To Get Results From Strength Training, Make Sure You Push Yourself
There’s nothing worse than putting in the time and effort to work out, but not seeing the results you want. It’s hard enough to make time to exercise, and if you don’t get the rewards you expect you might be tempted to give up. Then all of that hard work and sacrifice will have been for nothing.
I don’t want that for you. I want you to get all the incredible benefits of exercise. To do that, you need to push yourself in your workouts.
Why It’s Important To Push Yourself
Let me take a quick step back here and give a quick overview of how muscle building works. I wrote an article about this, if you want to learn more you can check it out here.
Basically, your muscles will grow and get stronger if they are challenged, but that challenge has to reach a certain threshold to trigger growth.
Muscle fibers have little sensors in them that detect how hard they’re working. Those sensors sound an alarm when your muscle fibers contract hard enough.
Once that alarm is activated, a cascade of things happen in your cells that eventually lead to an increase in strength and muscle. If the sensors don’t go off – if you’re not contracting your muscles hard enough – they won’t grow.
Most People Don’t Push Hard Enough To Stimulate Adaptation
I’ve spent a lot of time in gyms, and I can tell you from experience that most people are lifting weights that are too light, or stopping their sets before they’re sufficiently challenged. But don’t just take my word for it. Research backs me up here.
Many studies found that the average gym-goer doesn’t push themselves hard enough to reach that strength-building threshold.
For example, this study had 30 beginners choose their own weights for several different strength exercises. They were told to “choose a load that you feel will be sufficient to improve your muscular strength.” They did this for two workouts, and then they did a 1RM test that measures maximum strength.
On average, the participants chose weights that were about 40-60% of their maximum strength.
To build strength and muscle, you need to choose loads that are at least 60% of your maximal strength. It’s more effective if your weights are even heavier than that, somewhere between 67-85% of your maximum strength.
In that study (and several others like it), people didn’t choose weights that were heavy enough to challenge their muscles to grow.
The study authors concluded: “If self-selection of weight training were used in a health-and-fitness environment, individuals would not notice strength gains and would be more apt to drop out because of a lack of progress.”
Why People Don’t Push Themselves
I think there are a few reasons why many people don’t lift heavy enough weights.
They Don’t Know They Have To
There are a lot of training programs, specifically aimed at women, that use tiny weights and claim they can help “sculpt” or “tone” your muscles. The science says otherwise.
Of course, it’s tempting to believe these claims. Many women are already hesitant to lift heavy weights because of a misguided fear of getting too bulky. You don’t have to worry about that – the majority of women don’t have the hormones to get very muscular. Bodybuilders train and eat in a very specific way for a very long time to achieve that goal. It doesn’t happen by accident.
Many people also want to get results without putting in the hard work, but of course you know that’s not really possible. Anything worth achieving requires hard work. Strength training is no different.
Luckily, now you know that if you want to change your body, you need to be pushing yourself and lifting challenging weights in your workouts.
Fear
No one wants to get hurt. Strength training is not inherently dangerous, but lifting close to your limits is riskier than lifting light weights.
Anyone with a history of pain, injury, or serious illness should get checked by their doctor to make sure it’s ok for them to start lifting weights.
Then, make sure your form is perfect in each exercise and you feel comfortable and confident with strength training before you start increasing the weights.
It’s ok to spend the first few months learning the skills of strength training within your comfort zone (I actually recommend it!) before you start pushing yourself. When you do start to increase the weights, do it slowly and carefully. You never need to lift more than you can handle.
Inexperience
When I was getting my first personal training certification many years ago, one of my instructors said “People ask me how much I can bench press. I tell them – ‘I don’t know, I’ve never had to push a refrigerator off myself.’”
If you’ve never tried to lift as much as you possibly can, you don’t really know what it feels like or what you’re truly capable of. You may not be confident that you can do it.
Many of my clients are surprised that they can handle heavier weights, and get better at pushing themselves as they experience what heavy lifting feels like.
Discomfort
It’s uncomfortable to challenge yourself physically. Your muscles will burn, your heart will pound, you’ll feel shaky and tired.
You have to build a certain amount of resilience and self-discipline to be able to push through that discomfort. It’s a skill that, like any other skill, will get easier the more you practice it.
The amazing thing is that once you build this skill, you can apply it to everything else. You’ll be better at handling stress, and more willing and able to push yourself through discomfort to achieve other goals in your personal and professional life. It’s incredible!
If You Need Help
If you're just get started with strength training and want to make sure you're doing it right, download my FREE Strength Training 101 eBook. You'll learn which exercises to do, how many sets and reps, how to make sure you're using good form, and a system for progressing your workouts so you get the results you want.
For more personalized help, contact me! My in-person and online personal training programs will guide you through expertly designed workouts and ensure you're lifting the right weights for your goals.