Still lacking strength despite size?

[marvelicious]

Hi all, I am 27 this year. Trained less than a year when I was 18, then stopped for NS and all the way until recently, when I picked it up very vigourously over the past two months. Prior to that, trained on and off for about three months. Have been training for about 3-4 times a week over the pass two months though. Also been injesting more food and protein, creatine supplements.

Although I have picked up two inches in chest and an inch on the biceps (I now weigh a pretty muscular 77kg for my 1.74m frame), as well as two kgs. I am still weak in strength as compared to quite a lot of smaller guys in the gym. My poundages are increasing steadily though. But currently my bench press is only about 130 pounds for about six unassisted reps. Think quite a lot of smaller size guys can do better than me.

Any idea why I am still so weak as compared to my frame? Thanks.

[Greentea]

There's some things you have to consider
- How's your body composition ? eg. Lean mass ratio to bodyfats ?

- High or low Neurological ability , some of them with high neurlogical ability allow higher amount of excution of motor units into play .

-Fast twitch and slow twitch ratio

-how well your body replenishes your muscle glycogen in the previous workout affects strengths

the list can just goes on ..

However , Bigger size doesn't means equal strengths . What's your actual aim ? powerlifting ? general fitness ? bodybuilding ?

[marvelicious]

Thanks greentea. Wow. Thats a lot. My lean muscle mass is 58.7% and body fat is 16.1% as of two months back before I started. I think it should be slightly better now. I am sorry I cannot answer the rest of your questions as I cannot understand them. keke. Btw, I am defo training for bodybuilding and not power or fitness. I am just a bit miffed that I sld be stronger than where I am now.

[Heeman]

Hi,
Ya, greentea is correct. Size does not totally equate to strength. There are so many genetic factor which pre determine a person;s strength. Since you have experience hypertrophy, you must be training in teh region of 8-12 reps? To further increase your strength, it is recommended to train int eh region of 4-6 reps. You should periodize your training routine so as to prevent plateau. Hope it helps.

cheers

[jonathan]

marvelicious said:

. My lean muscle mass is 58.7% and body fat is 16.1% as of two months back before I started. .

How are such measurements taken?

[marvelicious]

Thanks heeman. You are half right about the number of reps I do. I do about 12 reps for my warmup sets, usually two. Then do about 8-10 reps for the moderalty heavy. And about five, six for the really heavy ones. So you think I sld just cut to the chase and do about six reps for all (heavy weights), other than for warmup?

I understand the need to add variety to training. That's why I am trying to find out newer sets to do, and newer ways of training.

Btw, what is hypertrophy? And how does it has any relevance to me?

[marvelicious]

Jonathan said:

How are such measurements taken?

Jonathan. Prior to me joining as a member of Cali. They had me take my measurements on a weighing-machine lookalike thing and I had to grasp two handles by my hands, wait for about a min and a body composition analysis was then printed out, and explained to me. I asked about its accuracy and was told that it is about one of the most accurate out there now. They even had the fluid diagnosis of individual body part stated in it. Even sports council uses it.

Hope that answers your question.

[jonathan]

Eh, machines! Thanks anyway.

From what I read, you've been training for less than half a year. Relax, no matter what program you follow strength takes time to build.

Read these articles concerning size/strength for starters.

www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=547470

www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=35F91EEC317D8FB85151957C7E9B1112.titan?id=561180

Next time you train, pay attention to what you're doing and don't care about what others are lifting!

[marvelicious]

Thanks Jonathan, those articles are really cheem but quite useful. When they speak of 3 sets of 10, are they talking about 3 different say, chest exercise and repeat each exercise by 10 times? With about 80% of maximum possible weight? Sorry I am still very much a newbie...

Gee thanks, I try to concentrate on my own training. But it gets a wee bit infuriating when ppl remarked to me that I should be doing far heavier weights or should be stronger for my size. My on/off training partner (smaller than me) lifts even heavier weights than me. So all these has got me abit bothered. But my strength has been increasing steadily, so I hope it continues. Might just give the 10 by 3 training a try.

[Oracle]

do u do squat and deadlift?

[marvelicious]

Hi Oracle, I used to love doing squats. It was only until after army (combat engineers), football and rugby that I had to give my knees a rest and avoid squats. My knees are pretty worn out from all these physical stress I been giving it. I don't do much deadlifts though. You think these two are important for me to get ahead in strength?

[Oracle]

combat engineers?! *salute*. d**n shiong vocation.

if u want pure strength only, u might want to read up on Westside barbell training style.
www.wannabebig.com/article.php?articleid=46

and read these fine articles at deepsquatter.com www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/index.htm

i find that i get good strength gain when i do squats.

[jonathan]

marvelicious said:

Thanks Jonathan, those articles are really cheem but quite useful. When they speak of 3 sets of 10, are they talking about 3 different say, chest exercise and repeat each exercise by 10 times? With about 80% of maximum possible weight? Sorry I am still very much a newbie...

Gee thanks, I try to concentrate on my own training. But it gets a wee bit infuriating when ppl remarked to me that I should be doing far heavier weights or should be stronger for my size. My on/off training partner (smaller than me) lifts even heavier weights than me. So all these has got me abit bothered. But my strength has been increasing steadily, so I hope it continues. Might just give the 10 by 3 training a try.

Nope, 3 reps of ten sets of the same exercise with 1-2mins rest in between. Of course, in the beginning start off with maybe 4 sets and rest up to 5 minutes. 80% of the most weight you can carry.

PTP might be better for your case. Look at my PTP/RKC training log, read what I do for gym weeks and you'll get the idea, very simple.

For a summary read this: www.geocities.com/dirtyley/

Also, look around the whole forum on how to bench, squat and deadlift properly.

[KelvinL]

CT's training program is aimed at both strength and hypertrophy. That ptp is just strength, no mass gains... man, i can't imagine doing a program like that. lol.

But I tell you, CT's programs are awesome, I've had good results from them.

[lawrence21]

kelvinL: what's CT?

marv: 80% of max possible weight is 80% of the max weight you can execute for 1 rep.
eg. if you bench 200 pounds for 1 rep, so 80% of max weight(200pounds) is 160 pounds.