Steps To Check Your Strength Gains
How would you feel if you were stuck in the same class while all your friends moved onto higher classes in school? Disappointed, disheartened, or dejected maybe? That’s exactly how you feel when you don’t see any strength improvements in the gym.
Assessing your strength improvements isn’t as easy as reading your school’s report card. The thought of not getting anywhere even after putting in your best in the gym is the last thing you want. In this article, we’ll tell you how to gauge your strength improvements.
Keep a Journal
Since we’re referring to schools, let’s talk about another similarity. Imagine going to school and not taking any notes or keeping a journal. How do you think you would fare at the end of the year?
Many people make the mistake of not keeping track of their workouts and wonder why they can’t see any results. While keeping a training journal might sound intimidating, it isn’t as bad or hard as some people think it is.
If you’re wondering – you don’t need to take a diary with you to the gym. You can use your phone’s notes app to put in the details (exercises, number of sets, reps done, and the weights used) of your workouts. You could take things up a notch by adding how you ‘felt’ during the workout.
Shorter Workouts
For some people, the length of their workouts is equivalent to the quality of the session. This is a flawed concept because as you get stronger, you’ll need shorter periods to recover between sets.
The next time you’re done with your training before the usual time, don’t do more exercises to compensate for the extra time. Note it in your journal and lift heavier weights in the next workout.
Feel The Weights
If you’ve been working out for some time, you might have had times when your usual training weights felt like peanuts. Whenever the weights feel lighter, it’s a sure sign that you’re growing stronger.
On days like these when you feel like you can conquer the world, you should go all out in your training. Train as heavy as you can without compromising on your form, and the bodybuilding Gods will surely bless you with gains.
On the other hand, if the weights feel heavier than usual – could be because of fatigue or exertion – you should drop down the weights and go after the pump. If the weights feel light and you’re able to do more reps than usual, you’ve got good news on hand.
Lifting Bigger
This is the most obvious sign of getting stronger. If you can lift heavier weights without compromising on the form, you’ve gotten stronger. After hitting a PR, don’t make the mistake of camping in your comfort zone.
Keep pushing yourself to ensure that you don’t hit a plateau. Getting a spotter, using advanced training techniques like supersets, drop sets, BFR training, intra-set stretching are fantastic ways of improving your strength.
How much can you bench? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
*Header image courtesy of Envato Elements.
