Stronger not bigger

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 10/20/2007 12:31am

I hope you guys are using the Shop at Amazon.com link at the top! Link

**feedback** · Posted On: 10/20/2007 1:15am

Originally Posted by PunchyMcFace

So I've started lifting, three times a week or so, back/bi/legs one day, chest, tris, abs another. Very basic. Running on the off days.
I'd just like to be a bit stronger, I think I look stronger than I am, I'd rather it be the other way around. My questions is: how do I become stronger without getting bigger? I'm stocky enough already. I don't really care about my weight, just appearance.
Should I do more reps with less weight? Should I avoid lifting until failure? Should I favor carbs over protein? Or is this totally impossible?

Sorry if this is a repost

Short answer: ACSM recommends 1-6 reps for building strength, 8-12 for hypertrophy, and 15+ for endurance. I generally agree with their stratifications, but it's all a continuum.

Some of it is also genetics, it sounds like you're a naturally big guy. I can't stand my body type, I can rep curl say 90 lbs with perfect technique but the guy next to me doing the hip thrust wearing a weight belt struggling with 60 has arms twice my size. Want to switch bodies?

**Emevas** · Posted On: 10/20/2007 10:50am

Originally Posted by feedback

Short answer: ACSM recommends 1-6 reps for building strength, 8-12 for hypertrophy, and 15+ for endurance. I generally agree with their stratifications, but it's all a continuum.

Some of it is also genetics, it sounds like you're a naturally big guy. I can't stand my body type, I can rep curl say 90 lbs with perfect technique but the guy next to me doing the hip thrust wearing a weight belt struggling with 60 has arms twice my size. Want to switch bodies?

Sounds like something only SuperSquats can fix =P

**spirez** · Posted On: 10/21/2007 7:15am

I'm gonna go ahead and recommend Ross Enamait's Infinite Intensity program. It's all about getting stronger but not bigger as it's for combat sports. Huge emphasis on conditioning too

Some guy tried to bet $100 that Ross couldn't deadlift 400lbs, here was the video response:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95D7lj-A6tA

Not bad for a 170lb guy that doesn't train deads!

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 10/21/2007 3:26pm

Ross is a fucking God!!!!

**feedback** · Posted On: 10/21/2007 10:21pm

LOL that's fucking mental for a guy his size.

**PunchyMcFace** · Posted On: 10/22/2007 5:17pm

Originally Posted by Teh El Macho

For the OP

In very simplistic terms you could think your workouts to be like this (I'm just pulling an example out of my ass, this is not gospel):

workout A: flat bench presses and squats (and maybe barbell rows or overhead presses.)
workout B: incline bench presses and deadlifts (and maybe dumbell lunges.)

That is, one day, you do workout A, and your next one will resemble workout B. Whether you work out 2 or 3 times a week, that would be the pattern. That is, one workout is A and the next one is B, regardless of frequency.

teh macho, should I work in chin-ups and/or rows on A day or B day? And I'd like to add some crunches, for vanity's sake. A or B day?

**UpaLumpa** · Posted On: 10/22/2007 5:29pm

Originally Posted by feedback

LOL that's fucking mental for a guy his size.

you should track down the thread that generated it. Hilarious.

**Sabateur** · Posted On: 10/22/2007 7:19pm

Damn, every time the video dissolved to black I thought that was it, every time he put on more weight.

I'm going to be Ross when I grow up.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 10/23/2007 2:48pm

Originally Posted by PunchyMcFace

teh macho, should I work in chin-ups and/or rows on A day or B day? And I'd like to add some crunches, for vanity's sake. A or B day?

I would actually do chin-ups and ab crunches on a day other than A or B, leaving those for heavy compound movements (unless you don't mind making your workouts longer and you have the capacity to do so and recover.)

I don't do chin ups that much anymore due to my elbows, maybe once in a blue moon. However, when I did them, most of the time I would do them by themselves in a 10 minute at-home workout.

If you decide to include them in days A and B, do them at the end. Save your energy for the big boys (squats/DLs, bench presses.)

Also, notice that I suggest barbell rows on the days you don't do deadlifts. Moreover, when you do heavy, intense sets of deadlifts (5reps or less), you hit your lats and traps big time, more so than you would do with chin ups. If you don't get a contraction from hell on your lats and traps when you do a deadlift, you are not pulling heavy enough (mind you, that's something you should do after a month or two if you have never lifted that heavy.)

IMO, back deadlifts and rack pulls hit my lats and traps the most. As I mentioned, due to my elbows, I skipped chin ups (and similar exercises) for more than two months, concentrating exclusively on deadlifts. Last Thursday I decided to try cable rows with a v-handle (first time in more than two months). Just out of curiosity, I did 4 sets of cable rows, 20 reps each, using a weight that before could have only allowed me to do 8 to 12 at the most.

God bless deadlifts.

Another thing is that every now and then you can do standing overhead presses instead of barbell rows. This exercise uses your traps as synergists, and the action of pulling requires not only your lats but your traps as well. Overhead presses have a carry over for many other activities.

Also, you can do them with a little twist. When you bring the weight down, come to a full stop when your humerus (your upper arm) is parallel to the floor. Hold that for 1 or 2 seconds.

Then bring the bar down to your chest, and immediately lift it up stopping completely when your humerus is again parallel to the floor. Hold for 1 or 2 seconds, and resume the lift. This acceleration/deceleration hits the lats as well.

As for your ab crunches. Meh, if you like'em, go for it. You can do them everyday, in the mornings for example. You have to understand, you don't have to cram every single workout you need into the A and B workout days. Spread them out. Split them out.

One can easily do, for instance, 200 ab crunches in four sets of 50 (or 10 sets of 20s) in about 10 minutes. You schedule those 10 minutes every other morning, for example.

Moreover, deadlifts can hit your abdominals (and just about anything between your nipples and your hips)... he, I said nipple.

Seriously, a heavy set of deadlifts of 3-4 reps will hit your abdominals (specially back deadlifts). Bodybuilding style front squats (10 reps or less) will do the same.

You will find out how great compount exercises are. They hit every part of your body in one way or another. Simple + heavy == better (most of the time.)