Put Up or Shut Up

Bill Starr

What It Takes to Gain Mega Strength

I am frequently asked what the most important factors in strength training are. My reply?
“There are several: a functional program, knowing how to perform all the exercises correctly,
applying yourself diligently to every workout and being consistent.”

A functional program is one that works for you. Each of us has individual requirements in
strength training and should design programs to fit those specific needs as opposed to just
following a routine written by a top bodybuilder or strength athlete or an armchair authority.
Two people with the same body type, bodyweight, height, age and training background won’t
respond to a program in exactly the same way. It’s okay to start a group off with a set
program, but as they progress, adjustments must be made for continued success.

Olympic lifters, for example, have entirely different routines from powerlifters or from those
participating in strongman events. Many athletes from a wide range of sports are strength
training in order to be more proficient in their chosen activities. That group should select
exercises that will enhance what they do in football, baseball, tennis and so forth. It’s known
as sport-specific training, and all coaches and athletes are aware of it.

The idea also applies to other facets of life. Some lift weights to expand their endurance base
so they can hike, bike or swim longer. Others want to obtain or maintain a high level of
strength because they know that enables them to lead a more healthful life. They’re not
interested in entering competition; they just want to look and feel good and be able to do
everyday tasks without having to suffer for it the next day.

Only you know that bench presses hurt your once-dislocated shoulder, while inclines and
overhead presses don’t. Or that your back responds to deadlifts done with lighter weights
much better than when you use low reps with heavier poundages. All personal information
goes in to the mix as you write up your routine and make periodic changes as you go along.
The very best program for you is the one that brings results and doesn’t cause you pain when
you do it. I’m not talking about the pain of exertion but rather that type of pain that tells you
that you’re doing something wrong and need to stop.

Next, in order to make continuous gains in strength training, you must learn how to perform
all the exercises in your program perfectly. Although that may seem like common sense, it’s a
principle that’s abused by the majority of people who weight-train

They may start off paying close attention to form, but in their quest for bigger numbers,
technique takes a backseat. That’s particularly true on the bench press, where rebounding the
bar off the chest and bridging are the norm in most gyms and a clean, smoothly done lift is the
exception.

Then there are those who take great care to do any high-skill exercise precisely but use sloppy
form on the less complicated lifts or on their auxiliary exercises.
One winter I trained with a couple of Olympic lifters at John Gourgott’s World Gym in
Marin, California, who were perfect examples of what I’m talking about. Their technique on
their cleans, snatches and jerks was flawless. They looked like European lifters. When they
did overhead presses, however, correct form flew out the window. I attempted to help them,
but they ignored my advice—that is, until they both aggravated their shoulders so badly that
they were forced to stop pressing and jerking for several weeks. After they took the time to
master the pressing form, there were no more problems.

A point that many overlook is that using improper technique is not only less productive in the
long run but will invariably lead to some type of injury, especially if you’re handling heavy
weights.

Even though the risk is lower when you use light weights, the point applies. Use poor form on
calf raises, weighted dips or curls, and you’ll end up making less progress and invite injury.
Keep in mind that auxiliary exercises are done at the end of the workout and all of those
muscles are already somewhat fatigued. A tired muscle is more apt to break than a rested one.

We’ve all heard the axiom that practice makes perfect and accept it as valid. It’s not. It should
be amended to say that practice makes perfect only if you’re practicing with correct form.
Practicing with improper technique results in nothing close to the gains you’ll achieve when
your form is free of flaws.

So the first step is to take time to learn how to do all of the exercises in your program.
Obviously, some will require more effort than others. For example, you’re going to be able to
pick up the various form points more readily on the back squat than on the power clean.

Once you learn good form, practice and more practice is the ticket to success, especially if
you have lots of high-skill exercises in your routine.

According to K. Anders Ericsson, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Florida State University

and co-author of the recently published Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert
Performance, practice is more important in athletics than genetics—an idea that’s in direct
contrast to what most trainers and sports psychologists profess. After studying thousands of
athletes from a wide range of sports, he found that the most accomplished in each group
shared a common approach to training—goal-oriented workouts that emphasized immediate
feedback, frequent skill repetitions and mindful attention to mechanics. “If you’re just doing
things in the moment and not reflecting on how you could do it better,” Ericsson explains,
“it’s very unlikely that you’ll improve.”

