Eight Tips to Improve Muscle Strength

Eight Tips to Improve Muscle Strength

Complex Training

Train like an athlete, whether it be for recreation, competitive sports performance, or strictly personal enjoyment. Provided below are strategies typically reserved for athletes; however, here they are broken down into usable tips everyone can use. Learn how to use complex training, an advanced method of training, to improve performance. 

1. Alternate a foundation exercise like a squat with a plyometric exercise like a loaded squat jump. This activates the PAP (post-activation potentiation) mechanism.
2. Do four to six repetitions of each exercise each set.
3. Do three to four sets.
4. Rest 30 seconds up to 4 minutes between sets.
5. Mix up complex training by pairing unilateral exercises like a one-leg squat with a single-leg push-off.
6. Pair unilateral exercises like front lunge with side lunge to teach your body how to make quick direction changes.
7. Wait no less than three hours, preferably six to 24 HRS after cardiovascular exercise to do resistance training.
8. Do strength and power training on alternate days versus same day to improve jumping and throwing skills.

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Reference

Ashmore, Amy. 2020. Timing Resistance Training: Programming the Muscle Clock for Optimal Performance. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.

Author Biography

Amy Ashmore, Ph.D. holds a doctorate in Kinesiology from the University of Texas at Austin. She is an educator focused on resistance training and performance analytics located in Las Vegas, NV.