How to Train For Maximal Strength

Gaining maximal strength isn’t something that should simply be reserved for elite athletes at the highest level. While improving maximal strength is certainly important for athletes for improving performance, getting stronger also has tonnes of benefits for the average person. Recent evidence suggests that strength training may prevent disease (cancer, cardiovascular diseases, dementia), strengthen muscles and bones, improve sleep, and improve mental well-being (Maestroni et al., 2020).

However, getting really strong is a marathon, not a sprint. Strength is built steadily over time through consistent, hard training year after year. Nevertheless, the time taken to gain strength can be significantly reduced if you understand how to gear your training programme towards this goal. Here are some important things to consider when training for maximal strength.

Rep Range and Intensity

Put simply, maximal strength training is all about lifting heavy weight for low reps. Studies show that lifting at intensities above 80% of your 1-rep max for 1-5 reps is optimal for gaining strength (Schoenfeld et al., 2014). However, heavy strength training can be very taxing on the central nervous system, so it is crucial that sets are rarely, if ever, taken to failure. In general, stopping your sets 1-2 reps short of failure should ensure that you are training hard enough to make gains whilst at the same time avoiding excessive fatigue caused by training to failure.

Progressive Overload

In order to get stronger, you need to progressively increase the difficulty of your workouts over time. The simplest way to do this is to add more weight to the bar each week. However, once you’re past the beginner stage this is unlikely to be sustainable, so we need to find other ways to implement progressive overload. Alternative strategies include increasing the sets, performing more reps, changing the tempo of the lift (slow lowering phase, adding a pause), and improving your technique (Plotkin et al., 2022).

Rest Periods

Although improvements in strength can be achieved across different rest period durations, evidence suggests that experienced lifters should rest for at least 2 mins between sets in order to maximise strength gains. This is because shorter rest periods prevent adequate recovery following a set, potentially leading to fewer reps being performed in subsequent sets. Despite this, for beginner lifters it seems that short to moderate rest periods (1-2 mins) are sufficient for maximising strength gains (Grgic et al., 2018).

Don’t Forget to Build Muscle

More muscle doesn’t always mean more strength. Numerous factors influence strength including technique, psychological factors, limb lengths and many others. However, evidence suggests that muscle mass and muscle strength are strongly linked, especially as you become more experienced in the gym. If we look at athletes competing in sports such as powerlifting and weightlifting, we can see that those competing in higher weight classes are typically stronger than lighter lifters. Therefore, allocating time in your training to focus on muscle building may be a good strategy. Evidence suggests that allocating an entire training phase towards muscle building before moving to a maximal strength training phase may lead to the most strength gains (Suchomel et al., 2016).

Example Full Body Maximal Strength Session:

Example Lower Body Maximal Strength Session:

Example Upper Body Maximal Strength Session:

References

Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B.J., Skrepnik, M., Davies, T.B. and Mikulic, P., 2018. Effects of rest interval duration in resistance training on measures of muscular strength: a systematic review. Sports Medicine, 48, pp.137-151.

Maestroni, L., Read, P., Bishop, C., Papadopoulos, K., Suchomel, T.J., Comfort, P. and Turner, A., 2020. The benefits of strength training on musculoskeletal system health: practical applications for interdisciplinary care. Sports Medicine, 50(8), pp.1431-1450.

Plotkin, D., Coleman, M., Van Every, D., Maldonado, J., Oberlin, D., Israetel, M., Feather, J., Alto, A., Vigotsky, A.D. and Schoenfeld, B.J., 2022. Progressive overload without progressing load? The effects of load or repetition progression on muscular adaptations. PeerJ, 10, p.e14142.

Schoenfeld, B.J., Ratamess, N.A., Peterson, M.D., Contreras, B., Sonmez, G.T. and Alvar, B.A., 2014. Effects of different volume-equated resistance training loading strategies on muscular adaptations in well-trained men. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 28(10), pp.2909-2918.

Suchomel, T.J., Nimphius, S., Bellon, C.R. and Stone, M.H., 2018. The importance of muscular strength: training considerations. Sports medicine, 48, pp.765-785.