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When you get stronger, you’re better able to lose weight, run faster, and hit harder. Which is why...
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10 Strength Training Strategies That Will Never Die James Michelfelder by Jim Wendler Comments Strength is the foundation of everyday acts of athleticism (like hitting a 300-yard drive in golf) and not-so-human feats (like J.J. Watt’s 5’1″ box jump.) Strength isn’t limited to muscle size and capacity.
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Sebastian Silva 48 minutes ago
When you get stronger, you’re better able to lose weight, run faster, and hit harder. Which is why...
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Zoe Mueller 14 minutes ago
1 Own the big four The squat, deadlift, bench press, and shoulder press are the best strength-tra...
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Mason Rodriguez Member
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When you get stronger, you’re better able to lose weight, run faster, and hit harder. Which is why we’ve got 10 no-frills strength-training tips to help you make everything in your life feel just a little bit easier (and much lighter).
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Audrey Mueller 10 minutes ago
1 Own the big four The squat, deadlift, bench press, and shoulder press are the best strength-tra...
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Victoria Lopez 3 minutes ago
The barbell is king, dumbbell is queen, and everything else is a court jester—they may have their ...
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Isabella Johnson Member
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1 Own the big four The squat, deadlift, bench press, and shoulder press are the best strength-training exercises, period. The chinup and row are great moves too, but don’t make them the focus of your workout—they can be assistance lifts to complement the bench and shoulder press, keeping your pulling muscles in balance with the pressing ones. 2 Use barbells first Forget all the fad equipment.
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Mason Rodriguez 27 minutes ago
The barbell is king, dumbbell is queen, and everything else is a court jester—they may have their ...
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Noah Davis Member
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The barbell is king, dumbbell is queen, and everything else is a court jester—they may have their place, but they’re not essential. Start your workouts with barbell exercises, such as the “big four,” as described above. Barbells let you load a lot of weight, and lifting heavy is the first step toward getting stronger.
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Sebastian Silva 20 minutes ago
Once your heaviest strength exercises are out of the way, you can move on to dumbbell and bodyweight...
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William Brown 26 minutes ago
That’s great for advanced lifters, but if you’re just starting out know this: There’s no need ...
Once your heaviest strength exercises are out of the way, you can move on to dumbbell and bodyweight training. 3 Keep it simple Some trainers make their clients lift with a certain rep speed, like three seconds up, one second down.
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Ava White 8 minutes ago
That’s great for advanced lifters, but if you’re just starting out know this: There’s no need ...
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Mia Anderson 7 minutes ago
The only way to be sure you’re getting stronger is if your loads consistently increase. 4 Maintai...
That’s great for advanced lifters, but if you’re just starting out know this: There’s no need to count anything but reps during a set. Simply focus on raising and lowering your weights in a controlled manner, pausing for a one-second count at the top of the lift. Using an arbitrary tempo can lessen tension on your muscles or force you to use varying amounts of weight, slowing your progress.
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Isabella Johnson 50 minutes ago
The only way to be sure you’re getting stronger is if your loads consistently increase. 4 Maintai...
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Emma Wilson 20 minutes ago
Constantly strive to improve those numbers. 5 Don t overdo it Try to stick to three or four lifts p...
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William Brown Member
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The only way to be sure you’re getting stronger is if your loads consistently increase. 4 Maintain a log Write down your exercises, sets, reps, and the fate of each workout. Keep track of your best lifts and the most reps you’ve done with a certain weight on an exercise.
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Jack Thompson 24 minutes ago
Constantly strive to improve those numbers. 5 Don t overdo it Try to stick to three or four lifts p...
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Jack Thompson Member
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Constantly strive to improve those numbers. 5 Don t overdo it Try to stick to three or four lifts per workout. Keeping your workouts short helps you take advantage of hormonal surges.
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Alexander Wang Member
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When you do too many exercises in a session, at least some of them get done half-assed. All you need is one main lift per workout (one of the big four), one or two assistance lifts (for keeping the body in balance and further strengthening the muscles that perform the main lift), then core or specialty work at the end. Doing any more lessens your results.
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Noah Davis Member
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6 Think five You should rotate many different rep ranges in your workouts, but sets of five seem to offer the best blend of muscle size and strength gains. If you’re pushing through one of the big four moves during strength training, you’ll find that your form often breaks down after five anyway.
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Luna Park 23 minutes ago
7 Add weights slowly The main reason people plateau and stop gaining strength is that they go too h...
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Dylan Patel 52 minutes ago
Increase the weight each session — but by no more than 10 pounds — and stick with the same lifts...
