Increase Strength not Size - Weights to lift?

eatsloads

Hi,

I go to the gym roughly 3 times a week.

I lift heaviest weights I can for maybe 4 sets of 6-8 reps per set.

I wish to gain and maintain strength but dont want to get any bigger?

Am I going about this the right way?

cowzerp

That will make you stronger alright, if you eat like a bodybuilder you could grow too! if not then you wont, but you can still progress with strenght...

Degsy

Do more reps with a lighter weight,in the region of 20 reps instead of the standard 8-12.Anyway,getting bigger isnt particularly easy to do!

dave80

Degsy wrote: »

Do more reps with a lighter weight,in the region of 20 reps instead of the standard 8-12.Anyway,getting bigger isnt particularly easy to do!

sets of 20 reps builds mostly endurance, sets of 4-6 reps would build more strenght

Judomad

dave80 wrote: »

sets of 20 reps builds mostly endurance, sets of 4-6 reps would build more strenght

+1

even lower again, 2-5 is how i do it...works for me, especially with deadlifting, sometimes build up to just doing my 1 rep max, this surely increases strenght, its evident from the weight im deadlifting as apposed to 6 months ago.

Degsy

dave80 wrote: »

sets of 20 reps builds mostly endurance, sets of 4-6 reps would build more strenght

You'll get big too though!

Judomad

Degsy wrote: »

You'll get big too though!

sets of 8-12 increas size(along with increased calorie intake)
sets of 2-5ish wont increase size but will increase strength.

Dragan

Size will also be dictated by calories. Maybe look into a starter powerlifting program if you are looking to get strong. To be honest....it is hard to get stronger without getting any bigger at all....but you can limit size gains.

celestial

eatsloads wrote: »

Hi,

I go to the gym roughly 3 times a week.

I lift heaviest weights I can for maybe 4 sets of 6-8 reps per set.

I wish to gain and maintain strength but dont want to get any bigger?

Am I going about this the right way?

Are you a big guy now in terms of muscle?

It is actually quite hard to 'get bigger' or 'too big' without putting in a lot of effort and eating a lot of additional calories. What I am saying is that if you are worried about people going 'wow he's gotten too big, look at those ugly bulging muscles!!' then I would stop worrying unless you plan to really live in the gym and seriously up your calories. And even then it would likely take a long time to get 'too big'.

So just focus on low rep, high weight sets. The way to get stronger is to force your body to adapt. You do this by regularly upping the weights you are using.

Reyman

Judomad wrote: »

+1

even lower again, 2-5 is how i do it...works for me, especially with deadlifting, sometimes build up to just doing my 1 rep max, this surely increases strenght, its evident from the weight im deadlifting as apposed to 6 months ago.

I agree with 2-5 reps per set as being ideal. It's also important to allow a minimum 3-5 minutes between sets to lift the maximum amounts and gain real strength

newby.204

3-5 mins that seems like a lot of time in the gym sat on your arse??? im not sayin you dont put in effort but is that not alot if wasted training time??

Dragan

newby.204 wrote: »

3-5 mins that seems like a lot of time in the gym sat on your arse??? im not sayin you dont put in effort but is that not alot if wasted training time??

Lower rep ranges put more of a strain on the CNS than the higher ones. If you want to optimally lift with heavy weights in lower reps you need to rest longer in between sets.

Reyman

newby.204 wrote: »

3-5 mins that seems like a lot of time in the gym sat on your arse??? im not sayin you dont put in effort but is that not alot if wasted training time??

I agree - but you will feel the difference when you allow say 4 minutes between sets - you'll handle way more weight and you'll feel the power difference

I usually do one or two less demanding exercises for a different muscle group to use the 4 minutes effectively. I don't think this affects your main performance

Hanley

Reyman wrote: »

I agree with 2-5 reps per set as being ideal. It's also important to allow a minimum 3-5 minutes between sets to lift the maximum amounts and gain real strength

Troof

newby.204 wrote: »

3-5 mins that seems like a lot of time in the gym sat on your arse??? im not sayin you dont put in effort but is that not alot if wasted training time??

Whats' the goal? It's strength. The best way to get strong is to lift heavy weights. The best way to lift heavy weights is to be fresh and recovered. The best way to be fresh and recovered is to take longer rest periods.... I've taken 6-8 minutes between sets of squats during my last training cycle and I'm a good bit stronger now that I was in January.

