Saturday, October 31, 2015

QUIT BUILDING YOUR 1RM AND START BUILDING SOME STRENGTH

Ah, the 1 rep max.  The Holy Grail of strength training.  This is what we live and die for, what all of our training amounts to, what all the hours in the gym are building up to: the ability to lift the heaviest weight we possibly can for 1 rep.  This is what separates the men from the boys, and with every additional 45lb plate you can put on the side, you know you’re becoming something.


I mean, if you’re a powerlifter, maybe.  Otherwise, why do you care so much about it?  I’ll tell you: because it’s the highest number you can quote when someone asks you “How much do you lift?”  You can take pride when your bench starts with a 3, or your deadlift starts with a 6.  Random bystanders will be agog over your prowess that you can hit THAT number, jaws and panties will equally be dropped, and you will officially be “the man”.


But are you strong?

 
This too I suppose

We’ve once again witnessed the false conflation of numbers equating to strength, in doing so failing to recognize all the factors that contribute to a 1 rep max.  Yes, you need to strength to be there to hit high numbers, but other things, such as: shortening the ROM, peaking, increasing efficiency of motor unit recruitment, learning how to use more muscles, manipulation of bodyweight/bloat, etc etc all contribute.  It is entirely possible to increase your 1rm by vast amounts with increasing your strength in the slightest.  Dave Tate remarks about this phenomenon constantly, mentioning how he can add 50lbs to someone’s bench after meeting them one time by teaching them HOW to bench.  This is super cool if you need to hit a lift for a powerlifting meet…but it’s not making you stronger.


In the pursuit of a greater 1rm, many trainees forget that their real goal is to get STRONGER.  They believe the 1rm to be a manifestation of strength, but quickly forget their intent and mistake the metric for the goal.  This is why “beginner programs’ comprised of low volume and high frequency with low reps have become so in fashion: it allows a beginner to rapidly peak their strength and observe a very fast rise in their 1rm.  However, this is also why these programs tend to stall pretty rapidly and leave a beginner in a scarcely better position than where they started.  Strength was not built, it was simply realized.

 
Not like this

It is also for this reason that programs that actually BUILD strength are so looked down upon by beginner trainees: there is no sexy fast acceleration toward an increased 1rm.  I have a confession to make; I hang out on reddit’s fitness forum and delight in recommending 5/3/1 to beginners just to watch my post get downvoted and insulted by people who have accomplished nothing in fitness.  Why does this happen?  Because 5/3/1 (and other programs with logical progression schemes, assistance work, sustainable progression, etc) builds strength but does not peak it.  It is criticized for being “slow” because trainees fail to realize that their 1rm not rapidly accelerating is not an indication of slowly gaining strength, but instead a sign that one is actually BUILDING the strength required TO peak.


Strength takes a long time to build.  It’s the least fun part about getting big numbers.  Technique can be corrected within minutes, leverages can be changed in weeks, new equipment can be bought instantly, but strength is just a constantly, dull, slow, monotonous grind.  If one is observing rapid gains in numbers, one must be honest with themselves that these are most likely NOT the results of strength increasing, but instead an example of improved proficiency in the movement, or some other factor starting to click.  It can be super exciting, but we must remember our goal here.

 
If this kid gets it, why can't you?

If you are a beginner, quit worrying about your 1rm, quit testing it, and just start grinding away.  Hitting a 2 plate bench after peaking, setting the world’s highest arch, retracting your shoulder blades as far back as they can go and getting your ROM down to 2” will simply not result in as impressive of an result (both for your physique AND your strength) than if you can hit cold, on an average training day, after having not trained the movement in a while.  One requires squeezing out every last ounce of strength available for one final push, and the other is a demonstration of an ever present baseline of strength that could be peaked and turned into something monstrous.  Plug away diligently, make your progress within a variety of rep ranges, and recognize when strength is actually being built. 


