94 FLEX | JUNE – JULY 2017
Step 3: unstick yourself
If already proper form isn’t leading to
increased strength, you’ll next want to
take aim at sticking points. For instance,
let’s say your squat is lagging because
you’re having issues driving forcefully out
of the hole. “What you may need to do is
extra work in the lower half of the lift,”
Farmer says. “You could do pause
squats, stopping for a count at weaker
points of the lift to increase your
muscles’ time under tension. You can
also do partial squats through just the
lower part of the range of motion by
setting up the safeties in a power rack.”
Other ancillary exercises might
help, too. “When it comes to the squat,
exercise gains in the hack squat, leg
press, lunge, step-up or Romanian
deadlift can help build additional squat
strength,” she says. “Ancillary exercise
adaptations are transferable, although it
may take a period of time to see results
from that approach.”Step 4: get progressive
Of course, if muscle building is your
primary goal, gaining strength isn’t
necessarily a priority. Still, generally
speaking, a stronger muscle is a bigger
muscle, so achieving fairly regular
personal bests matter. That doesn’t
mean, however, you need to constantly
be attempting one-rep maximums —
you can also incorporate strength
endurance training.
“I would set goals that involve how many
reps you can do with a target weight, to
keep improving your strength endurance,”
Farmer says. “How much weight can you
do for 10 reps, or 15, or 20 reps?
“For an athlete who has been focusing
primarily on lower-rep work, a strength
endurance phase could increase his orSimply trying to
lift the heaviest
weight possible
every workout
is not the correct
way to get
stronger. You
have to train for
strength in a
systematic
fashion.