Many people that go to the gym focus on losing weight by spending hours on the cardio equipment. For the rest, the goal is often to increase in strength or size--or both. You might have found, too, that the personal trainers at your gym tend to focus on weight loss or conditioning. If you are interested in gaining in strength and size, numerous programs are available to guide you. Some programs focus solely on strength; some focus on size. Several, however, focus on helping you meet both goals at once.
The Fundamentals
Lift heavy weights if you want to be stronger. Get stronger and eat more, if you want to be bigger and more muscular. Legendary strength coaches like Mark Rippetoe, Bill Starr and Stuart McRoberts all agree that, at its most basic level, getting bigger and stronger is that simple. Each recommends a slightly different number regarding the ideal number of repetitions and sets, but all agree that the key is to lift the heaviest weight you can possibly lift for your workouts.
Basic Barbell Exercises
Each strength coach agrees that the use of basic barbell exercises is critical to gaining strength and size. The use of barbells, Rippetoe points out, allows the athlete to lift more weight, using the same movements, than dumbbells or other exercise equipment, such as kettlebells. The basic barbell exercises include bench presses, squats, dead lifts, power cleans, bent-over rows and overhead or shoulder presses. The use of these classic exercises for gaining strength and size is time-proven over decades--even centuries, according to Stuart McRoberts, in his book "Brawn."
Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength"
Developed by Mark Rippetoe, a strength coach based out of his Wichita Falls Athletic Club in Texas, the Starting Strength program is outlined in Rippetoe's book of the same name. "Starting Strength" is based on Rippetoe's experiences as a strength athlete and coach over the last three decades.
The program focuses on basic barbell exercise techniques, with a strong focus on the basic barbell squat. Every workout in the "Starting Strength" program begins with the three sets of five repetitions of the barbell squat. Rippetoe follows this with a pushing exercise, alternating between the bench press and the overhead press. The workouts are finished with a pulling exercise. Rippetoe recommends alternating between the power clean and the dead lift.
Rippetoe claims that the "Starting Strength" program focuses on basic linear progression, adding five to 10 lbs. to each lift once a week or even as often as once per workout.
Bill Starr's "The Strongest Shall Survive"
Bill Starr, one of the first professional strength coaches for the National Football League (NFL), started with the then-Baltimore Colts in the 1970s. Starr developed a strength and conditioning program for football players and later for Olympic weightlifters, based around the concept of performing five sets of five repetitions per set. This has become known as the 5x5 Program.
Starr's program, outlined in his book "The Strongest Shall Survive," focuses on the basic barbell exercises similar to those in the Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" program, including the bench press, squat and power cleans. Focusing on these exercises, with five sets of five repetitions each, allows the athlete to gain strength and size simultaneously.
Stuart McRobert's "Brawn"
Stuart McRoberts published his first book on bodybuilding and strength training in 1991. Titled "Brawn," the book was considered somewhat heretical at the time, since the advice McRoberts offered, was directly opposite of what was then accepted as sound bodybuilding science. At a time when bodybuilders believed that you had to perform three or more sets of two or three exercises per body part, McRoberts claimed otherwise.
McRoberts, like Starr before him, and Rippetoe after, claimed that a more streamlined and efficient training model was more appropriate for training the genetically average athlete. Instead of two-hour long daily workouts, McRoberts advocates exercising no more than two or three times per week. The use of multi-joint, compound movement exercises, like the basic barbell exercises, allow you to gain maximum strength and muscle.
References
- "Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, 2nd Edition;" Mark Rippetoe; 2007
- "The Strongest Shall Survive, 2nd Edition;" Bill Starr; 1999
- "Brawn;" Stuart McRoberts; 1991
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