Progressing at a Realistic Rate
This is the fourth and final part of a training series on Keys to Consistent Strength Gains. The focus of this article is on progressing at a realistic rate. Our current culture is fixated on wanting everything fast; including strength gains. Rapid strength gains are often made by beginners if they are fortunate to possess good genetics, and they utilize a sound strength training strategy. Gaining five pounds of strength per week in basic lifts such as the bench press, squat, and deadlift is not uncommon. This can go on for several months and set the stage for unrealistic expectations that lead to the belief that effective training should always produce rapid strength gains. However, there comes a point where rapid gains stop, but slower gains are still possible.
Realistic Expectations
When people don’t understand that they won’t always be able to gain strength at a rapid rate, they will tend to keep pushing harder and harder in order to keep progressing. Eventually they end up training too hard, which inadvertently leads to less progress instead of more progress. Like it or not, progress slows down if you continue lifting long enough. When this happens, basic math is needed in order to have realistic expectations.
I’ve heard trainers tell their students that their goal should be to get stronger and add either weight, or reps, every time they do a new workout. Ridiculous. Let’s face it, a five pound gain of strength every week for a year means you’ll be using an additional 250 pounds above the weight you began with. Five pounds per week would amount to an additional 500 pounds after two years, 1,000 pounds more in four years, and 2,500 pounds more in ten years. This is not realistic.
If you have already been lifting for several years, a strength gain of five pounds every six weeks will add up to forty pounds of added strength by the end of a year. This is excellent for anyone who has been lifting for a long time. Even if you only gain twenty pounds of strength over the course of a year, and repeat this year after year, you are still much better off than the majority of lifters who are perpetually stuck at the same strength level after a few years of training. If you continue to gain slowly year after year, while others are stuck, you will find yourself moving further and further ahead of the rest of the pack over time.
Plan Your Progress
If you use training thresholds and allow your workouts to become easier over the course of an adaptation period, you can make a realistic plan for how often you will add five pounds to an exercise. The following information can help you to do this:
- To increase your max in a lift by 100 pounds in a year, you would need to add five pounds every eighteen to nineteen days.
- To increase your max in a lift by 60 pounds in a year, you would need to add five pounds every month.
- To increase your max in a lift by 40 pounds in a year, you would need to add five pounds every six to seven weeks.
- To increase your max in a lift by 30 pounds in a year, you would need to add five pounds every two months.
- To increase your max in a lift by 20 pounds in a year, you would need to add five pounds every three months.
Your lifting speed shouldn’t keep slowing down more and more each time you add weight. If it does, you are trying to progress too fast. Each time you add weight, you are starting a new adaptation period, and your lifting speed should be the same at the start of each adaptation period.
Patience
If you are willing to progress at a realistic rate, you’ll be able to keep progressing for a long time. However, if you get in a hurry and it causes you to start pushing harder and harder in order to keep progressing at a rapid rate, don’t be surprised if your progress comes to a screeching halt. Forcing your way out of a sticking point is not the answer. Patience and using the keys to consistent strength gains that were discussed in part 1, 2 and 3 of this series is the answer. Best of training to you.
Parts 1, 2 and 3 can be accessed by clicking the links below:
Keys to Consistent Strength Gains Part 1