Why do you need to get really strong nowadays? We live in an era where manual labor does not earn a lot of money (with the exception of elite athletes of course). Right now, the people using their minds for work makes the most money. However, men and women are still obsessed about becoming stronger, sometimes risking their own safety. In this article, I will be having a rant on the topic of building strength and also talking about some strength training workouts .
The idea of being very strong appeals to most people. The idea of being very smart is slightly less appealing. I think the stereotypical roles of the cool jocks and the dorky nerds still prevail in our modern society. The reality is that these nerds will be paid more in the future, while most of the jocks will end up working in Home Depot (not that there is anything wrong with Home Depot. It’s a great company, but I would hate to work there as a stock boy for the rest of my life).
Don’t get me wrong, I am not hating on building more strength. I personally love the idea of being strong, but this is just one of those paradoxes right now. Guys are competing over who can lift more, not who has a higher IQ. My point is that having large amounts of strength is just to show off, which is completely cool. Anyways, enough about the rant. I want to talk about how to get stronger and workouts that can help you achieve that goal.
First, let’s talk about some theory. Don’t be greedy. Don’t try to lift more than you handle. In order to get stronger, you will need to lift heavy weights. Lifting heavy weights puts a lot of strain on your central nervous system. Overloading your central nervous system will make you weaker and stop any kind of growth. So never train until you can’t lift the weight anymore. Get enough rest, make sure that you get least eight hours of sleep every night for a good recovery. The sleep is not only for your muscles, but also for your central nervous system.
Lastly, let’s talk about some workouts. Starting Strength is a fantastic book to start out on. It talks about doing two warm up sets and then three working sets. On the working sets, you do five repetitions. Always make sure that you can lift the weight. This is for safety reasons when lifting heavy weights and also to prevent overloading your system.