If you want to get stronger then you need to do two things right now.:
1. Read this blog post and…
2. Start training like a little girl!
“What? Training like a little girl?!”
Yeah, that’s right, but not just any little girl. Start training like the world’s strongest girl (she’s been in the Guiness book of world records) Varya Akulova… also known as “Girl Hercules”.
They say Varya Akulova is capable of lifting up to 350 kg, while she herself weighs only 40 kg! That means she can lift nearly 9 TIMES her little bodyweight! (Note: I don’t know which lift she does this with, but it’s still impressive)
What Can You Learn From a Little Girl?
I’m not ruling out the possibility of her having great genetics (apparently her parents are really strong too) and her dad claims they have a “Hercules genome” that is missing in most people. But certainly you can learn something from someone who has achieved such incredible feats of strength.
There’s not much written about this gal, and most of it is poorly translated from Russian… but here’s what I picked up that’s useful, if you want to get stronger than ever before (maybe even set your own records?)
1. Will Power Is Numero Uno!
Think strength is all about genetics? All about being “built for it”… having “good genes”… or some other advantage? Here’s an excerpt from an article on Varya:
“This youngster has tremendous will-power, translucent body and thread-like tendons.”
It’s obvious someone who has achieved such extraordinary feats needs to have strong will power. Really, that’s all it comes down to. A person who is motivated to go and practice become stronger every single day will quickly eclipse the guy who was strong from the first time he stepped in the weight room and slacks off.
If you want something bad enough, anything, then you can have it — you just have to make up your mind that you’re going to achieve it no matter what!
2. Don’t Make Excuses!
How many times have you made excuses for why you’re not progressing? For why you’re not strong enough? How many times have you said “… if I only had…” THEN you could become stronger and achieve your goals? Think you need fancy supplements to succeed?
This mindset will kill you!
You have to make up your mind to work with what you have and achieve greatness no matter what. Don’t have weights? Master your bodyweight. Can’t motivate yourself to get to the gym… need a spotter to motivate you? Powerlifter Matt Kroc used to sneak into the weight room at night time and lift weights by himself, said a lot of times with no spotter he would go for new PR’s and think “either I get the weight… or the weight gets me!”
Whatever resources you’re lacking, this little girl has it harder:
“Her muscles are barely visible. It is quite difficult to grow any on day-to-day spaghetti diet. Thing is, there is nothing else for her to eat. The reason is simple: lack of money…
Things are slightly better for family now, but still difficult (food inflation is high in Ukraine) When Varya was age 7 and 8, she mostly ate just noodles and water because that was all the family could afford. Now things are a little better, Varya eats at school for lunch a piece of bread and a cup of tea. For breakfast she has one egg and a glass of juice and bread. For dinner still often eats macoroni noodles, sometimes they can afford a little bit of meat. The family tries to make sure they can afford for Varya to drink at least one glass of milk each day for calcium. Interestingly, Uri thinks his daughter would be much stronger if when she was younger they could have fed Varya some meats, fish, cheese and eggs.
For her 10th birthday,Varya she managed to get a job at a circus with her mother and father in a family acrobatic act.
Although she did indeed prove to be the strongest there, due to the fact that she was a minor, her wage was less than $10 per performance. Finally, all the efforts, sleepless nights and hunger all paid up. After about six months, they had enough money to buy a two-room apartment.”
Stop making excuses and set your mind to finding a way to achieve what you want with what you have.
3. Frequency Is Key To Strength
I discovered frequent strength training from top strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline (another strong as hell Russian). Because strength is primarily a nervous system function you need to “practice” it… this is much different from going in the gym with the goal of “working out and getting a good burn” (or feeling like crap afterwards).
Strength is a skill (the skill of generating maximum tension throughout a movement) so you need to practice it frequently… Varya does every day:
“Despite the daily workouts, Varya is a top student in her class. Currently, she is in 7th grade. She learnt to read at 3.”
You should practice the lifts you want to get stronger at frequently too. The has you squatting or deadlifting 3x per week. Try it out.DoubleYourGains’ 3-5 program
4. Avoid Failure At All Costs!
The flip side of training frequently to build strength is managing fatigue and making sure your CNS is recovered fully between workouts (not to mention your muscles) so it’s best to avoid failure as much as possible.
There’s really no reason to go to failure if you’re simply trying to get stronger. Keep this motto in mind for building strength “As heavy as possible, as often as possible, while staying as fresh as possible”
Varya’s training agrees:
“… Because her father only allows her to show about 75% of her maximun strength for safety reasons. The father, Uri, will not allow Varya to strain, so most lifts she does to set strength records are done will relative ease.”
So stay away from failure, and take 3-5 minute breaks between sets to fully recover if your goal is to get stronger.
5. Take Time To Relax
Recover is important for training, progress, and living a generally happy, healthy and well balanced life. So get serious about your goals, get in the gym, do the work necessary, and get out and relax — enjoy your life.
Don’t worry if you miss a lift here and there, it’s not the end of the world — keep everything in perspective and relax — you’ll make greater gains than always being strung out anyways. Varya’s dad (her trainer) says this about relaxing:
“She works out daily.(We have a system without a system, meaning everything is up to you. If you feel like it, you go and workout; if you don’t feel like it, you simply sleep, read or something.”
So just follow this little girls lead and start setting your own Personal Records if you want to get stronger as fast as possible!
