An alternative approach to strength training
Getting stronger is very high on a lot of people's agendas, and it’s easy to see why. It’ll help with many day to day tasks, improve your long term health, likely make you look and feel better, and if you love learning to do cool movements, it’ll make doing this a whole lot easier.
For most though there is more to it than just the physical. It brings deep fulfilment to our lives, day after day refining the movements of our body and the objects we created to lift with the intent of gaining strength, movement proficiency and fortitude.
It is common for Strength training to look something like 5 sets of 3 @85% adding a rep or kilos each week when we feel it’s feasible, or we might just do as many reps as we can on a weight or exercise for X amount of sets… progressing when we feel we’ve done enough.
Such approaches are proven to be effective for many and will continue to be so, however, I feel we are missing a few key elements to training under such constraints, I will highlight and briefly discuss 3 of these but there are many more.
Awareness and control of effort
Using percentages of our 1 rep max is a very systematic and logical way to organise the load we do and the reps we will do at such load (see table for full breakdown) but this does not allow for our natural fluctuations in performance. With this method we are trying to predict them, and like the weather and economy this does not always prove accurate.
I would argue a more appropriate way to build strength would involve us having an effort such as an RPE (Rate of perceived exertion - see breakdown) instead of a percentage at a particular load that we are working on; so instead of 5 sets of 3 @85% we might have a certain number of reps to accumulate at RPE 8 (Leaving two reps in the tank every time we perform a set) so the reps would reflect our performance on the day based on this predetermined effort.
This brings an element of awareness into the practitioners training, it gets them to feel each rep and monitor the quality of each one in order to know when the RPE is met. Further to this, it then requires self control to push to, or hold back from deviating from the set effort. Quite a contrast to just being given the load, sets and reps, a far more active and rich training experience.
Autoregulation Rep Accumulation
Next up we must discuss how the volume would work in such an approach. I have disregarded sets and reps above as I feel this cannot be accurately predicted, instead we use ‘Rep accumulation’.
So instead of using 5 sets of 3, again we may say ‘accumulate 15 reps’ at a particular load. Each individual may break this down differently and the RPE should further organise how this is done. It might be 8 reps, then 5, then 2. Or it might be 3, 3, 4, 4, 1. As long as it equals 15 reps and is performed to the RPE set it doesn’t matter how it’s done.
The beauty here lies in our ability to autoregulate (adjust based on feel) with this method, and not be pinned to a set number of reps. If you feel good RPE 8 might be 10 reps of squat at 130kg if not it might only be 4, but either way you will not feel disheartened as you have worked to your set effort for that particular day.
Progression: Small steps to high peaks
Rep targets & small steps
Finally then, we need a way of progressing. Conventionally it may be adding 5% or 2 reps, but here we offer ‘rep targets’. Rep targets are a set number of reps that you should hit (without going over the RPE) at which point, you increase the load significantly (by roughly 10% accounting for bodyweight with moves like weighted dips and pull ups).
These targets can change based on the training focus, but an example might be - for pull ups having an 8 rep target, you get to 8 bodyweight and then add 10kg, you would then work up again to doing a set of 8 and so on. As it is rep accumulation you’ll be able to hit this number when ready.
What this offers us is small incremental but achievable targets that keep moving forwards as our strength is developed. 6 months down the line you might have 40kg around your waist for pull ups, but to get here you hit your 10kg, then 15… getting to each target before moving up.
This approach gives us small, meaningful steps allowing us to reach once incomprehensible peaks.
Round up/takeaway
Hopefully this offers some new insights into strength training which may broaden and ultimately improve your practice. If you are currently using a similar approach or radically disagree with what has been said we’d love to hear it, conversation is a great means to explore new ideas.
There are critiques to be made here, as with anything - it’s never truly flawless. Such as, with rep accumulation you may have an easy set of just a few reps at the end or with RPE it provides an opportunity for ‘human error’ but ultimately I feel this provides us as Mindful Athletes with a far more interesting way of developing strength requiring a full engagement with the practice.
Callum
