Bigger, But Not Stronger?

Training
1

Hey thar all.

It’s been a while since I was around these parts, (for various socio-economic reasons)

Anyway, despite some issues that affected my “training” (Why did I think it would be a good idea to date a Vegan?) - I have definitely gained a bit of weight and muscle.

Woo, go team.

I’m even getting the envy of the boys and the compliments of the girls to prove it (apparently the look of lean muscle rippling across your shoulders and back is more attractive than the pale-near-translucent bony/ghoul look I was cultivating for years. WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME?!?!)

Which, for some, might mean Job Done, but I’m not happy - because I was never working out for the looks, I want/ed to improve strength and fitness for work/play, and the sad fact is, I can still barely do five consecutive pull ups, or more than about 50 push ups.

Everything* is getting “bigger”, but it doesn’t seem to be working any better.

Now, I’ll waddle off and read articles and do the right thing, but I wanted to ask here as well - what’s some guidance to focus more on (here it comes…dunnn-dunn-dunnn) “functional” strength?

Also: Lower back/sides - Is there anything even remotely fun that works here? (someone is going to yell at me about deadlifts. Okay, okay, I’ll go watch more videos, see if I can master that dog)

*(with one obvious exception, but hanging a kettlebell off there seems like a bad idea)

2

So you want get stronger, well what do you do for training now?

3

When I can get to the gym - (honestly these days, about once a week. It was three times a week when I started, but I’ve become busier since then)

bench press, overhead press, pulldowns/pullups, rows, squats. (Based on whatever I read on here about nine months ago, something about Vertical push/pull, horizontal push/pull)

Somewhere around 5x5 (not counting low weight warm ups etc)

When I can’t get to the gym (which is more and more) - I’ll run this routine twice a week.

Push ups, dips, air-squats/lunges, situps, whatever other bodyweight exercise occurs to me.
I try to knock out 5x20 in fairly rapid time - figuring if I can’t add weight, I might as well at least try to raise a sweat.

Part of my reason for coming back here is because I forsee better access to the gym in the near future, so I’m re-reading up on the good info to set me up for another 6 months of regular access to weights and equipment.

4

[quote]JimmyBeans wrote:
When I can get to the gym - (honestly these days, about once a week. It was three times a week when I started, but I’ve become busier since then)

bench press, overhead press, pulldowns/pullups, rows, squats. (Based on whatever I read on here about nine months ago, something about Vertical push/pull, horizontal push/pull)

Somewhere around 5x5 (not counting low weight warm ups etc)

When I can’t get to the gym (which is more and more) - I’ll run this routine twice a week.

Push ups, dips, air-squats/lunges, situps, whatever other bodyweight exercise occurs to me.
I try to knock out 5x20 in fairly rapid time - figuring if I can’t add weight, I might as well at least try to raise a sweat.

Part of my reason for coming back here is because I forsee better access to the gym in the near future, so I’m re-reading up on the good info to set me up for another 6 months of regular access to weights and equipment.[/quote]

Do you have access to a chin up bar? If not you can buy one that goes in a door frame pretty cheap, and they do hold up.

I would get one of those, and then do the following:

pushups
chins
squats
planks (regular, to one side, to the other)

give yourself 20 mins and just go ham. Do as many pushups as you can, as many chins, as many squats, hold a plank each way as long as you can, grab a sip of water, and keep going. Don’t count anything, just go hard. Should work well in a pinch.

And don’t forget the conditioning.

Of course, when you can start getting in the gym on a more normal basis, choose a proven strength program and kill it. Good luck.

5

For anything related to functional strength, work more shoulders. Think about it. What do you do during the course of the day that doesn’t involve shoulders? Who couldn’t use bigger shoulders?

For strength, blast out some heavy triples, doubles, and singles. Nothing says Grow! like “holy fuck that’s heavy”. True story.

6

[quote]JayPierce wrote:
For strength, blast out some heavy triples, doubles, and singles. Nothing says Grow! like “holy fuck that’s heavy”. True story.[/quote]

Part of my problem is being billy no-mates, and I like my teeth how they are. (this might end with my new Gym, as I’ll likely be going with people I work with)

but I hear what you’re saying, I need to find a way to move bigger pieces of iron.

7

[quote]Chris87 wrote:

[quote]JimmyBeans wrote:
[/quote]

Do you have access to a chin up bar? If not you can buy one that goes in a door frame pretty cheap, and they do hold up.
[/quote]

these are great - do them often - thats how my fat ass can do 8 full rom pullups

8

What is your training like? If you want to get stronger and you are training high reps like a bodybuilder you aren’t working towards your goal. Look into powerlifting training. I would suggest 531 as a starting point. This is a sure fire way to gain strength.

9

you could go 5/3/1 boring but but- its 4 days a week but you could adjust it to 2-3 days a week. In fact JW just did an article about 2 days a week training for the “busy man”.