When it comes to strength training the most common way to make
progress is just keep adding weight. But
what if you are limited to a fixed barbell like in the old days or don’t have
any equipment at all. How does one get
stronger this way? This is where the
real challenge comes in and that is getting stronger with a weight you already
can easily handle or no weight at all. I
am always impressed by gymnasts and how they are able to gain tons of strength
and size with just bodyweight training. So
there is proof that you can get stronger without weights but the question is
still how? Well there are basically two
different ways you can approach this one is by simply increasing your reps and the
other is through advanced movements.
One way to get stronger is to simply increase your
volume. So being able to perform more
reps than you could previously before. Now
you could simply just keep adding reps each workout, but eventually there will
come a point where you will have do 500 reps each day. A lot of people may not have time for that so
a better way to add more volume to your training is by using a ladder
method. In a ladder you start with say 1
rep, then 2 reps, then 3 reps, then 4 reps, then 5 reps, and then start back
over at 1 rep. That is 15 reps right
there in a short amount of time and minimal effort. There are several ladder rep methods you can
use such as 2,4,6,8,10 or 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10 or 2,3,5 or even 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20. There are endless rep variations you can use
with these. The ladder method is an easy
way to get more reps in a short amount time than say doing 30 reps
straight. Start off by doing 3 sets of
say 1,2,3,4,5 reps and then each training session try to keep increasing the number
of sets. Then once the sets start to
increase you can always go back and change up the rep combo.
It is also good to have a balance of strength and endurance
reps. So don’t always limit your reps to
3-5 reps or 10 reps and under. You still
want to test yourself and see how far you reach such as 30, 50 , or even 100
reps. And guess what if you were only
able to do say 12 push ups before and can now do 25 reps, you got stronger and
I guarantee you will be leaner as well!
The other method to get stronger with minimal or no weights
is by using advanced movements. For
instance if regular push ups are easy try changing the level and put your feet
on a box instead. Or try doing a more
challenging push up such as a tiger bend.
Changing the difficulty of the exercise is going to recruit more muscles
and fire up your brain activity, because you are learning to master a new
skill. Of course again you will get
stronger as you are able to conquer a new movement like a one arm push up. Think of your body as levers the closer your
arms and legs are to your body the easier the movement the farther away they
are the more challenging the movement. A
classic example would be holding yourself in a flexed arm position on the rings
verse an iron cross.
You can even challenge yourself by slowing down the
movement. Let’s keep using the example
of the push up in the up position you could hold for 5 seconds then lower down
and hold again for 5 seconds, you just keep repeating as long as you can
maintain good form. Another way to slow
it down is by slowing lowering down in the push up from the up position pause
for a second or at the bottom and then explode back up. These are called negatives and they work well
for increasing strength gains. The
reason these slow controlled movements work so well is a little thing called
“TUT” (Time Under Tension) which is the more time one can last in a movement
the stronger they will get. An example
would be going from only being able to do 30 seconds of push ups to doing 2
minutes of push ups. Going for time
instead of reps has it’s rewards as not only will it increase your strength,
but also your endurance, you will get leaner, and it will also strengthen your
mind as well.
So there are a couple ways one can get stronger with minimal
weights or no equipment at all. Now if
you are a powerlifter looking to lift maximal weight then this would be more of
assistance thing for you as to lift max weight you need to lift heavier
weight. Although for the rest of that
are short on time, space, and equipment these methods will work wonders. Just remember to always maintain proper form
in your movements and to stay consistent in your training. Those two things go a long way in getting the
results you want.
