Keegan Smith argues most men train too hard and get too close to failure, which kills gains. He recommends staying well under your max reps, stopping when bar speed slows, and using density-based methods like clusters to build strength without burnout. Technical skill matters more than raw effort.
Most men aren't strong because they train too hard. This is the opposite of what you would think. Oh, you don't train hard enough. You need to harden up, stay hard. All this messaging about training harder, doing more. The main reason I'm not as strong as I could be is because I had no one to tell me, hey, don't do so many reps. Hey, don't go so close to failure. Hey, don't use so much weight. Being able to be consistent with lower weights and further away from fatigue, further away from failure, is the most valuable way to add muscle and to add strength. Yes, you can train to failure on isolation exercises, and it can be okay when you're using smaller weights and higher repetitions, but you really don't need to. And on the bigger exercises, the ones that we know have more impact on the body, you should stay much further away from failure. Less than 50% of the repetitions that you can do is a good target to aim for. So if you could do 10 repetitions, do 5. Another way to look at it is as soon as the bar starts to slow in speed, stop the set right there. Now, if you do this in isolation, probably won't get the results that you want, but if you do it with adding more sets as well, then you'll get amazing results. And this is how dense method works. Clusters and then other systems have been developed— escalating density training. Lots of ideas have been thrown around, around this. CrossFit obviously works on density, moving from one movement to the next, so you get relative rest on a certain body part while you continue to work. These systems produce phenomenal body composition results when applied well, but they can also be used to produce strength strength results, power results, and now for the first time we're using the same idea to produce excellence in skill. Because if you can look the part and produce a lot of force but you don't really have great timing coordination, it's kind of like you never actually get to take the, the Ferrari out of the garage. Like, you, you can't keep the, the thing on the road. It doesn't really make any sense. You're going to have a lot more injuries if you don't have a high level of skill, and you're not going to have the fun that you could have if you did develop that skill. Comment dance if you'd like to test the app for yourself, do a free little workout, do a whole week of training if you want to, and, uh, we can even support you to understand more of how your body works and where your imbalances and areas to improve might be.
