Often, when I’m out and about – whether that’s running errands during the week, at an event of some kind for one of our kids during the weekend, at church or a related event or gathering, etc…
I’ll be making small talk, and we get to the “what do you do for a living” part.
I tell people I’m a gym owner / personal trainer / fitness pro, and a good percentage of the time, people ask something along the lines of:
“What’s your #1 tip for XYZ (insert fitness – related goal here?”
Typically, if the question is something related weight loss, I’ll say that my #1 tip is that I don’t have a #1 tip! Because truly, it’s a lifestyle – those little habits and decisions you make daily with your diet, activity, recovery, etc.
When it comes to getting STRONGER though, I think I do have a #1 tip (for more intermediate / advanced trainees especially).
That number #1 tip for getting stronger is:
Do NOT train to failure.
This is such a common mistake, because people think that the harder they push, the faster they’re going to make gains, and that they will get stronger quicker.
What ACTUALLY happens though is when you train, you’re not only training the muscles, but you’re training your central nervous system as well. The problem with trying to failure is that it is very hard in the CNS, and it really are interferes with your recovery ability. You can develop the bad habit of missing lifts. Training to failure needs to be avoided if you want to keep making progress and avoid burnout. You can train just short of failure and get very very strong.
That’s it for my #1 tip for getting stronger. It’s not the most fancy or complex advice, but if you do this one thing consistently, it will dramatically improve your results. If you’re looking for help with reaching your fitness goals in 2022, check out our website at https://forestvancetraining.com to learn how you can sign up to try our program today!
-Forest Vance
Master of Science, Human Movement
Owner, FVT Personal Training – Sacramento, CA
Over 40 Training Specialist
Kettlebell Expert
ForestVanceTraining.com
KettlebellBasics.net