As well as Speed isn’t the only way to make progress in runningAdding weight to the bar isn’t the only way to make progress with your lifting. There are many ways to measure the process of strengthening and fitness. So let’s discuss some ways in which you can set standards for yourself along the way.
Lift more weight in relation to your height
If you’re a small person or you’ve lost weight while exercising, looking at the weights on the bar may not be the best way to tell if you’re getting stronger. Shorter people usually move smaller weights, which is why every weight training exercise has weight classes.
Let’s say a 100 pound person and a 200 pound person are exercising together. If the smaller person can squat 150 pounds and the 200 pound person can squat 200, then who is stronger? The taller person is stronger in an absolute sense, having moved 200 pounds instead of 150 pounds, and the shorter person is stronger in a relative sense, having 1.5 times their body weight and the taller person 1.0 times theirs Body weight crouched.
So if you’re smaller, don’t be discouraged if your taller gym buddies are lifting more weight than you are. Regardless of your size, when lifting the hoist there are some standards you should use for relative strength. You will likely be able to lift your body weight before you can squat your body weight, and after that you can try to bench your body weight. In the meantime, your deadlift will crawl to 1.5 times body weight, then 2.0 times body weight, and so on.
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Not only are these milestones fun to celebrate, but they are also helpful for tracking progress as you lose weight. If you could squat 200 pounds when you weigh 200 pounds, but you can only squat 225 after a long time in the gym, you might be disappointed; However, if you’ve lost weight and now weigh 175, it means you’ve switched from a squat 1.0 times body weight to a squat 1.29 times body weight, which is a huge step up.
Lift the same weight several times
You can progress by adding more weight to the bar. However, you can lift more by lifting the same amount of weight several times.
Strongman event participants often use the same weights, and the award goes to whoever lifts the same weight most often (often with a time limit of about a minute). If I can lift a car three times and you can lift it ten times, you are the stronger person. Or check it out the bench press test in the NFL combine: Players are asked to bench 225 pounds as often as possible. Higher scores go to those who can do more repetitions.
So when you work out and feel in the gym ready for a PR to try (personal record), you can try a max rep PR instead of one for max weight. Can you squat a certain weight for 20 reps? Can you do 100 pushups without stopping?
As a bonus, clenching your teeth for longer and longer sentences is a form of mental toughness training. You may want to stop, but is your body really giving in? Learning to overcome pain or boredom can also be a mental gain in training.
Do the same job in less time
Just as runners get the same amount of mileage in less time as they get fitter, as runners get stronger and build up, you can lift more weight in less time.
When you usually sit around and Scroll through Instagram between squat sets for ten minutesTry to set a timer and not rest for more than five minutes. If this gets easy, set the timer for three or four minutes instead.
You can continue this way without changing the weight, as in the Deep water lifting programwho prescribes less rest time as the weeks go by, or who Crossfit benchmark workoutswho assume that as you get fitter, you can do the same amount of work in less total time.
Or, you can just watch your rest times while exercising and gaining weight, knowing that you are improving your work ability while increasing your strength.
Learn new exercises
If you just do the same three or five exercises over and over again, becoming a well-rounded athlete is difficult. But when you add something new to your routine, you become a person who can lift anything or do fun party tricks without trying them first. For example, if you normally hold onto barbells, try some sandbag carriers or tire flips.
Even if your gym doesn’t offer many options outside of the usual equipment, you can find new variations on old favorites. Why not spend a training cycle? front squats instead of squats, or getting and doing something weird Zercher squats instead?
Each new exercise you learn gives you the opportunity to set new PRs (with weight, reps, or any other metric you choose) and expose you to a new training stimulus. All of these variations will help build a broad base of strength in the long run and maybe even make you stronger when you return to your usual exercises.