11 comments:

  1. I'm terrible about this. I'll be ok just building for a while, but I fuck it up at one of two stages:

    #1: Don't stay in the building phase for long enough to really build strength, but DO stay in it long enough to lose CNS adaptation for heavy lifting, so it feels like I got weaker

    #2: Stay in the building phase for plenty of time, but suck shit when I come back to heavy weights. Usually by trying to go from 0-60 right back to 1RM's.

    Trying to build right now without fucking those two up. Need to appreciate 5-10RMs more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step toward fixing it, so it looks like you're in the right direction at least. This took me a long time to figure out on my own, but once I did things finally took off. I never understood why Westside/Elitefts would say to only set PRs in meets, but now I totally get it.

      Delete
    2. I know you rotate movements with SSB, mat deadlifts, etc., how do you work back to the competition lifts when you're ready to peak/max/compete?

      Delete
    3. I don't really believe in peaking at this point. I prefer to just show up strong and put results in a contest that I've been able to hit in the gym.

      That being said, I do practice specificity as I get closer to the show. For example, in the off-season, my rotation for overhead is

      Week 1: Skill
      Week 2: Reps
      Week 3: Max weight


      So, for week 1 I'll pick an implement that requires technique and I'll clean each rep before I press. On week 2, I tend to stick with the axle, clean once and go for max reps. On week 3, I'll alternate between the axle or log, clean once (or take it out of the rack) and go for a max triple or so. However, if I have a show coming up with the implement is a log, it means that NOW I'll use the log for all 3 weeks while still following the same approach (1 week clean each rep, 1 week clean once and press away, 1 week for max weight.) This way, I can now develop my specificity with the log and improve my technique but still develop some basic strength with it.



      Same thing with moving events. I'll rotate between farmer's and yoke each week until a show has one or the other, in which case I'll only train that implement until the show is over.


      With deads, I actually never change them, regardless of what is at the show. I find the ROM progression just plain works. However, I now use the car deadlift simulator on my squat days just because it's a great lower body movement.



      I suppose if I were a national/pro competitor and only hit 2-3 shows a year I'd be more inclined to peak, but (prior to my injury) I preferred to just do shows as part of my training.

      Delete
    4. That's a really great way of looking at it, thanks.

      Delete
    5. No problem. One of these days I'll have to really nail down exactly how it is that I was training for strongman. Even if it wasn't necessarily enviable, it was working well enough.

      Delete
    6. Are those weeks the same for each lift? Or is that week breakdown what you do for pressing events, then ROM progression for SSB/Deadlift?

      Delete
    7. That's just for pressing, and it was basically me stealing some stuff from the cube method. As you mentioned, I do ROM progression for the squat and deadlift, and bench is usually someone else's program (was running Kroc's for a while, then switched to DoggCrapp for a few months).


      There are a lot of moving parts though, and wiggle room helps. For instance, on my squat day, my last movement was usually car deadlift simulator, but I'd occasionally throw in some axle cleans as well, switching from strength to skill work. I was also kicking around the idea of alternating each week between ROM progression SSB squat and full(ish) ROM squats with a goal of setting a weight or rep PR.


      And then for moving events, along with alternating each week on movement, I would wave the weights, so that it would be like

      Week 1: Heavy yoke
      Week 2: light farmer's
      Week 3: mid yoke
      Week 4: heavy farmer's
      Week 5: Light yoke
      Week 6: Mid farmer's



      Not to mention some occasional 2 a days. I was throwing a LOT of crap against the wall for a bit there, probably a bit of a reason why I got so broken, haha.

      Delete
    8. Gotcha. Good stuff! Food for thought, always like seeing how other people do things.

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always love going back to your posts. I decided I was going to try doing some low weight high volume work for a few cycles and see how that goes, and increase weight every 5-6 weeks.

    Three weeks in and I already just feel great, even though the weight is "super low". Adding reps each session makes me think I'm getting stronger, and not having to push up against a 1 or 3 or 5 or 10 rep max every week doesn't leave me as burnt out, and squatting 155# feels just as daunting after 4 sets when you have already done like 70 reps overall, as does trying to get one set of 300x10.

    ReplyDelete