And OP, eventually you'll HAVE to gain weight to get stronger, but depending on where you're at now that time might be far away, or closer than you think.

rubadub

eatsloads wrote: »

I wish to gain and maintain strength but dont want to get any bigger?

Do you mean bigger muscles, or more weight. Could you drop bodyfat and gain more muscle.

What are you up to? e.g. are you competing in weight divisions so do not want to gain weight. In which case you could possibly add muscle and lose the same in fat.

Are you really that big at the moment? Doesn't happen overnight, and you do not stay that way once you are "too big", just stop lifting and it will go again.

spiral

If we were to change the OP'S question to someone from a sport with weight classes asking the same question ie someone who competes at -xxkg who lifts weights who does whole body exercises , front squats , back squats , deadlifts , powercleans pullups chinups and dips in various combinations 3 times a week . This person wants to get stronger with minimum weight gain . They also train their chosen sport 3 times a week .

Would 2-3 sets of 2-5 reps be in order ?

celestial

spiral wrote: »

If we were to change the OP'S question to someone from a sport with weight classes asking the same question ie someone who competes at -xxkg who lifts weights who does whole body exercises , front squats , back squats , deadlifts , powercleans pullups chinups and dips in various combinations 3 times a week . This person wants to get stronger with minimum weight gain . They also train their chosen sport 3 times a week .

Would 2-3 sets of 2-5 reps be in order ?

I'd be aiming to lift as heavy as possible with few reps. Definitely keep it to 5 reps max per set. I'd be going with 2 sets x 5 reps. If that isn't seriously challenging him then it's time to up the weight being lifted.

Floyd Soul

If you want to get stronger but not bigger, why not stick with bodyweight exercises? Pullups, pushups, chinups, burpees etc.

Stuff like that makes up the core of my strength routine and Ive gotten stronger, but not bigger.

spiral

because to be honest I think unless you can move onto more leveraged exercises they have a diminishing rate of return. I can do 10 ish pullups chinups. I would like to be able to do twenty . I am working on handstand pushups but just for fun really I would also like to do a muscleup and a pistol . I do dips and pushups many different varieties. I also tend to find that high repetitions of bodyweight exercises can lead to soreness .
I also just like doing weights squatting cleans and snatches messing with KB'S and DB'S .
I like both but find heavy weights at low reps easier to recover from than high rep bodyweight exercise.

I hope that makes some sense.

eatsloads

Thanks for the advice!

I'm not that big at the moment.........just dont want to get any bigger!

BF is probably around 15-16% 30 year old guy, 5ft 11 and 92ish kgs........

I have reduced BF while training but gained a stone or so, by not getting any bigger I mean I dont want to gain anymore weight?

Transform

For gods sake do some cardio, sort out your diet and do more body weight exercises.

I think a lower body fat and a weight of about 13stone- 13 and a half stone at what ever strength is more important.

rubadub

Floyd Soul wrote: »

If you want to get stronger but not bigger, why not stick with bodyweight exercises? Pullups, pushups, chinups, burpees etc.

Or similarly just stay with the same weights, that is essentially what sticking with BW exercises is. Many find it hard to do a chinup starting out. This makes sense, many start out overweight, so they are expecting to lift a lot of weight right away. With a chinup there is no progession like other lifts. If you start curling at 10kg you quickly increase it. But with a chinup, if you cannot do it, then you do not train the muscles well by just attempting one, you might be better off with pull downs to work your way up to a chinup. This is why negatives work well for chinups.

I couldnt do a single chinup when I started, now I could do 20 on a good day. But I am ~20kg lighter, strap 20kg on a belt and I am back down to 6-7.

So if you got to say 12 chins you will probably progress in numbers, and maybe not size. Just like if you got to 12 reps at 100kg on deadlifts and never increased the weight you might get more reps in. Then there will be a point where it may not be doing much, just working endurance more than size, e.g. if you could do 50 reps with a certain weight.

I much prefer BW exercises, at a given weight I can drop my reps into the 8-12rep range I want. e.g. I can do 20chins, competition chins, but I do slow controlled raises, right to my lower chest, then I might drop down focusing on one arm a lot more than the other, this way I am down to 12 reps. Or stick plates on a dip belt.