Focus On Strength First and Size Will Come

So you walk in the gym, you get your gear, fill up your pre workout and head to the weight room. As your warming up on the bench you see some other lifters walk in and you can tell they are fairly new to lifting. You see these younger lifters head right to the machines to start there sets and you see them do nothing less than 10 reps. The funny thing is that these are actually members of the gym and they have been members for 4 years now! How can someone lift for 4 years and still look like a newbie in the gym??? This brings us to our topic for today and thats “why you need to focus on strength early on in your journey and size will follow. 

Looking For The Full FREE Guide On Strength and Size Check Out This Blog!

Theres nothing wrong with machines except the fact they suck for strength

So machines are not useless and they can be utilized properly in a routine to help with size gains but far to often you see lifters intimidated of the free weight section at the gym so they just hang by the machines. The problem with machines is that they control where the weight goes and keeps it in a stable position. Machines while effective for size and general work capacity do not substitute big lifts. If you first take care of the heavy stuff in your routine you will strengthen your core and stabilizer muscles and that will build strength which is what we will cover next.......

Why You Need To Focus On Strength First?

“But Shawn i am not a powerlifter nor do i care to be strong”

Even if your goal has nothing to do with strength you need some strength to progress in your hypertrophy goals. Let me explain...

 

In order to grow you need to have some sort of PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD over time, different types of overload are

- Poundage being lifted

- Number of Reps

- Number of Sets

- Time Under Tension

- Reduced Rest Times

or the one that matters most - Total volume (intensity x reps x sets)

 

So what these mean in simple terms is that you must be using some sort of progressive overload to improve over time. Without that there is no stimulation for new muscle growth. If your doing the same thing and same weight year after year expect little if any growth.

All Rep Ranges Must Be Utilized

1,2,3,4,5,6,7 or 30 reps! Does not matter. What matters is that all rep ranges must be utilized (ok maybe not 30 reps)  to achieve growth. Yes you can grow as a beginner doing 3x10 for what will seem forever but if you want to take it up a notch and also not do such boring of routines then don’t be afraid to do sets of 3’ or 5’ or 8’s. Another name for this that i discuss in detail here as well as a free program is Daily Undulating Periodization. I’m not going to discuss it in detail here (you can read that post for complete detail)  But basically DUP is just utilizing different rep ranges with different intensities through the week with the main goal of increasing volume over time.

So How Do You Get Strong?

Getting Strong comes down to this;

- Increase your overall volume over time (weight x reps x sets) and you will see strength and size gains. Just like we talked about in my Blog (the guide to size and strength) Overall volume is the most important factor that you have to keep in mind.

 

So Shawn if volume is the most important couldn’t i just do lighter weight and hit the same volume for the same gains? For example just squat 135 for sets of 10 to make up for 200lbs for sets of 5?”

 

Well not exactly. While to a point what you said is true there is a volume threshold meaning that once the intensity (or weight lifted) is under that intensity threshold then the overall volume method does not fall into place. You must use a weight that causes you to get past that threshold to produce the overall volume effect. That threshold will be different for everyone but a good rule to follow is anything under 50% of your one rep max is not going to stimulate that threshold.

When Should You Focus on Size?

From the very beginning of your fitness journey you should make it a priority to focus on strength. One thing that i will never forget is when i read the official PHAT program layout from Layne Norton back in 2012. Layne mentioned in that article that one of the reasons to focus on increasing strength is so that you can use heavier weights down the road on your hypertrophy or higher rep days. For example:

If you can now squat 200lbs for sets of 8 and you used to be only able to squat 150lbs for sets of 8 that is a great increase in volume!

So you could say when you train for strength that will directly effect how much size you put on. The stronger you get the more reps you can do later on and therefore you are killing two birds with one stone!


The Recipe For Strength

While i have discussed this many times i feel its important to tie in here as well. There is no one size fit all program fro everyone. Even my very own SHDUPA program will not work for everyone. The thing you have to remember is that when it comes to strength and size for that matter you must be using progressive overload and progressing overtime, if you accomplish that you will be getting stronger and getting bigger.

Remember the overload options...

- reps

- sets

- intensity or weight used

- frequency

- time under tension

- rest times

For example you could do more reps or add an extra set. of course you can always up the weight as well. Another thing is just do a lift more frequently. Need bigger arms? train arms more often. Time under tension is how long each set takes so make sure you are taking a control negative during the movement and then exploding on the way up to maximize time under tension.  or if your looking for another overload principle try cutting down your rest times. did you do 135 for 3 sets of 8 last week on bench with 3 minutes rest? Don’t feel like upping the weight this week? then fine mabye try to hit 3 sets of 8 with 135 and take 2:30 rest instead. dropping that 30 seconds of rest is a way of overload. Now i would not recommend cutting rest on big compound movements but you get the idea. Rest time ovelroad technique would better be suited for an assistance exercise

 

Once Your Strong

So after a couple years on really trying to get stronger your going to notice something pretty funny... You will be a lot bigger and thicker (the good type of thick) than when you began training for more strength. You might not mention it right away but if your like me you will have that awakening moment where you look in the mirror and say to yourself "wow i am getting big!" I will never forget my awakening moment. After a year of powerlifting back in 2013 i remember this one night after a heavy deadlift session when i was changing after the workout i happened to capture a vision of my back width and thickness and i was shocked! I actually turned to the mirror to make sure that i hadn't seen someone else LOL that was the moment i knew that strength needed to be focused on to get true growth. That was also the time i new i was starting to figure this stuff out.

So Then....

 I hope that this can at least help those of you that want to gain size but don't understand the importance of getting stronger.

Besides just getting bigger its always nice to be able to push more weight in the gym as thats a great feeling. So anyway to wrap up todays post

- There is nothing wrong with using machines but they should not be your number one focus.

- By focusing on strength first size will come automatically down the road.

- Don’t forget about using various overload techniques

- Don’t get stuck in the mantra of that only certain rep ranges work. Any rep scheme should be practiced for the best overall progress.

- Getting bigger down the road equates to getting stronger right now and vice versa

- A stronger muscle has much more capability to be a bigger muscle

- Once your strength work is done take advantage of assistance exercises and work in a various rep ranges to really maximize size and strength gains

Hope you guys were able to get something out of todays post. You might notice this is very similar to one of my previous posts, sometimes i feel a certain subject needs more explaining as time goes on so make sure and click the blog tab at the top to read all my other blogs so you can stay up to date with the most recent things i publish.  If you know some friends that might benefit from this please feel free to share it with them. Also if you have anything i did not mention that you also feel is important to why you need strength to get size please let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading guys, and if you feel all so generous please feel free to leave a donation even a dollar can go a long way to show your support. Thank you!  till next week...

 

Stay Strong,

Shawn Fausey

• Shawn Fausey is the Founder and CEO of Fausey's Fitness. With Over 6 years experience in Bodybuilding, Powerlifting and Nutrition. Shawn offers services of online fitness coaching, programing and consulting. Shawn is also a Graphic Designer and can be reached for graphic services on www.rev-graphics.com
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