10 key advices to build explosive strength

With this article I want to share some advices that have helped me to build up strength. This is not intended as a complete guide to success nor is it a how-to guide for beginners. It’s just 10 good advices for you if you are already “on your way there”.

• Achievements and the feeling of winning
Set up several realistic short-term goals every week, make it 3-4 different ones that you must complete. Short-term goals are at least as important as long-term ones because you will get the feeling of winning much more frequent. Set up weekly goals such as increasing 2KG shoulder press this week, or this week I will not eat any sugar.  Write them down in a journal or on a blog, make them your personal challenges and check them off with a comment or a gold star or something when you have completed them. Then set new goals next week in the same manner. This way you will constantly keep pushing yourself to reach new levels of strength both physically and mentally. You will be rewarded with the feeling of progress and winning.

• Team up!
Get a gym partner; preferably someone that is stronger than you but it’s not absolutely necessary. Working out with a partner will automatically make you put slightly more effort into your workout and you can spot each other while attempting to increase weights on your exercises.

• Be systematic and efficient
Always plan your workouts ahead. Choose your exercises strategically, write the exercises down on a piece of paper, select the order they will be executed in and visualize them in your head. Do 5-7 exercises every workout and spend no more then 1 hour doing them.

• Mix it up, part one
Shuffle your workouts. Don’t re-use the same old routines to often. Rotate and mix the exercises in your workouts every week and don’t find yourself get stuck in a “comfort zone” where you do the same old workout with the same old weights week in and week out. If you stay in the comfort zone your strength will also stay there.

• Mix it up, part two
Shuffle your sets. Do three weeks of lifting 5×5 (5 sets with 5 reps), then two weeks 4×7 (4 sets with 7 reps) and one week 3×10 (3 sets with 10 reps), rinse and repeat. Lift as heavy weights as possible but make sure to still be able to finish the sets. Every now and then (once a week) try for a weight increase in a few exercises with assistance from your gym partner.

• Kick-start your workout
After you’ve done your normal warm-up on the treadmill, bike or cross trainer, always start your lifting workout with a leg exercise like squat, lunge, leg press, leg extension or similar. Starting your workout with activating the largest muscles in your body will kick-start the production of endorphins, adrenaline and get the blood pumping which will fuel and boost the rest of your workout.

• Explosive high energy output training
Do circular workouts (Superset) to increase heart rate, burn fat and get more work done in shorter time. If your workout for the day contains 6 exercises, then select and group them 3 and 3. Once you have done that you execute them back-to-back without any rest in between. Perform exercise A to B to C and then back to A again and repeat until you completed all the sets in this circle. Then do the same for the next 3 exercises.

• Put your heart into it!
Do short but intense cardio sessions 3 times a week. With short I mean at least 15 minutes but no more then 30 minutes at the time.  My personal favorite is the cross trainer but the treadmill and bike is also good. Start out slow the first 2-3 minutes and then increase intensity and speed 3-4 times spread out during the session. The last increase should reach your maximum intensity, which you should keep on doing the last few minutes of the session. Alternatively do 30-60 seconds intervals where you really push it for 30-60 seconds followed by 30-60 seconds slow pace and then push it again. If your shirt is not soaked with sweat by now you did not do it intense enough! A strong body requires a strong heart.

• Fuel the engine
Eat what you need, no more, no less. Over eating and bulking makes you fat and slow, heavy cutting of calories makes you weak and tired. Finding your base calorie need and consumption is the hard part, consult a real Personal Trainer and have him or her make a plan for you. You don’t need to bulk and over eat to gain muscle mass, and you don’t need to starve yourself to get lean. If you eat enough to fuel your base calorie need, plus what you spend on working out you will gain muscle mass, period. If you are looking to lose some body fat you should rather increase the energy output then heavily cutting your intake, provided that you’re not already over eating and are over weight because of that.

• Recovery
The magic happens when you sleep. It’s when your body is at rest as the recovery and muscle building factory inside you opens up for business for real. Get no less than 8-9 hours of sleep every night and do no more than 3-4 weight lifting workouts per week. Resting days are very important for muscle recovery and repair. It is not at the gym you build the muscles; it’s when you sleep! Without proper rest your muscles will not have time to fully recover and grow and you will not increase in strength.