The Caliber
Method
Focus On Relative Strength, Not Scale Weight.
When you’re only concerned with losing weight, the scale can be a
good indicator of your progress.
However, for those of us that lift weights, focusing on overall body
composition - how much body fat we have along with lean muscle
mass - is a lot more meaningful than scale weight.
Body composition can be difficult to measure accurately, but one of
the best indicators is what is known as ʻrelative strength’; that is, how
strong you are relative to how much you weigh.
Relative strength correlates very highly to overall body composition,
so as your relative strength improves, you’ll end up looking and feeling
better as a result.
Train For Strength And Muscle Will Follow.
Many people find the process of building muscle to be confusing, and
constantly wonder if what they are doing is actually working.
This leads to program hopping, inconsistent approaches, and years of
endlessly spinning their wheels at the gym.
In reality, strength and muscle mass are very highly correlated - so if
you’re getting steadily stronger, then you can trust that you’re
necessarily building muscle as well.
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In fact, muscle mass can be seen as a lagging indicator of your
progress, meaning that as you get stronger, you’ll see that come
through visually later on.
Small Improvements Lead To Massive Changes.
Building strength and muscle is a process, and something that won’t
happen overnight. While this can seem frustrating, it’s important to
remember that consistent small improvements add up over time.
The Japanese call this process ʻKaizen’, which is the deliberate
practice of striving for continuous improvement.
This can be applied perfectly to weight training, since the most
effective way to build strength and muscle is through a technique
known as progressive overload. In practice, this just means focusing
on steadily progressing each time you go to the gym - lifting slightly
more weight or doing more reps than the last time you did that
workout.
If you stay committed to this process, your strength will improve
steadily, week by week, which will result in substantial increases in
strength and muscle mass over time.
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Track Your Progress To Avoid Staying Still.
If progressive overload is fundamental to building strength and
muscle effectively, then tracking your progress is the framework that
allows it to actually happen.
When you’re working out, it’s vital to track how everything went -
recording the number of reps you were able to do for each set, along
with the weight you were able to lift.
By doing this, you’ll ensure that you have a meaningful, accurate
foundation to progress from each week, instead of trying to mentally
reconstruct what you did for that last workout.
Focus On Mastery Over Variety.
For many years, the fitness industry has persistently peddled a
concept known as ʻmuscle confusion’. This is the idea that you should
be constantly changing your workouts and switching up the exercises,
which will somehow trick your muscles into getting stronger and
growing more quickly.
This is utter nonsense, and trying to confuse your muscles with an
ever-changing array of exercises is actually counter-productive.
The truth is that focusing on really mastering a core set of exercises,
and progressing with them consistently, will take you a lot further
than changing things up all of the time.
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Don’t Do Too Many Sets.
When people lift weights, there is a natural tendency to want to pack
as many sets as possible into the amount of time available.
In many aspects of life, more tends to be better, but this is not the
case when it comes to weight training!
There is actually an inverse relationship between the intensity that
you are able to bring to each set, and the volume of sets that you do in
any given workout.
And when you pack in too many sets, the intensity of each set will
suffer - leading to slower strength progressions and impairing your
overall progress.
Instead, it pays to do everything you can to maximize the intensity of
each set, which in many cases means reducing the total number of
sets that you do in each of your workouts.
Spend More Time Resting Than Lifting.
In order to maximize the intensity of your sets, you have to ensure
that you are suitably rested going into each of them.
If you only rest 30 seconds between each of your sets, you won’t be
fully recuperated, and your performance on the next set will suffer.
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So, in order to maximize your performance, and progress as quickly as
possible, you should be resting for several minutes between each of
your sets.
You Can Get Stronger Lifting In Any Rep Range.
Many people think that the specific rep range you lift in matters a lot
more than it actually does.
That if you want to build strength, you should focus on lifting in lower
rep ranges - whereas if you want to build muscle, you should focus on
lifting in higher rep ranges.
The truth, however, is that this doesn’t matter nearly as much as once
thought. You can get stronger and build muscle effectively in many
different rep ranges, lifting both lighter and heavier weights, as long as
the overall structure of your workouts allows you to make consistent
progress.
Your Diet Should Be A Lifestyle, Not A Fad.
There are many new diets that emerge each year, each claiming to be
better than the last one.
However, the reality is that most people fail when they go on a diet,
finding that it becomes too restrictive to stick with after awhile.
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Instead of falling victim to an endless cycle of yo-yo dieting, we believe
that you should approach your diet as a lifestyle, not a fad. Your diet
should feel manageable and enjoyable - something that you can
commit to longer-term - while still being in line with your fitness goals.
The truth is that many diet approaches can work, as long as the
fundamental principles are sound, so it is important to choose an
approach that matches your preferences and feels sustainable.
Supplements Are The Icing, Not The Cake.
Many people spend far too much time and energy focusing on
supplements.
To be clear, certain fitness supplements can be useful - and can help
you build strength or lose fat more quickly - but they will always be a
small part of the larger picture.
The truth is that no supplement in isolation will significantly impact
your progress, despite the sensational claims. However, as part of a
well-structured fitness routine, certain supplements can give you that
extra edge and help to accelerate your progress.
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