So you want to get stronger, but you’ve been working out for a while and not seeing progress? You might be making one of these classic strength training mistakes.

In this article, I will address the three biggest mistakes I see people making with their strength training workouts and tell you what to do instead so that you see measurable progress.

Mistake #1: Not following a plan

Strength is a skill, and getting stronger requires repetition. Constantly changing up your workouts means you’ll never build proficiency at movements because your body doesn’t get enough exposure to get stronger.

Instead of “mixing things up” session to session, you need to follow a structured training plan. That doesn’t mean your workouts need to be the exact same every week, but you should keep your main lifts consistent and pick similar supporting exercises. Stick with a plan for 4-6 weeks before making tweaks, like changing the rep ranges or subbing a different exercise.

A classic example is training three days per week using a push-pull-legs split. I like using some type of squat, bench press, and deadlifts as my main lifts (one for each training day). Squat day includes other leg exercises, like lunges and RDLs. Bench day includes other pulling/pressing exercises. And deadlift day includes other pulling exercises, like rows. You can also think of this as a lower-upper-full body split. This is the template I recommend for most beginner-to-intermediate clients who can train three times a week.

So, make sure you follow a program and keep track of your workouts week after week.

Mistake #2: Not lifting heavy enough

The fact is, in order to get stronger, you have to lift heavy things.

“Heavy” is relative to your training experience and the rep range you’re working in. “Heavy” to someone who’s been training for a year will look totally different than “heavy” to someone who’s been training for a decade, and it’s harder to gauge what a truly hard effort feels like when you’re a beginner because everything feels difficult at first. But if you’re new to strength training, you’ll figure out what heavy feels like with practice.

Just know that you can build strength across a wide variety of rep ranges (3-5 reps, 6-8 reps, etc up to 15- or 20-rep sets) as long as you push yourself close to failure on most sets and aim to increase the amount of weight you lift week after week. This is the principle of progressive overload that drives all training progress. Without progressively lifting heavier, you won’t stimulate any strength adaptations.

Progressive overload is easier as a beginner when you don’t have a solid base of strength. Beginners are usually able to increase the weight they use (or the number of reps they’re able to do with a given weight) on almost every exercise in every workout week after week. This won’t be the case once you get a couple months into your training, and that’s okay.

This is the point where your body is actually starting to lift weights that are challenging. But it’s also the point where many people become frustrated that their progress stalls. Don’t fall into that trap. Slower progress is normal once you get past the “newbie gains” stage.

Progress might be slower, but you should still be able to go up in weight on your main exercises (the ones that come first in your workout). Even increasing the weight (or doing an extra rep) on one single set of an exercise is enough to continue getting stronger. This is why it’s important to track your workouts, so you know that you did 3×10 with twenty pounds last time, and you should try doing at least one set with 25 lbs next week.

Mistake #3: Not resting enough between sets

Again, you can get stronger using almost any set/rep scheme, as long as you push yourself close to failure. But pushing your muscles that hard means they need time to recover between sets.

Most people don’t rest long enough between sets to fully recover and produce the same effort in subsequent sets. Your muscles are powered by a molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Hard effort depletes muscular ATP, and ATP takes at least 60-90 seconds to replenish within muscles. That means the bare minimum amount of rest between strength sets is at least 60-90 seconds, more if you’re lifting close to your maximum effort weight.

I use this general framework for rest periods:

For low-rep sets using HEAVY weight (ie, 3×5 with 90% max weight), rest 3+ minutes, depending how hard the set felt.
For low-rep sets using moderate weight (ie, warm up sets), rest +/- 2 minutes.
For moderate rep sets (8-12 rep range) rest 1-2 minutes.
For high-rep isolation exercises (arms, calves, abs), rest 60-90 seconds between sets.

A good way to know if you’re resting enough is to gauge how difficult a set felt on a 1-10 scale. This is called a “rating of perceived exertion” or RPE. If the same exercise using the same weight feels like a RPE 7 on the first set and a RPE 10 on the last set, you didn’t rest long enough between sets.

Bonus: Neglecting Recovery

A lot of people think “if I’m not getting stronger, I just need to work harder.” And while that might be the case if you’ve been sandbagging your workouts (ie, not lifting heavy enough), the truth is that strength progress doesn’t really happen in the gym.

Your workouts are just the stimulus to tell your body to adapt. But the real progress happens in the 23 hours outside of the gym. Recovery in the form of sleep, hydration, fueling with enough protein, carbs, and fats, and managing stress are vital to your strength progress.

If you’re putting in the work but not getting any stronger, the solution might be to look at those aspects of recovery. I’ve seen people (clients and my self) actually get stronger from doing LESS, but recovering better.

Conclusion

The best way to get stronger is to 1) follow a structured plan, 2) lift heavy enough to push your muscles close to failure, and 3) rest longer between sets. If you do that while consistently aiming to lift slightly heavier week after week, I guarantee you will get stronger over the next couple months.

And, if you’re interested in help putting together a structured training plan and having expert guidance and support toward your fitness goals, I have a couple online training spots available now. The first step is filling out an application to set up a coaching call. We’ll chat and get super clear on your goals, then I’ll put together a custom training plan for you and work together so you stay consistent and build strength for your mountain adventures.