How do you get stronger without getting bigger?

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

I have the physical appearance of how I want to look like right now (inner pecs could use some work though and legs could be a little bigger, or maybe my back could be a little smaller?) and right now I just want to get a lot stronger without gaining size. I don't even care if I gain WEIGHT, but I don't really want any size. I remember when before I got kicked off the team, I was getting 5 hours of sleep a night and exercising for at least 5 hours a day everyday. I got up to 175 lbs but looked almost exactly the same as I did when I weighed 160. I'm ok with that. But now I'm 165 and look so much bigger/bloated than when I was 175. It's ridiculous. Sometimes there are guys in the gym who look decently built, but nothing really special, and you see them lift a fvck ton of weight that you think they shouldn't be able to lift (go look up Clarence Kennedy when he was a skinny kid just starting out. He was super skinny but was able to lift a crap ton of weight he should t have been able to lift. Now he's a big dude, but I like to be like how he was in the middle of that transformation). That's how I want to be like. If I could stay the same size like how I am now yet still get a lot stronger, I'd love to know how. Maybe strengthing your CNS? But I'm not sure how to do that exactly. Help would be appreciated.

tl;dr How can I gain a fvck ton of strength without size?

 

[amazingswayze]

Most people will tell you that size = strength. You don't have to bulk and become fat, but you have to at least pack on 5 lbs of muscle to make a difference.

 

[mrgoodstuff]

Nervous system can be more effective. So getting better at generating and managing power.

 

[ubercat]

Strength is functional
What do u want to get stronger for?

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Strength is functional
What do u want to get stronger for?

Everything.

 

[Infern0]

Do stronglifts 5x5

That program sucks for building mass

 

[ubercat]

Ok take 2. @ImTheDoubleGreatest! What challenges do u want to apply that strength to?

If u really just flat out want general functional strength Google plyometrics

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Ok take 2. @ImTheDoubleGreatest! What challenges do u want to apply that strength to?

If u really just flat out want general functional strength Google plyometrics

Sprinting. I want to be able to hold maximal effort for longer periods of time too.

 

[Bible_Belt]

mma fighters I knew usually lifted with low weight and high reps. People at the gym will stare at you, and guys might come up to ask you if you want help with your routine.

 

[ubercat]

Low weight s high reps will build endurance. What u need is plyometrics builds fast twitch. Also sand running, hill running or running in pool or sea. How much endurance depends on the distance.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

How big you get is directly correlated with how much food you eat. Lift heavier weights to get stronger without eating a lot and you won't get bigger.

Typically you will want to switch up your sets...focusing on different body parts. For instance you might start with bench press and do 5x5 then go do incline Db presses 3x15. This hits both types of muscles in the workout...Type I and Type II...

It will lead to being able to lift heavier weights sooner than if you just followed one or the other since both of these muscles work in conjunction with each other, not seperately like most people think.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

How big you get is directly correlated with how much food you eat. Lift heavier weights to get stronger without eating a lot and you won't get bigger.

Typically you will want to switch up your sets...focusing on different body parts. For instance you might start with bench press and do 5x5 then go do incline Db presses 3x15. This hits both types of muscles in the workout...Type I and Type II...

It will lead to being able to lift heavier weights sooner than if you just followed one or the other since both of these muscles work in conjunction with each other, not seperately like most people think.

This doesn't make sense to me. If they work in conjunction with one another, can't I just train my slow twitch like fast twitch? If they both work at the same time, that means that I work both at the same time when lifting. I always read that lifting high reps and low sets always increases size (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy) and that low rep high weight always did strength (myofibrillar hypertrophy). But I want to train with little to no gains in size very much at all while still getting stronger in leaps and bounds.

I think you guys are right about how much you eat and plyometrics. I'lol try them all out. Any other ideas, even if unorthodox, are appreciated.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

This doesn't make sense to me. If they work in conjunction with one another, can't I just train my slow twitch like fast twitch? If they both work at the same time, that means that I work both at the same time when lifting. I always read that lifting high reps and low sets always increases size (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy) and that low rep high weight always did strength (myofibrillar hypertrophy). But I want to train with little to no gains in size very much at all while still getting stronger in leaps and bounds.

