How to get stronger: this PT’s home workout advice on how to lift more is surprisingly simple

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last updated 26 June 2020

Do you want to know how to get stronger? If you have a home gym set up – nothing more than dumbbells and ideally a barbell is needed.

Until recently, those seeking to get stronger and lift more could can most likely be found in the free weight area of your local gym, loading a barbell with every single plate in the establishment and lifting the equivalent of a small family hatchback. They would then let out a guttural roar, and scare everyone in the establishment witless as the plates crashed against the floor. They were doing deadlifts, the king of all lifts, and now they're probably doing them at home too.

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Low and slow

“If building strength is your primary focus, I would suggest sticking to the lower rep ranges on your compound lifts, ideally no more than five reps with three to five minute rest in between sets,” explains Kay, a PureGym Insider, trainer and fitness fanatic.

"This will allow you to lift more weight, and in turn, increase strength faster than if you were to perform a higher rep range, such as the classic 8-12 reps, where your focus would be on increasing the muscle size, otherwise known as training for hypertrophy," she adds.

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If you want to understand your body's fitness needs better, it is also recommended to use a fitness smartwatch for your training sessions. These wearables not only track heart rate and various other body metrics, they're also accompanied with smartphone apps like the Polar Flow or the Garmin Connect, where you can analyse your performance in more detail and more importantly, check your progress as you go along.

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But this comes with a word of warning, because if you’re not performing the exercise properly, you might not see the results you seek and this could potentially lead to injury.

It's no good simply going for the heaviest weight you can find and attempting to lift it. Make sure technique is on point and you build up the kilos gradually, making an effort to note down the heaviest weight from the previous session, so you can gradually increase.

"Bear in mind that how fast you gain strength is dependent on several factors, such as previous training history, genetics, nutrition and training execution, so different people will see progress at different rates. Focus on quality, stay consistent and most of all enjoy the process!" says Kay.

Leon has been writing about automotive and consumer tech for longer than he cares to divulge. When he’s not testing the latest fitness wearable and action camera, he’s out in a shed fawning over his motorcycles or trying not to kill himself on a mountain bike/surfboard/other extreme thing. He's also a man who knows his tools, and he's provided much of T3's drills coverage over the years, all without injuring himself.