Anyone who knows me know that I love principles and philosophies, especially if they are somewhat rooted in science.

One thing I hate are hacks. You know. The little “tips and tricks” that Instagram gurus and ads will sell to you like, “This one breathing exercise made me lose 48 inches around my waist!” or, “This one food will detoxify your entire rectum!”

That shit always infuriates me for two reasons. For one, these people usually have such a mediocre understanding of fitness and training that they have yet to solve a single person’s health and fitness problems. Second, they prey on vulnerable people who don’t know any better.

So let me give one back to them. Here are 5 ways to actually lift more weight and get stronger today.

Brace your abs

If you have ever seen a big squat, bench, or deadlift, you’ve likely also heard someone yell, “GET TIGHT!” or “BRACE!”.

What on earth are they saying?

Get tight. Brace for the lift. This means to create as much tension throughout your entire body to maximize your potential strength output. Tension is the name of the game when it comes to strength. Would you rather lift with a midsection made of iron or jello? One of the main ways to do this is to brace through your abdominals.

Now, this happens naturally when we have a heavy weight in our hands or on our back, but when we do it intentionally, the effect is MUCH stronger.

Let’s talk in context of the squat. Get under the bar. Set your stance. Now, before you descend, take a big breath into your belly and hold it there. Tighten up your abs like you’re trying to push the pressure out against your waistband and brace like you’re about to take a punch. Now proceed with the lift. Just make sure you don’t fart or soil yourself.

Grip the bar HARD

This goes along with the principle of tension. With any lift, you should be gripping the bar as hard as possible. This does a few things.

First, it creates the most stable connection between you and the weight.

It also begins to create tension throughout your entire limb and into your torso. This is a principle called irradiation. When you exert maximal effort through one section of the body, surrounding areas will also contribute to that effort.

Try this: Make a fist. Now try and tighten your grip. Now tighten your grip again, this time using your entire arm. Now flex your abs. Each time you try to grip your fist tighter, you probably felt more effort throughout your entire torso. This creates more tension for the lift and allows you to exert more effort against the lift.

Plant your feet

We figured out how to create tension from our hands and arms. Now let’s do it from the other end of the body.

With any lift, you want to plant the feet and create as much tension through the legs as you can. This includes the bench press. If you have ever seen a heavy bench press, you have likely heard the term “leg drive”. These people are planting their feet into the floor and pushing through their entire leg for more tension.

However, let’s talk about standing lifts. In general, once you set your stance, your want to try and create something called the “tripod” foot. You should distribute your weight and power equally through your heel, ball of the foot, and the outside of the foot.

Next, lift your arch and flex your foot. Then, create an external rotation moment from the hips. You can do this by trying to rotate your feet outwards using your glutes, but don’t actually let your feet slide.

This will create much more tension and a stable base for you to lift from. No more willy nilly, loosey goosey lifting. Try this the next time you squat, deadlift, or overhead press.

Fix your technique. Then stick to it

We practice technique for a plethora of reasons. For one, it helps prevent injuries and maintains consistency from lift to lift. For another, it prevents people from making fun of you for looking like a motor moron.

But most importantly (for strength athletes), it maximizes the amount of weight lifted for a given movement.

Look at any high level lifter. Not only are they strong, but they are artisans of the movements and exercises that they compete in. A squat is very simple to do until you have a maximal weight on your back.

However, that simplicity shouldn’t change with more weight. It’s just more weight and tension. Your technique shouldn’t suddenly take a dumpster dive just because you’re reaching maximal weights. I see too many people freak out when things get heavy and try all sorts of crazy things to ensure a successful lift. Look, if that crazy technique was optimal, that’s how we would teach the lifts.

A simple example is this: Look at weightlifters during the snatch and clean and jerk. Their technique looks almost identical from lift to lift, from joint angles all the way down to bar velocity. They don’t suddenly change major factors of the exercise just because it gets heavy.

We have technique for a reason. Stick with it.

Say that you can

This is going to sound like the lamest tip bordering on a hack, but hear me out.

Failed lifts usually boil down to four things: Technique, weakness, fatigue, and psychology. If you have the first two dialed in and are managing your fatigue through sleep, nutrition, stress management, and periodization, then the last factor to address is psychological.

Let’s think of two identical lifters.

One has a positive disposition and doesn’t really let things get them down. They roll with the punches. They are confident in their abilities and know that they are prepared. They put in the work.

The other is generally negative. You know, the typical energy vampires who always feel sorry for themselves. They never know if they are capable.

Given that they have identical levels of strength and preparedness, who do you think is more likely to miss lifts? I cannot emphasize enough the importance of psychology when it comes to sports and heavy lifts. There is a good reason why sports psychology is such an important field.

If you have been putting in the work and are diligent about your training, nutrition, and sleep, you should have more successful lifts than failures. Tell yourself you can. Put on your hype music. If you really struggle with this, find yourself a good gym crew to train with. Positivity is contagious.

That’s a wrap for now

This was a fun one to write! After so many years in the gym, you start to pick up a lot of these small tips that can pay large dividends in the long run.

What are some of your favorite ways to lift more weight? Leave them in the comments below.