The most common question you will always here when people are new to the gym “how can I get there faster”, this could be how can I gain more muscle faster, or how can I lose weight faster, or in this case how can I get stronger fast. So to better answer this question I did some research.
The bad news to this is that there is no short cut to getting stronger fast, but there are many different principle you can follow to get strong as fast as possible. These include progressive overload High intensity with low reps, Progressive Overload, Perfect Your Technique, Eat More, and Use Advanced Training Techniques. With the use of all these methods or a combination of just a few you can maximize how fast you can get strong.
Table of Contents
High Intensity With Low Reps
Just as the title suggests if you want to get strong ideally you should not only be training at a high intensity, but also in a lower rep range usually between 1 and 4 reps per set as this rep range is typically said to be the best to get stronger fast.
Though I combined both high intensity and low reps it is important to realise what both mean, so lets break it down.
When I am talking about high intensity I am talking about in the sets when you finish you set you maybe only had 2 maybe 3 reps in you left, that is what you would consider high intensity.
Then when we look at low reps we are talking about a 1 to 4 rep range, and on tops of that the 1 to 4 rep range is the best rep range for strength training. But if you are not training hard the 1 to 4 rep range is completely useless.
So that is why combining both of these principles will lead to maximum strength gains.
Progressive Overload
The ideas of progressive overload is one of the most simple principles in training, yet no matter what you are training for it is the holy grail of all training principles.
To put it simply the idea of progressive overload is that when you train with a certain weight you think is hard at the start, eventually you will think that that weight is not so hard. That means you have gotten stronger, so to keep getting stronger you move up in weight so it is not too easy that is progressive overload.
Just because progressive overload is so important to really get it in your head I am going to explain it to you differently.
So just imagine you were level one boxer so your learning the fundamentals of boxing such as the jab the straight, basic movement etc. Then once you have learned all of that you are now officially level 2, so to keep getting better you need to learn level 2 skills like head movement and basic combinations. Then once you are level three to keep getting better you learn level 3 skills, then once you are level 4 you learn level 4 skills etc etc.
If you want to learn more about progressive overload you can read this article here!
Perfect Your Technique
Before you even think about getting stronger fast, the first thing you should do is perfect you technique.
To start by perfecting you technique I personally think that the best resource you have is YouTube, all you need to type in is perfect technique for bench press or perfect technique for the squat etc.
Then you just do that movement 20 or 30 times until you really get comfortable, then once you are comfortable you slowly starting moving up in weight.
By perfecting your technique not only will you get stronger fast, but also prevent injury and maximize overall results.
Getting Stronger Fast By Eating More
When I say eat more I don’t mean just start pigging out because during this process of getting strong, I don’t want you to get fat.
One part of eating more is just as the title says eat more, but only just a little bit more like only 100 to 200 calories over maintenance.
But that is just looking at the calorie side, when taking about eating more we also need to talk about the macros.
When training to get strong your muscles will need its fuel, and that fuel will come in the form in protein, ideally you would eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight for maximum results.
Though protein is one of the most important factors to getting stronger, you still need to get your fair share of carbs as well for extra energy.
Use Advanced Training Techniques
If you really want to get strong you can start using some advanced training techniques such as drop sets, mechanical drop sets, and negative reps.
Drop Set
A drop set is starting at the working set weight, then once you have can not do anymore you then move down in weight and do more reps till you hit failure.
An example would be you doing a 60kg bench for 12, then moving to a 40kg bench to do another 10 reps, that is a drop set.
Mechanical Drop Set
A mechanical drop set very similar to a regular drop set but once you can not do any more instead of moving the weight down you move to an exercise that still workout the same muscle but is overall an easier movement.
An example of this could be you starting out with skull crushers, to then move to a close grip bench press.
Or another example is going from a regular push up to push ups on your knees.
Negative Reps
Negative reps are when you slow down the eccentric part of a movement, in other words when you muscle is getting longer is when you slow down the movement.
An example of this would be when doing bicep curls on the way down you would slow down the movement, or when doing a pull up on the way back down you would slow it down.
Performing negative reps is also a great way to get stronger fast as negative reps lets you push when really there is not much left to push because it tends to be easier.
These are just 3 of my favourited advanced training techniques, if you want to learn more about this topic here is an article with 15 more!
Conclusion
To recap one thing you need to realise is that there is no short cut to getting stronger fast. But if you use the principals of progressive overload High intensity with low reps, Progressive Overload, Perfect Your Technique, Eat More, and Use Advanced Training Techniques you will get stronger fast.