I'm at a point where I'm satisfied with my physique but want to keep getting stronger. Any tips for increasing strength without increasing muscle mass?
160 / 5'7" / 11-12% bf
I've made tremendous progress the past year and few months through lifting, HIIT, and paleo. Started out a few pounds overweight at 173 pounds, dropped down to 148 briefly, and worked my way up to a relatively lean 163. Currently sitting at 160 but in general I'm happy with my progress and don't want to put on anymore mass. But I've developed a love/addiction for lifting and don't want to stop and also want to keep getting stronger but without the mass that comes with it. Any ideas/techniques for doing that you guys can share?
Posted Apr 13, 2012, 2:10 AM UTC
25
Eat at maintenance and train for maximal strength in the 1-6 rep range.
Just eating at maintenance will probably cover it for you, though.
But you're goin to plateau strength wise if you don't want to gain anymore mass at all. It might not be soon, but it'll eventually happen. It's just a simple fact - increases in strength does have a fairly direct correlation to the size of the muscle lifting.
Too bad most people don't even get close to their strength potential. Even using strstd and hitting elite in all brackets doesn't mean you hit your strength potential. I see tons of strong people who can't do body weight stuff like a muscle up. Its about improve your overall body's mind muscle connection and learning how to make your muscles work together in different movements (weight lifting movements are far from taking full advantage of what your body can do)
Unless the guy is an elite level powerlifter (the fact that he is asking this question leads me to believe he is not) there is likely a massive amount of strength he can still acquire.
You'll hit a plateau, muscularly. But....if he keeps lifting heavy with low reps his connective tissues and bones will also grow, albeit at a much slower rate, as they adapt to a regular heavy load. Eventually, he will hit a plateau overall and he won't gain anymore strength, but he'll be pretty strong for his size, which is probably the OP's goal.
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