5 min read
NO ONE PLANS to be weaker in 20 years. But the ways most people train in the weight room don’t set themselves up for long term success, leaning on unsustainable practices that prioritize short-term gains. This is also why trainers talk increasingly about how to lift smarter for longer, focusing both on building lean mass today and retaining functional, real-world strength for decades to come.
Unfortunately, “almost everything you’ve been told about training for longevity is wrong,” says MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., explaining that it’s not just about training for muscle growth and doing a bunch of zone two cardio. “If you want to be strong for life—and maybe even be stronger later on than you are now—then you want to think across your entire strengthspan, and that requires more than [conventional] lifting.”
Samuel talks from personal experience. A couple of years ago, he went all in on getting as strong and shredded as possible. “And it felt really good until I got on the basketball court and I just wasn’t able to do the things that I wanted to do,” he says, explaining that being well-rounded is the key to staying strong and mobile forever.
Instead, think about training to address all aspects of your “Strengthspan”: absolute strength, aerobic strength, explosive strength, aesthetic strength, and functional strength. They’re all important—and they’re all going to be addressed in the new MH Maximum Strengthspan program.
In the meantime, start by avoiding these four training mistakes.
Don’t Only Lift Heavy
GUYS OFTEN JUDGE their progress by their ability to lift heavy things. “But when you’re lifting maximally heavy weights, you’re lifting slowly,” says Samuel. “Doing that [exclusively] compromises your body’s ability to move fast and explosively.”
It’s a classic “move it or lose it” situation. If you only lift heavy loads, you’ll neglect other key skills in your performance toolbox (speed, explosiveness, agility, endurance, etc.) and become a one-trick athlete. And even if you’re not trying to be an athlete, you’ll miss out on essential physical aspects that will help you move (and live) better, longer.
DO THIS INSTEADMove Fast at Least Once a Week
IF YOUR GOAL is strength or hypertrophy (building muscle), it’s important to lift heavy weights, but not to the exclusion of other skills such as those mentioned above. Indeed, it’s critical that you carve out time to perform explosive exercises such as the kettlebell swing, box jump, broad jump, or even sprint intervals.
“You want to choose at least one [exercise] to do at least once a week in which you move fast and powerfully,” says Samuel. “That’s crucial to making sure you don’t just lift heavy and wind up slow.”
Don’t Fear Low-Rep Training
STICKING TO THE classic strategy of three to four sets of eight to 10 reps can get you relatively strong. But if you’re not occasionally performing two, three, or five rep sets, you’re short-changing your ability to lift heavy loads—and that can have repercussions beyond the weight room.
“If you’re stuck under a car, who do you want to pick it up to save you—the guy who can deadlift 1,000 pounds once, or the guy who can deadlift 400 pounds eight times?” Samuel asks, adding that exposing yourself to challenging weights also pays larger fitness dividends. Indeed, it will enhance your performance in nearly everything else you do.
DO THIS INSTEADTrain With Low Reps at Least Once Every Other Week
DON’T GET US wrong. If your goal is to build muscle, most of your sets and reps should be in the hypertrophy range mentioned above. “But at least once every other week, lead off a workout with something in the lower rep range,” says Samuel. You’ll be glad you did when your shirtsleeves feel tighter and you notice a significant jump in strength.
Don’t Only Train in One Direction
MANY GUYS’ WORKOUTS are filled with exercises like the squat, deadlift, and lunge that only move in two directions: forward and backward (i.e., the sagittal plane). The problem with that is that life happens in three planes of motion, which also include the frontal plane (lateral movement) and transverse plane (rotational movement). Your training program should reflect that.
“Think about the things you do every day, such as reaching into the backseat of your car and dodging something on the sidewalk,” says Samuel. “If you’re not moving your body out of the sagittal plane in your training, you’re not preparing your body to handle those things.”
DO THIS INSTEADMove Laterally Once Per Week
“THAT DOES NOT mean you need to turn all of your workouts into a game of Twister,” says Samuel. “But you should do something at least once a week where you move laterally.”
In practice, that might translate to performing the lateral lunge or even the side-to-side shuffle—an action similar to what you might do playing defense on the basketball court. “In fact, one of the best ways to get that [multi-planar] movement into your weekly routine is to head outside and play some basketball or football, or play with your kids,” says Samuel. “You’ll thank yourself in the long run when your body is bullet-proofed for life.”
Don’t Skip Cardio
WE GET IT. Slogging away on the treadmill, bike, rower, or stair climber can be boring and make you feel like a hamster on a wheel. Plus, sweating and breathing heavily while lifting should provide all of the “cardio” you need if your goals are greater strength and hypertrophy, right? Wrong.
“That kind of thinking will cost you down the line when you’re climbing stairs and you’re suddenly out of breath,” says Samuel. “That’s when you’ll wish you did a bit more cardio.”
DO THIS INSTEADFind Time for Cardio Every Week
THE FOCUS OF any strength training program should be weightlifting, but weaving in some cardio can boost short and long-term performance both in and out of the gym.
“You can keep it simple,” says Samuel. “Aim for 10 to 15 minutes of cardio each week in the form of a four to five-minute finisher at the end of some of your strength workouts.”
That finisher can be anything that spikes your heart rate—from a burpee EMOM session to 30-second intervals on the treadmill. “If you do that a couple of times a week, you’ll get those 10 to 15 minutes of cardio,” says Samuel. “And down the line, when you’re not tired climbing stairs, you’ll thank yourself for putting in the time.”
Check out all of our the videos in our Maximum Strengthspan program, available exclusively for MH MVP subscribers, here.
Trevor Thieme is a Los Angeles-based writer and strength coach, and a former fitness editor at Men’s Health. When not helping others get in shape, he splits his time between surfing, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and trying to keep up with his 10-year-old daughter.