If you’re trying to build strength in the gym, but you’ve hit a plateau or you just don’t know how to get the numbers climbing each week…
Then this is the article for you.
Check out these 3 fundamental reasons why you aren’t getting stronger in the gym and what you can do about it today to start seeing the weights go up faster than ever.
Not Eating Enough
If you want to get stronger, you need to eat more food.
You don’t need to go crazy and eat everything in sight. But if you’re trying to get stronger and you aren’t seeing the results in the gym, then upping your caloric intake will likely give you a lift. The reason eating more food is crucial if you want to get stronger is because in order to build muscle, you need to eat at a caloric surplus.
All that means is you need to eat more calories than you burn if you want to build muscle and strength in the gym.
With that said, just because you need to eat more, doesn’t mean you should eat MUCH more— because if your caloric surplus is too high, you’ll start stacking layers of fat on top of your muscle. Sure, you’ll get stronger because you’re building muscle along with putting on some fat. But whether you want layers of fat covering up your hard-earned physique is up to you.
My personal philosophy is to try and stay as lean as possible while building muscle and strength. Here’s what I do and what you can try to:
To get stronger in the gym without putting on a lot of fat, calculate how many calories you eat at your maintenance weight. So take one week and monitor what you eat, pay attention to the scale, and keep track of how many calories you’re eating each day and how it’s affecting your body weight.
After you find your maintenance weight, try to eat 300-500 calories above maintenance each day. By eating at this surplus, you’ll gain close to 1lb. per week, and you’ll notice strength gains come with that too (as long as you’re consistent in the gym).
Now, there are dozens of equations out there to help you do this and they're all fairly similar. Here's a simple one:
Body weight (pounds) x 15 = maintenance
So, if someone weighs 160 pounds it would look like this:
160 pounds x 15 = 2,400 calories per day (maintenance calories)
So, this hypothetical person would need to consume 300 to 500 calories on top of that, so 2,700 to 2,900 calories per day to build lean muscle and strength. Basically, if you add one more protein shake with milk and a medium banana, you’ll hit the bottom number of those additional calories easily. Here’s a protein powder to help you get there.
If you gain fat easily, aim for the lower end of this equation. If you’re a “hard-gainer” shoot for the higher end. The key is going to be monitoring the scale and keeping track of your numbers in the gym.
Your Program Sucks
There’s a difference between training mainly for hypertrophy and training to build strength.
If you want to build strength as quickly as possible, you need to have a program specifically focused on increasing strength. Typically, strength training emphasizes lower repetitions during your working sets (4-6 reps) compared to hypertrophy training which uses 6-15 rep ranges.
The reason is pretty simple, too. Training in lower rep ranges allows you to lift more weight.
Strength training also revolves around compound movements (like bench press and deadlift) more than it does isolation movements (like tricep extensions and hamstring curls). A compound movement is one that involves moving multiple joints and muscle groups in the same range of motion. The best for increasing total body strength are squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press and weighted pull-ups.
Strength training also allows for more rest in between sets because the more time you take for rest in between sets, the more energy you’re going to have during your next set. For example, someone who is seriously trying to build strength on the bench press will likely spend 3-5 minutes resting between sets whereas someone who is more focused on hypertrophy gains will spend between 1-3 minutes resting between sets.
Honestly - there are a lot of different strength training programs out there to choose from.
But I’ll chip in with my 2-cents on what I like to use.
For building strength, I like to use the classic “lower, push, pull” program. But because you’re focused on building strength, you’re going to keep the amount of reps low and the amount of weight you train with, high.
Lower Day 1
Barbell Back Squat
Warmup and …
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Barbell Front Squat
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Bulgarian Split Squat
- 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
Standing Calf Raise
- 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
(Optional) Seated Calf Raise
- 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
Push Day 1
Flat Barbell Bench Press
Warm-up and …
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Standing Military Press
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Close-Grip Bench Press
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Dumbbell Lateral Raise
- 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
Pull Day 1
Barbell Deadlift
Warm-up and …
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Barbell Row
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Wide-Grip Pull-Up or Chin-Up (Weighted if Possible)
- 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps
One-Arm Dumbbell Row
- 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps at 75% of 1RM
Lower Day 2
Barbell Front Squat
Warmup and …
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Barbell Romanian Deadlift
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Barbell Back Squat
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Leg Curl
- 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
Seated Calf Raise
- 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
(Optional) Standing Calf Raise
- 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
Push Day 2
Incline Barbell Bench Press
Warm-up and …
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Seated Military Press
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps at 80% of 1RM
Dumbbell Triceps Press
- 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
Dumbbell Rear Lateral Raise
- 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
Pull Day 2
Barbell or T-Bar Row
Warm-up and …
- 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Chin-Up (Weighted if Possible)
- 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
One-Arm Dumbbell Row or Cable Row
- 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps at 75% of 1RM
Barbell Biceps Curl
- 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps at 70% of 1RM
Your goal of course, is to add weight to the bar every time you train (progressive overload). I personally like to take one day off in between the three “Day 1” workouts and the next three “Day 2” workouts. In other words, take a day off every fourth day.
Joint Pain Is Holding You Back
If you want to build strength in the gym, you need to have both your muscles and your joints on board.
The reason joint health is so important is because you can’t safely push yourself to keep adding weight to the bar, if your joints are giving you trouble. For example…
Have you ever tried to bench press while your shoulders are aching? I’m willing to bet that if you started to feel that burning inside your joints during your sets, you likely hung up the weight early and didn’t push yourself as hard as you wanted to because you didn’t want to cause further damage.
Or have you ever had to skip a day in the gym, or lift with “baby weights” because you thought it was too risky for your joints to hit your workout like you normally would? Of course, that IS the right choice, But those workouts and those days off add up over time and will keep you from making the strength gains you’re working for.
And the good news is, there’s a better way to deal with joint pain that won’t slow your progress at the gym.
You need to find a good joint support supplement that’s backed by scientific-research. The reason I say it needs to be backed by research is because some of the world’s most popular joint support supplements like glucosamine and chondroitin have been shown in recent studies to give little more than a placebo effect.
That’s why, after doing some digging on our own, the team here at Muscle Monsters formulated a brand new joint support and protection supplement that only uses ingredients backed by the latest scientific research. And all of the ingredients we selected have been proven in clinical trials on people like you and me who want to get stronger… but want to avoid the wear and tear that a ton of people go through to get there.
Our new joint support formula is called Bullet Proof.
It’s an advanced joint-support supplement that goes to work fast and will help you push harder and stronger in the gym so you can keep making strength gains. Plus— it protects your joints from a lot of needless damage that can have long term effects. This way, when you take care of your joints using Bullet Proof, you can keep training hard when you’re older because you aren’t dealing with the aches and injuries that so many others do.
Find out more about Bullet Proof by clicking here.
Now What?
Getting stronger isn’t rocket science. In fact - all it takes is doing the three fundamental things I shared with you in this article and you’ll be well on your way to noticeable strength gains in the gym.
I’m even willing to bet you’ll notice them as soon as next week if you get started today.
