Synergy- 6 Ways to Get Stronger

by: Josh Bryant

Let’s take a look at four ways to get stronger outside of traditional strength training; these methods are backed in the lab and proven in the trenches.

• In the theatre of your mind, create mental movies daily for 15-20 minutes. Relax and envision yourself succeeding! Now, to go to the next level, make  these mental movies vivid; getting all of your senses involved–smells, sounds, noises, whatever – the more vivid, the more real. Perception is reality.

• Set clear, definitive goals. Simply getting stronger is not okay, deadlifting 500 pounds for the first time is. Goals must be specific and measurable. This applies to process, performance and outcome goals.

• Put on the right music!  You probably aren’t hitting PR deadlifts listening to Elton John anyways, but a 1996 study showed grip strength increased when listening to stimulating music (Perceptual and Motor Skills: Volume 83, pp. 1347-1352).

• Take caffeine prior to training.  An overwhelming amount of research shows that caffeine can help lifters enhance limit strength, increase pain tolerance during intense exercise and improve muscle endurance.  Use caffeine 30-60 minutes prior to training. I would recommend starting with 1mg/per pound of bodyweight and NEVER exceeded 3 milligrams. 

• Color coordinate your training facility/and or equipment.  Red is a stimulating color that tells you it’s time to put on the war hat and get aggressive.  Red has been shown to increase fight or flight response conversed to the calming effect of pink that prisons often use to diffuse anti-social behavior. This is why in 1970, then Iowa State Coach Hayden Fry, who also held a masters in psychology, painted the visitors’ locker room pink. “When I talk to an opposing coach before a game and he mentions the pink walls, I know I’ve got him,” Fry wrote in his book, A High Porch. “I can’t recall a coach who has stirred up a fuss about the color then beat us.”

• Sexual Transmutation.  This means abstaining from sex and ejaculations.   Where your attention goes, your energy flows; so direct your  mind from thoughts of physical expression to thoughts of super human strength.  I am not a nut, and you will be  stronger if you can abstain busting your nut a week out from a meet or scheduled max out. 

Final Thoughts

After the mental, physical and spiritual align, 1+1+1=5. The sum is greater than the individual parts; synergy happens, you get stronger!  The acquisition of super-human strength requires more than just lifting hard.

Time Under Tension: Tactical Training now available in paperback HERE.