4 Methods to Improve Fitness Without Adding Weight

Early in my coaching career I struggled to make progress with clients other than just adding more weight. There were times when the client didn't want to lift heavier ("I don't want to get bulky!"); other times we didn't have more weight to add (homegym). What ever the reason, I wasn't armed with enough tools to get the client past the novice stage of training. Luckily, I got better and learned that increasing the weight is a great way to make progress, but it isn't the only way. 

Sometimes a weight is moving pretty easily so you add weight, but then form falters and the exercise doesn't feel as good as it did with the lighter weight. Whats the solution? Drop the weight back down, of course, but try these methods to make progress in other ways.

1. Tempo- tempo lifting is when you control the pace that you perform the eccentric(lowering), isometric(pause), and concentric(lifting) phase of each rep. By slowing down any of these phases of the contraction the exercise gets more challenging without adding weight. This is also the best way to improve your form, so it may be the best method to get stronger in the long term. 

A slow eccentric phase will break down more muscle fibers which allows you to build more muscle during recovery. A bigger muscle has greater strength potential, so keep it slow on the way down!  By pausing at the isometric phase of the movement you can improve  your proficiency a the end range of the movement, which is very helpful if you have hit a strength plateau. For example, when performing barbell squats, pause for 3 seconds at the bottom of the squat and then explode up. This will really improve coming out of the bottom of the squat which is where most people struggle. 

Tempo examples (ecc/iso/con)

For general fitness: 301

Slow twitch/aerobic: 303

Bodybuilding: 5111 (squeeze at top, too)

Pause training: 131

2. Postural Demands- this method can be taken to the extreme, but making small changes in how the body has to manage gravity is another great way to make an exercise more challenging. What does this mean? When you are lying on the ground you have the maximum amount of external support against gravity. When you are standing up you have less points of external stability to fight gravity, which makes it harder to perform the exercise correctly. This is why some people can do a perfect straight leg raise on the ground, but can't bend over without losing a neutral spine when standing up. It is a stability issue dealing with gravity, not a mobility issue. However, if you are getting to the point that you are standing on balance boards with an eye closed to make a exercise challenging, then you may want to try some of the other methods instead. Here's my quick postural progression we use for almost all the movements:

Supine/Prone (laying down)-> Quadruped (all fours)-> Sitting-> Tall Kneeling (both knees down)-> Half Kneeling (One knee down) -> Standing  Parallel Stance -> Standing Split Stance-> Standing Single Leg

For example: Chest supported rows-> Quadruped Row-> Seated cable row-> Tall kneeling pulldown-> Half kneeling cable row-> Bent over barbell row-> Split stance bent over kettlebell row-> Single Leg RDL ISO with Row

3. Speed- This is not  the same method as tempo lifting, but rather the pursuit of generating more speed on the concentric phase of the lift. If you have access to a Gymaware or Push Band then you have the ability to track how fast the bar is moving during the set. If you can increase the speed that a weight is moving then you are producing more force since Force= mass x acceleration. This is extremely helpful if you are not an athlete and aren't exposed to sprinting, jumping, or throwing and only perform heavy lifting. This will cause you to only be good at moving weight slowly and you will likely top out on the force you are able to produce. Drop the weight and focus instead on moving the bar faster. You can even use assistance equipment like bands to help you drive out of the bottom of the movement creating more speed. Check out this awesome e-book for more information on power and velocity training.

4. Density- This method was first introduced to me in Charles Staley's book Muscle Logic. The program involves choosing 2 exercises with weights that are challenging for 10 reps. You set the clock for 15 min and get in as many sets of 5 of each exercise as you can. The goal each week is to do more rounds and increase weight when you max out the set with 10 rounds. This allows you to get a lot of quality volume with moderate weights. I'll warn you now, this is a very hard method that gets very challenging by the final week, but has produced some of the best physical changes in any program I've used. Some of my favorite combos are as follows:

Bench Press + Split Squats

Front Squats + One Arm Rows

KB Clean and Press + Pull ups

Trap Bar Deadlift + Push ups

Turkish Get ups (one rep) + Heavy Swings (S&S baby ;) ) 

Curls + Swings + Dips + Swings

These methods have been very helpful in programming for my diverse group of clients and especially for training myself out of my home gym. Increasing weight is still a great way to challenge the body and is neccessary for strength sports, so don't be scared to stack more weight on the bar. Otherwise, give these methods a try and then see how much your fitness and appearance improves.