Training for strength requires determination, but you also need a sound strategy. Break through lifting plateaus with these 7 variations on the principle of overload. When I was in eighth grade, my first powerlifting mentor, Steve Holl, took a hasty glance around the Santa Barbara Gym and Fitness Center. "Look around this gym," he said. "It's filled with the same people lifting the same weights, doing the same exercises, and looking the same for the past 15 years."
After shaking his head in disgust, he added, "If you take one thing away from today, remember, you gotta put more weight on the bar. No matter what you do, you have to put more weight on the bar." Steve gave me my first lesson in overload. Milo of Croton was a wrestler with several ancient Olympic titles under his belt. He's considered to be the greatest wrestler of antiquity by most history buffs.
Despite the fact that his championship reign dates back more than 2,500 years to 6th Century BC, his name still holds weight in contemporary weightlifting circles, and he is still the quintessential example of progressively overloading for strength training.
According to the story, Milo owned a calf. Milo lifted that calf every single day and, as the calf grew bigger, Milo became stronger. Milo did this every day until the calf was a full-grown bull and Milo was the strongest man in the world. In due time, Milo carried the adult bull on his shoulders around the Colosseum.
Milo started small and used incremental microprogression to become the strongest man on the face of the earth.