5 Reasons Why Doing More Reps Might Be Hurting Your Strength
One of my favorite topics in the world of strength is why (and how) to train for “carryover” — the phenomenon that allows you to get stronger and stronger at your favorite exercises, like pullups, overhead presses, squats, swings, etc. without doing any more reps of these exercises than you’re currently doing.
Sound like heresy?
Before you spark up a raging bonfire and send an angry, torch-wielding mob to my house for committing exercise blasphemy, let me at least explain myself so you can decide for yourself whether or not I need to be Joan-of-Arc’d or whether I can keep preaching — deal?
One of the most common solutions given for a question like “Why isn’t my squat/press/pullup/etc. improving?” is “you need to do more reps” (i.e. increase your training volume). And to be very clear, that’s not a myth: volume is incredibly important, and ignoring it will doom you to stagnation, frustration, and possibly participation in an angry mob aimed at the house of whoever told you it was all you needed.
In reality, there are a few overarching things we need to keep in mind when it comes to strength:
- Strength is a skill
- To get stronger, you need to meet certain strength standards and fill gaps in your abilities (according to Dan John)
Improving the skill of strength and “filling gaps” can be done with 4 different strength qualities (which I’ll get into in a sec). Doing more reps of any exercise will certainly improve your skill at that movement pattern, no doubt, but there is still the issue of underlying skill that spreads its way into ALL strength movements that needs to be addressed. If not, your progress will be much slower, and will eventually flatline.
So here’s a quick look at 7 reasons why “more volume” isn’t necessarily your best option for getting stronger — and what IS a better option instead.
#1. The higher your volume is, the harder it is to recover
More volume = more fatigue. It’s just a fact of life. This is one of the reasons why in sports (both strength-based and non-strength based) when a competition is coming up, athletes lay off the volume and increase the intensity (weight) in their training to ensure that their performance isn’t hampered by fatigue. For us non-athletes, avoiding extra fatigue is no less important, since our other obligations in life — our job, social life, taking care of the kids, etc. — already add a measure of fatigue anyway. The better you can manage that, the more likely you are to see success in your training.
#2: Too much volume can lead to tweaks, injuries, and setbacks
As a personal anecdote, last year I started greasing the groove (i.e. practicing at 50% effort or less) with pullups to improve my numbers. The plan I followed required a ridiculous volume, and the only thing I got for several weeks of doing this was a 2-rep increase in my max attempt and shoulder pain. Not a great trade off. The same thing goes with other ambitious, volume-based strength plans for most of us.
#3: It’s very time consuming.
Ever done 50 reps of military presses per arm in a single training session? I have. It takes pretty close to an hour. Never mind that most of us doing even have an hour to spare to train anyway, do you really want to spend it only on military presses when there are other cool exercises you could be adding into the mix?
#4: It limits the number of exercises you can work on.
Granted, you don’t need more than 5–7 exercises in a good strength program anyway, and quite often you can make dynamite progress with even as little as 1–3, but to balance out your development, having assistance work that makes sure you’re not building up some major muscle imbalances that will lead to some gnarly training injuries, having enough time to devote to accessory exercises is crucial for long-term strength AND health — and if you’re on a tight time budget and you’re going the volume route, you might find yourself on a fast path toward #2 in this list.
#5: It will likely leave all your “training gaps” in place.
All too often I see trainers address their trainees’ plateaus and difficulties by simply telling them to do more of whatever exercise they’re stuck on. This is all well and good, but it will still only lead to a plateau if you’re not focused enough on the gaps in your training. That’s like telling someone who’s banging their head against a wall to bang harder so they can get to the other side. Only helpful if it’s not your head.
All volume in any exercise needs to be backed by skill — if not, all those reps will be of little value. Doing more of them just edges you down the path toward unnecessary specialization, NOT necessarily overall improvement.
For example, kettlebell expert Pavel Tsatsouline tells of a friend of his who worked up to a no doubt incredibly painful set of 20 deadlifts with 405 lbs (184 kg), only to find that when he tested his one rep max he could only manage 420 lbs (190 kg).
Another example: my friend Jiri from Prague went from 30 pushups to 56 doing a high-rep pushup specialization program that had him doing 50% of his max reps every 20 minutes to one hour, and after several weeks he hadn’t even doubled his pushup numbers and had no time or energy to do any other exercises.
I repeat: more volume is helpful, but only if you are building it on a solid base of underlying strength skills!
In my last couple of articles I’ve talked about exactly what those strength skills are. For a quick recap, they are:
1) Grip strength
2) Core strength
3) Reflexive stability
4) Straight-arm scapular strength
These are all critical in building “Carryover strength” — general, non-specific strength skill that gives a major boost to every major strength movement by increasing your ability to generate full-body tension, recruit more muscle for each exercise, and annihilate the most common weaknesses that people face in trying to get stronger.
Like crushing weakness and getting tons of carryover into your favorite strength moves WITHOUT crushing yourself in the process.
Then you just might dig my free 9-Minute Kettlebell & Bodyweight Challenge.
It consists of some simple, easy-to-learn movements that I can almost guarantee you’ve NEVER done (including crawling, loaded carries, etc) and as the name implies, it only takes 9 minutes to do.
Not only does it fit neatly at the end of whatever other routine you’re currently doing anyway (so no need to put your regular training on hold), but many people have found that it actually enhances their workouts.
Have a look-see at what a gent named Mark had to say when he added my 9-Minute Kettlebell & Bodyweight Challenge into his current training program:
==
“Just wanted to pass this feedback along about the 9 min KB BW challenge.
I am on my 5th trip through it. I use it primarily as a warm-up, sometimes as a finisher, and sometimes as a stand-alone workout (when I am under recovered or just super pressed for time). I get in at least 3, usually 4, and sometimes 5 days a week including it.
I am to the point where I can get through 3 min straight of just about anything except double overhead carries (at about 2:10 with 16's), farmer’s carries with 32’s (about 2:15 when I push it), and can make 3 min of crawling but it smokes me.
I’ve now shared it with a dozen or so folx and the ones who “get it” have seen incredible benefits. Of course, there are those that never get it, but that’s part of the deal.
of note, the big thing I notice besides a massive (and positive) change in my abs is that I gen really feel more “tied together” and “ready” all the time. At 40, this is really important.
Thanks for making it SIMPLE to integrate this really important work!
best,
Mark Reinke”
==
Check it out for yourself at www.9MinuteChallenge.com
Have fun and happy training!
Aleks “The Hebrew Hammer” Salkin
