Chapter 6: How to Build Raw Strength
Everything you need to know about ELITE development of strength.
Raw strength is a necessity to developing a top 1% physique.
However, look around at any commercial gym & you will see 95% of guys wasting their time.
In one corner, you have the gym bro's who are ego lifting & claim that they are getting 'stronger' with their half rep bench press bullshit.
On the other side, you have guys who weigh 135 lb soaking wet, who spend 2 hours doing isolation exercises for their arms, skip leg training & avoid compound lifts because they're not 'optimal'.
Whether you want to jump higher, sprint faster, carry somebody out of a burning house….
Raw strength is absolute necessity to developing a Lethal Physique.
Look at any world-class bodybuilder. They are strong. Arnold was strong. Every current Mr. Olympia competitor is strong. This isn't a coincidence.
One of the biggest drivers of muscle growth is mechanical tension. The greater the weight you can lift, the larger amount of mechanical tension you can place through the muscle group. When you can bench press 1.5x your bodyweight, every rep creates significantly more growth stimulus than someone struggling with their bodyweight.
This was a huge mistake I made as a younger athlete. I was doing supersets of bicep and tricep work instead of building raw strength in the main compound lifts. Instead of hitting all of the lethal standards in just three years of hard training, I unnecessarily stretched it out to a decade.
Don't make the same mistake. Build strength first, and the physique will follow faster than you ever imagined.
This is exactly why The Lethal Standards include RAW STRENGTH:
If you can do the above, this places you in the top 1% of men on planet earth in terms of raw strength.
And in this article, I am going to teach you exactly how to build your way into the top 1% club.
THE NON NEGOTIABLE OF BUILDING STRENGTH
Whenever I analyse fads, programs & what other 'fitness gurus' are doing online, I look at whether the protocol is built off first principles.
And funnily enough, the development of strength is laughably fucking simple & follows these specific rules:
1 - YOU NEED TO BE DOING 1-8 REPS TO BUILD MAXIMAL STRENGTH
2 - YOU NEED TO LIFT AT 70-100% OF YOUR 1 REPETITION MAXIMUM
If you do these 2 things over years, there is no way you will not get stronger.
My clients in fact all complete a Lethal Combine every quarter to retest their 1 rep maxes to make sure they have gotten objectively stronger.
These 2 elements are so simple, yet the following obstacles end up stopping guys from continually making progress:
Injuries (from ego lifting or rushing the weight progressions)
Inconsistency (program hopping, changing exercises too often, shiny object syndrome)
BREAKING THE INJURY FEAR CYCLE
The most tragic waste I see are guys who got hurt years ago and now avoid the very movements that would make them bulletproof. They'll tell you deadlifts are "dangerous" while they avoid any form of deadlift pattern for the rest of their lives & wonder why they are no longer strong in that position.
Here's the reality: proper strength training with progressive loading makes you injury-resistant, not injury-prone. The guys getting hurt are either ego-lifting with terrible form or jumping into heavy weights without building the foundation first.
If you've been hurt before, you don't avoid strength training…you do it correctly this time.
The guidelines of this protocol I am going to share with you will therefore help you avoid injuries, give you a clear way to progress so that you stay consistent & teach you how to train hard enough to build raw strength.
STRUCTURING STRENGTH IN A SESSION
I will only ever prescribe 2 main raw strength lifts per session.
Why? because they are very fatiguing on the central nervous system.
If I am creating a full body program this would be something like:
EXERCISE 1: SQUAT PATTERN
EXERCISE 2: PULL UP PATTERN
If using an upper body / lower body split…
UPPER DAY: BENCH PRESS & PULL UP PATTERN
LOWER DAY: SQUAT & SINGLE LEG HINGE PATTERN
The rest of the session is comprised of more 'bodybuilding' style exercises that I classify as jacked mobility which will be nowhere as fatiguing as the primary raw strength lifts of the session.
TRAINING FREQUENCY FOR STRENGTH
For optimal strength development, you want to hit each major movement pattern 2-3 times per week. This gives you enough stimulus to drive adaptation while allowing adequate recovery between sessions.
If training 3x per week: rotate between squat-focused, deadlift-focused, and press-focused sessions. If training 4-6x per week: you can hit each pattern twice weekly with proper scheduling.
The key is consistency over intensity. It’s better to hit moderate weights frequently than max efforts sporadically.
THE REPS & SETS FOR RAW STRENGTH
What I have had the most success with personally & with clients who have suffered chronic injuries, is almost never training to a heavy 1 rep max. The lowest rep range I will go with clients is 3 reps (unless they are very experienced lifters).
Why? It's still heavy enough to elicit strength gains, but also drastically minimises the risk of injuries.
A very simple strength progression you can use is called a double progression model.
For strength development, this is typically going to be 3-5 sets of 3-6 reps.
If we use the example of: 3 sets of 3-6 reps, here's how you would progress:
You would choose a weight that is challenging that you can complete for 3 sets of 3 reps.
You do not add weight to the bar until you can hit 3 sets of 6 reps.
EXAMPLE:
WEEK 1: Barbell Back Squat (3 sets of 3-6 at 100kg): Set 1: 4, Set 2: 4, Set 3: 4 WEEK 2: Barbell Back Squat (3 sets of 3-6 at 100kg): Set 1: 6, Set 2: 6, Set 3: 6 WEEK 3: Barbell Back Squat (3 sets of 3-6 at 105kg): Set 1: 5, Set 2: 3, Set 3: 3
If you are a more advanced lifter, this may take you 4-8 weeks to progress in weight, so do not get discouraged if you're not hitting weight PB's every single week.
Adding even 1 more rep than you did last week is still progressive overload.
Once you hit the upper rep range, you will:
Add 10lb or 5kg to lower body compounds (squat, deadlift etc)
Add 5lb or 2.5kg to upper body compounds (bench press, pull ups etc)
2 HUGE MISTAKES WHEN BUILDING STRENGTH
SHORT REST PERIODS
Developing raw strength should be completed with a rest period of AT LEAST 3-5 minutes.
I see so many guys rushing rest periods, and this completely defeats the purpose of aiming to build strength.
3-5 minutes for the majority of you will feel like an eternity, but if you look at powerlifters (masters of raw strength output), they are resting for 10, something 15 minutes per effort….
ADDING WEIGHT TOO FAST
Your range of motion should not change when you go up in weight (if it does & you are half rep ego lifting, you need to stay at the lighter weight you were using).
The speed of the bar should also stay the same (I see guys rushing the lift and think they have gotten 'stronger' when in fact they have simply changed the tempo of the lift).
These elements must stay the same to keep as many variables constant as you progress in weight, otherwise you will inevitably find yourself half repping strength lifts with horrible form, which not only decreases the performance benefit of the exercise, but also increases your risk of injury.
THE BEST EXERCISES FOR
LETHAL STRENGTH
I’m going to give you some of my favourite, variations that you will barely see performed in a commercial gym setting. The aim of this section will be to expand your horizons and to sprinkle these into your current training regime.
FRONT SQUAT
Forget ever having to do a plank again. The front squat is a great entry point for olympic weight lifting, it requires high levels of mobility through the shoulders & wrists as well as a strong & durable core to prevent the barbell from falling off your shoulders.
Building a 1.5x bodyweight front squat will do more for your core than any ab plank will ever do for you. The level of wrist flexibility & tendon load is a great solution for any basket baller, tennis player, grappler, climber & any labour based worker who needs to be incredibly strong through their wrists & hands.