How many times have you let your mind wander to what you’re planning on doing later that
night while you’re in the middle of a set? Or attempted to solve some vexing problem from
work or school when you should have been concentrating on the task at hand—moving a bar
through a tight groove? Or carried on a conversation while doing a warmup set?

The one attribute I’ve noticed in all the great bodybuilders and lifters I’ve been around over
the years was that they were extremely focused through their workouts, from the very first
warmup set to the final rep with a max poundage. Training was serious business, and they
applied their full effort and attention to every single rep in their routines. That’s what we
called quality training, and it seems to be missing in the majority of those who weight-train
today.
Honing your technique is a continuous process because as the weights get heavier, you may
alter your mechanics ever so slightly. If you don’t have someone to call you on form
breakdown or pick up on it yourself, it will adversely affect your progress.

Whenever a person first starts weight training, he’s offered plenty of advice from others in the
gym. After a few years, though, he’s on his own, and if he happens to be one of the more
accomplished lifters or bodybuilders, no one is going to tell him that his form is off. In many
instances the form flaws go unnoticed. Everyone is too engrossed in his own training to be
bothered with helping someone else.

You can also slip to where you’re using incorrect form when you train alone. During
Christmas and spring breaks, I trained alone at Sam Fielder’s shed. On Fridays, I did shrugs. I
had no reason to think that I might not be doing them right since they’d been a part of my
routine as far back as I could remember, and I teach my athletes to use precise form on that
lift. When it’s done correctly, your traps will report in the next morning.

On that Friday someone had placed a mirror behind the rack used for squats and shrugs. I
didn’t want to bother with moving it, so I watched myself while I squatted and shrugged. My
squats were fine, but when I did my shrugs, I saw that I was bending my arms way too soon, a
cardinal sin for any pulling movement. I hadn’t realized I’d picked up that form fault and
quickly rectified it. For the following two days my traps were sore to the touch. It was a small
change that made a huge difference, which is why you have to constantly examine your
technique, even on exercises that you believe you’re doing perfectly.

If you train alone, a mirror can be useful. Taping a workout and studying it later is another
good idea. You might even have a friend you consider knowledgeable in coaching to whom
you can send the tape. Quite often, a second set of eyes can find flaws you missed.

To continue to climb up the strength ladder, you must come to the weight room prepared to
put every ounce of energy you have into your workout. Staying in the comfortable range just
doesn’t produce the same results. You need to get into an attack mode and be aggressive from
that first rep to the last. Do your very best to improve the numbers on at least one of your
exercises at every session. Two or three is even better. I recently wrote that you should
attempt to make personal records at all your workouts for a full year, an attitude that enables
you to attack the weights and not just go through the motions. Once you develop the
confidence that you can make gains regularly, your lifts will climb steadily.

Of course, I’m speaking about obtaining reasonable goals. It’s fine to set a goal of squatting
400 by the end of a cycle, yet it’s not smart to try squatting that weight when you’re only
doing 350 for three reps. Your immediate goal should be to move that triple up to 380; then
you’d be ready to tackle 400.

Learn to attack the bar from the get-go. I watch many lifters and bodybuilders do their
warmup sets halfheartedly, just wanting to get them out of the way so they can do their work
sets. They all discover the same fact of life—switching from a nonchalant attitude to a serious
one isn’t so easy. In most cases it doesn’t happen. That’s why you should begin the process of
focusing and concentration on that first set. The early sets form the pattern and prepare you
for the heavier sets ahead. Again, a small thing that can make the difference between success
and failure.
While the factors I mentioned certainly have a direct bearing on your strength gains,
consistency may be the most important. Even though you may have established perfect
technique, created an ideal routine and always give 100 percent, you’re not going to get a
great deal stronger if you’re inconsistent in your training. Definitely not as much as if you
never miss a workout.

Consistency is critical to all of the programs I give to athletes and others who write to me
because the workouts are interconnected. What a lifter does today dictates how much he
handles on Friday and vice versa. The midweek session influences the Monday and Friday
numbers. So if you skip any of the three, the entire scheme is thrown off, and progress suffers.
The same holds true for the four- and five-day-a-week routines I set up. The various training
days are synergistic, feeding off one another in a harmonious manner and producing an effect
greater than the sum of the parts. Every good routine is designed in this fashion.

