, investigate the latest training routines and equipment, but none of that, in itself, will make you stronger. It all comes down to the basics … lifting heavy things, sweating, pushing yourself, extending your abilities, becoming fearless.

Reasons you’re not getting stronger

So where are we now … oh yeah, some of the reasons you’re not getting stronger …

It could be because …

  • You have a persistent or restrictive injury
  • You don’t see yourself as strong
  • You’ve got comfortable with your present level of strength
  • You’re missing workouts
  • You’re obsessed with unimportant things, such as gadgets and routines
  • You’re not lifting enough weight, or often enough
  • You’re afraid

Hold on … afraid?? Whaddaya mean, afraid?

Are you afraid?

Yep, if you’ve got comfortable where you are now, strength-wise, you’re very likely scared to venture beyond that level into unexplored territory. Don’t worry, it’s okay to be afraid; it’s what keeps us safe.

And I’m not suggesting you go at the weights hell-for-leather next time you’re in the gym. Take proper precautions, by all means. But there are ways of going into unknown territory safely.

Take it step by step. Make small additions to the bar’s weight. Don’t jump from 250 to 275 on the deadlift if 250 was your usual training weight, or your maximum.

Creep up from 250 to 260, or even 255. Settle for that today and be content with it. Make a note of your new personal best (when you get home!). And next time out, have 265 or 270 in mind (although it might be advisable to make that a week or two later). Give your body plenty of time to recover … and grow … and then challenge it again.

How did the great strong men of the past do it?

Arthur SaxonWell, it wasn’t with the help of wobble boards, that’s for sure!

Arthur Saxon, one of the greatest lifters of all time, focused on lifting heavy weights and never had the distraction of the panoply of gadgets that are all round us today. He lifted heavier and heavier, and saw himself as getting stronger and stronger, and that’s exactly what happened.

One of the most impressive lifts he did was the bent press. This is an unusual exercise today, and consists of grabbing a fully-loaded barbell … not a dumbbell … by one hand and crouching as you hoist it above your head, then standing up straight. He performed the bent press with the astonishing weight of 370 lbs! If you could lift that weight above your head with both hands it would be impressive … actually, it would be very impressive. And as a matter of fact, some sources say he bent pressed over 400 lbs.