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Daniel Kumar Member
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7 Add weights slowly The main reason people plateau and stop gaining strength is that they go too heavy for too long. Abandon your ego and do your main lifts using 10% less than the most weight you can lift for the given rep range.
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Aria Nguyen 38 minutes ago
Increase the weight each session — but by no more than 10 pounds — and stick with the same lifts...
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Andrew Wilson 36 minutes ago
8 Take to the hills Cardio is a must if you want to be lean and healthy, but long-distance running ...
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Sebastian Silva Member
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Increase the weight each session — but by no more than 10 pounds — and stick with the same lifts. You’ll rarely plateau again.
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Natalie Lopez 3 minutes ago
8 Take to the hills Cardio is a must if you want to be lean and healthy, but long-distance running ...
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Sophie Martin Member
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8 Take to the hills Cardio is a must if you want to be lean and healthy, but long-distance running or cycling increases levels of hormones that break down muscle tissue. To get stronger while getting leaner, do cardio in short, intense bursts.
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Mason Rodriguez 14 minutes ago
Go to a moderately steep hill and sprint to the top, then walk back down. When you’re ready, sprin...
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Henry Schmidt 5 minutes ago
In your next workout, do two more sprints than you did the first time. Continue adding two sprints t...
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Dylan Patel Member
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Go to a moderately steep hill and sprint to the top, then walk back down. When you’re ready, sprint again. In your first workout, do only half as many sprints as you think you could.
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Victoria Lopez 58 minutes ago
In your next workout, do two more sprints than you did the first time. Continue adding two sprints t...
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Lily Watson 108 minutes ago
9 Balance your strength training Whatever you do for one side of the body, you must do for the othe...
In your next workout, do two more sprints than you did the first time. Continue adding two sprints to your workouts until you can’t improve anymore. Then do sets of sprints.
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9 Balance your strength training Whatever you do for one side of the body, you must do for the othe...
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Your chest exercises should be balanced with back-training lifts. You don’t necessarily have to do...
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Julia Zhang Member
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9 Balance your strength training Whatever you do for one side of the body, you must do for the other side. Follow that rule in your workouts and you should be able to avoid injury and muscle imbalances. If you’re doing squats (mainly a quad exercise), also do Romanian deadlifts (which hit the hamstrings hard).
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Sophia Chen Member
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Your chest exercises should be balanced with back-training lifts. You don’t necessarily have to do your balance work in the same session, but it should be done in the same week. In general, follow a ratio of two-to-one between your pulling-and-pushing movements.
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Harper Kim 22 minutes ago
So if you bench-press on Monday (and most of the world seems to), you can do chinups on Tuesday and ...
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Noah Davis Member
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So if you bench-press on Monday (and most of the world seems to), you can do chinups on Tuesday and bent-over lateral raises on Thursday, for example. Every other pressing exercise you do should follow this formula.
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Hannah Kim 64 minutes ago
10 Do strength training exercises correctly You may think you know how to perform the big four, but...
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Keep your lower back arched and you should feel a stretch in your hamstrings. When your hips are ben...
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Ethan Thomas Member
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10 Do strength training exercises correctly You may think you know how to perform the big four, but you could probably get more out of them. Here are some quick pointers for each one. Squat: Begin the squat by pushing your hips back as far as you can.
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Keep your lower back arched and you should feel a stretch in your hamstrings. When your hips are ben...
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This is what you need to squat maximal weight. Deadlift: Use the same stance you would to perform a ...
Keep your lower back arched and you should feel a stretch in your hamstrings. When your hips are bent, begin bending your knees and squatting low.
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This is what you need to squat maximal weight. Deadlift: Use the same stance you would to perform a ...
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Bench Press: Start with your head off the bench. Keeping your feet steady, grab the bar and pull you...
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Nathan Chen Member
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This is what you need to squat maximal weight. Deadlift: Use the same stance you would to perform a jump — your legs should be narrowly placed. When you bend down to grab the bar, keep your hips down and your back straight, with your shoulders directly over your knees.
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Bench Press: Start with your head off the bench. Keeping your feet steady, grab the bar and pull you...
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Your range of motion should be significantly shorter for stronger pressing. Shoulder press: Flare yo...
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Christopher Lee Member
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Bench Press: Start with your head off the bench. Keeping your feet steady, grab the bar and pull your body up off the bench and forward, so that when your butt comes down on the bench your lower back is very arched. Squeeze your shoulder blades together.
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Your range of motion should be significantly shorter for stronger pressing. Shoulder press: Flare yo...
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Your range of motion should be significantly shorter for stronger pressing. Shoulder press: Flare your lats when the bar is at shoulder level. It will allow you to use more weight.
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