I’ve often said that a poorly designed routine done consistently will provide greater results
than a perfect program done sporadically. I believe that because I’ve seen it happen countless
times. As I write this, one name jumps out in my mind—Howard Parker. Older Olympic
lifters from Texas and the San Francisco area will remember him. Howard is the kind of guy
you don’t forget easily. We ran an article on him in Strength & Health in the late ’60s titled
“The Strongest Teenager in Texas,” and I met him at the Teenage Nationals, which he won.
Years later I ended up training with him at a gym in Marin County. Howard did a rather
unconventional routine, to say the least. Some of his exercises were unique, and he trained
with an animal intensity that was almost scary. Spotting him was downright frightening. I
recall trying my best to keep my hands under the bar as he did behind-the-neck jerks while
seated on a bench. No two reps were alike, and he ended up using 600 pounds.

He was a throwback to the old-time strongmen, and he never missed a workout. Nothing got
in the way of his training schedule. Despite his background in Olympic lifting, he didn’t
spend a lot of time on his form, so he didn’t go too far in that sport. He would have done very
well in the strongman events that reward raw strength.

Although Howard stands out, I’ve trained with many others who did outlandish programs that
made little sense to me. They all got stronger, however, because they never missed a workout,
come hell or high water. Their entire day revolved around training.

It’s been my observation that most people miss planned workouts because they set up
unrealistic programs. They’re motivated by renewed zeal or by some article and decide to
train harder than they ever did before. Their intentions are certainly good. The trouble is, they
don’t fit their lifestyle. Work, family obligations and recreational pursuits cut into training
time. While that four-day-a-week program you laid out looks good on paper, it doesn’t
coincide with your real mode of living.

So you skip one day, then two. The expected gains don’t come, which leads to
discouragement, and you decide you’re too busy to train the way you want right now and stop
altogether. Of course, you tell yourself that you’re going to get back to the gym as soon as
things slow down a bit. Sometimes that never happens.

The smarter approach would be to set up a program that you can manage, a flexible routine
that you can alter throughout the year. That’s why I like a three-day-a-week routine for most
people. Should you be forced to miss a session, you can make it up the next day or later on
during the week. It’s really what you accomplish in a given week that counts.

For the same reason, I advocate working all the major muscle groups at every session, as
opposed to using a split routine. A split routine requires training four days a week and if you
miss a day and try to double up on your next workout, you’re not going to accomplish a great
deal.

That’s not the case, however, when you work all the major groups at one session, using the
heavy, light and medium concept. Should you be unable to train on Monday, your heavy day,
do it on Tuesday and come back on Wednesday with a light day. Doing two workouts back to
back isn’t difficult if one is a light day. You have seven days to get in three workouts, and if
you’re serious about getting stronger, you’ll be able to do this without any problem.

Early on, I learned that being consistent was essential to making progress. Whenever I got
lazy and missed a workout and didn’t quickly make it up, it took me a month to regain my
former strength level. I realize that some people are able to hold their strength for long periods
even when they stop training. I’m not one of them. so I built my training philosophy around
consistency. It wasn’t always easy. While I was in graduate school and working full time at
the Park Ridge YMCA north of Chicago, there were nights when I didn’t get off until 11 p.m.
That’s when I trained.

Being consistent takes planning ahead. I try to travel on nontraining days, but if I have to
drive or fly somewhere on a training day, I alter my schedule or get up early and work out.
When going to a new place, I call and find out if there are any gyms in the area. Before my
friend Mark Rippetoe went to Iceland, he called Mike Lambert, publisher of Powerlifting
USA, and got the names and addresses of several lifters in Reykjavik. He contacted them, had
a place to train and made some new acquaintances who enhanced his visit to the island.

The real problem with missing workouts and not making them up isn’t so much that you lose
size or strength as that it’s an easy habit to slip into and a difficult one to break. That first day
missed may have been for a valid reason, but then others follow because you’re nursing a
giant hangover, your relatives are visiting, or the lawn had to be mowed.

I believe that anyone who is intent on getting stronger will find a way to get in his training. I
allow myself no excuses. Sick, injured, just plain tired don’t cut it. It’s never a question of
whether I’m going to train, only where and when. Once you’ve adopted the idea of being
consistent with your training and practice it for a full year, the discipline will stay with you
for a lifetime. The tenets for success in strength training are designing a functional routine
that fits your individual needs and time limitations, learning the form on all the lifts in your
program so that you perform every one perfectly, challenging yourself at every session in the
weight room and never missing a workout. Adhere to those principles, and I guarantee that
you’ll become much stronger.

Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a strength and conditioning coach at Johns Hopkins University
from 1989 to 2000. He’s the author of The Strongest Shall Survive and Defying Gravity.