I think you guys are right about how much you eat and plyometrics. I'lol try them all out. Any other ideas, even if unorthodox, are appreciated.

And this is the exact same reason, 90% of people who go to school to get computer science degrees end up being garbage programmers. Because they learn theory without having any experience with actually DOING. What works "in theory" doesn't necessarily work "in practice".

If it was so easy to simply lift one way or the other and have your body just become exactly what you wanted it to be, there would be a whole lot more people that looked exactly like they want to. But most don't, and that's because instead of finding out what works "in practice" they are too busy reading about what works "in theory".

Don't read about what works. Find out about what works by doing.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

And this is the exact same reason, 90% of people who go to school to get computer science degrees end up being garbage programmers. Because they learn theory without having any experience with actually DOING. What works "in theory" doesn't necessarily work "in practice".

If it was so easy to simply lift one way or the other and have your body just become exactly what you wanted it to be, there would be a whole lot more people that looked exactly like they want to. But most don't, and that's because instead of finding out what works "in practice" they are too busy reading about what works "in theory".

Don't read about what works. Find out about what works by doing.

Yeah but there still is a huge general consensus though. It's just what people have been saying for decades now. But you are right about doing it though.

 

[playa99]

I think what @BackInTheGame78 is saying is correct!

I've had the best results off a 3x5 workout followed by 3x15-20 reps.

I studied the 'theory' when I worked in a gym and it shouldn't work, but I've found it to work for me!

Side note: I've never been bulky by any stretch of the imagination. Doing that workout I was able to lift 90kg x 5 when I was just over 10 stone back when I was 15.

 

[QuadDeuces]

I've been lifting since I was 19, and I just turned 33.
The first 8 years I wasn't being serious or smart, went to bed way too late 1.30am every night and I thought a few extra eggs, meat and a protein shake would do miracles.
When I started watching not so much the quantity but quality of my food and supplementing with micronutrients, (minerals vitamins) that's when I really made the bigger gains.

 

[amazingswayze]

https://www.t-nation.com/training/train-right-for-your-type

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Yeah but there still is a huge general consensus though. It's just what people have been saying for decades now. But you are right about doing it though.

And that is when you question it the most...when "everyone agrees". In situations like that people simply will read something and then treat it as fact without ever questioning it or testing if it's correct or not. It tends to lead to a "lemming" mentality where they just follow the animal in front of them even when that animal goes over a cliff and falls to its death.

It's why saturated fats were villified for 60 years before someone actually read the initial study, realized it was complete garbage, and then decided to redo it, and found out the guy basically made the data fit what he "thought" should be true instead of what really was.

Also realize that 90% of what you read are from people who are on copious amounts of steroids and what works for them will likely not work the same for you.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Side note: I've never been bulky by any stretch of the imagination. Doing that workout I was able to lift 90kg x 5 when I was just over 10 stone back when I was 15.

What lift was it? Also, what can you do now? And are you still lean or have you gotten bulkier doing other things?

 

[playa99]

It was flat barbell bench press. Now I max out at around 80kg 3 x 5 as I haven't trained frequently enough from 17 onwards. I am 5'10 & 170lbs at around 16-17% bf. I used to be 150 @12%. Aiming to be 12% bf without a focus on weight too much.

Edit: I put on the most mass using German Volume Training, but the strength wasn't there to back it up. When I was 15 and lifting relatively heavy weights for my frame it must have looked quite weird.

I think the right way to train is to build strength first and size will come somewhere down the road. I did a LOT of cardio when I was 15, I think probably had something to do with how light I was then. When I had a few months straight of training without much cardio @ 20 years old, I found it a lot easier to gain muscle. Elevated testosterone probably had something to do with it as well.

Like I say I don't know the exact science behind it all, just know what has worked for me when I have trained!