The Case for Simple Strength Training: Why Basic Programmes Build More Strength

Open any fitness app and you're drowning in options. Programmes that rotate exercises weekly. Schemes that vary your sets and reps daily based on how you're feeling. Phases that build on phases. Percentages calculated from percentages.

These approaches exist for a reason. Advanced lifters who've been training hard for years genuinely need this level of sophistication to keep progressing.

The problem is who's using them.

Scroll through any fitness forum and you'll find people three months into training asking which advanced programme they should run. People who can barely squat their bodyweight debating set and rep schemes that elite athletes use. Beginners convinced that the right programme will unlock faster results.

They've skipped the step where simple programming works. They've jumped straight to tools designed for people who've exhausted simple programming. Then they wonder why they're not getting stronger.

Meanwhile, the strongest people in most commercial gyms are doing the same thing they were doing five years ago. Squat, bench, deadlift, press. Add weight when they can. Deload when they need to. Repeat until dead.

This isn't because advanced methods don't work. It's because most people haven't earned them yet.

The Problem Complexity Solves (Hint: It's Not Building Muscle)

Complex programming more often than not solves a psychological problem, not a physiological one.

Adding complexity feels productive. You're doing something. You're optimising. You're taking your training seriously. You've got spreadsheets and percentages and carefully planned phases. This feels better than "do the same lifts and try to add weight."

But feeling productive and being productive aren't the same thing. Complexity lets you stay busy without confronting the uncomfortable question, did the weight on the bar go up this month?

Simple programming doesn't let you hide. You either added weight or you didn't. You either got stronger or you didn't. There's no variable manipulation to blame, no periodisation scheme that didn't peak correctly, no programme that "wasn't right for your body." Just you and the bar and whether the number went up.

Most people add complexity precisely when they should be adding weight.

What Actually Drives Strength Training Results

Strength adaptation requires three things: sufficient stimulus, progressive overload, and recovery. That's it.

Sufficient stimulus means lifting heavy enough to recruit high-threshold motor units. For most people, this means working above 70% of your max or taking lighter loads close to failure.

Progressive overload means doing more over time. More weight. More reps at the same weight. More sets. Something has to increase or you're just maintaining.

Recovery means sleeping, eating, and managing stress well enough that adaptation can occur between sessions.

Notice what's not on the list: exercise variety, periodisation schemes, tempo manipulation, advanced techniques, or specific set and rep protocols.

Those things can matter at the margins. They become more relevant as you get stronger and adaptation gets harder. But they're refinements, not foundations. Most people never build a foundation strong enough to need refinements. A basic programme with progressive overload will build more muscle than any advanced scheme applied inconsistently.

A Note to Other Coaches

I get it. You want to sound smart. You want to justify your prices with spreadsheets and percentages and programming that looks sophisticated. Clients are paying good money. They expect expertise. And expertise looks like complexity.

But here's the problem: you're not paid to look clever. You're paid to get results. And every unnecessary variable you add is another thing that can go wrong, another thing to confuse your client, another distraction from the basics that actually work.

The coach who programmes simple strength training and gets their client squatting 140kg has done more than the coach with the elaborate periodisation scheme whose client is still grinding away at 80kg after two years. Results are the only credential that matters. If your programming doesn't produce them, it doesn't matter how impressive it looks on paper.

Your job is to get your clients strong. Not to demonstrate your knowledge of training theory. Sometimes those overlap. Often they don't.

What Simple Strength Training Actually Produces

Lisa came to me barely able to squat an empty barbell. No fancy programming. No periodisation. Just progressive overload on basic movements, adding weight when she could, backing off when she needed to. She now squats 92kg https://youtu.be/iYhgPvjIgwI

Sue started building her foundation on a simple novice linear progression. When she'd exhausted that, we moved her to a basic intermediate template. Nothing complicated. Recently she pulled a 90kg deadlift PR at 63 years old https://youtu.be/_3T49g0peyQ

These aren't genetic outliers. They're not people who had secret advantages. They're regular people who followed basic programmes consistently and got stronger than they ever thought possible.

This is what simple strength training produces when you commit to it. Not because the programmes are magic, but because progressive overload works when you actually do it.

Why Programme Hopping Stops You Building Muscle

Programme hopping is complexity disguised as diligence.

The pattern looks like this: start a programme, make initial progress, hit a sticking point, conclude the programme isn't working, find a new programme, repeat. Each hop feels like problem-solving. In reality, it's problem-avoidance.

Sticking points are where adaptation happens. They're supposed to be hard. When you abandon a programme at the first plateau, you're quitting precisely when persistence would pay off. The next programme gives you a brief honeymoon period with new movements, novel stimulus, and temporary progress before you hit another wall and start shopping again.

The lifter who stays on a simple strength training programme and grinds through plateaus gets stronger. The lifter who hops to something new every eight weeks stays the same forever while feeling like they're making sophisticated training decisions.

When Complexity Actually Helps

Complexity isn't always wrong. It's just usually premature.

Advanced lifters genuinely need more sophisticated programming. People who've been training consistently for five or more years and have built serious strength require variation, planned overreaching, and careful periodisation to continue progressing. Their bodies are adapted to basic stimuli. They need variation, planned overreaching, and careful periodisation to continue progressing.

Lifters working around injuries or limitations need complexity. When you can't back squat, you need to get creative with exercise selection. When you're managing chronic issues, autoregulation becomes necessary rather than optional.

Sport-specific athletes need complexity when their training must serve goals beyond general strength. A rugby player in-season has different needs than someone just trying to get stronger.

But here's the test: have you been training consistently for a year or more? Have you built a foundation? Can you squat 1.5x bodyweight, deadlift 2x bodyweight, and bench bodyweight for reps?

If not, complexity isn't your limiting factor. You haven't yet exhausted what simple programming can give you.

What Makes a Basic Programme Work

The principles aren't complicated. A handful of compound movements that train the whole body. Enough frequency to practise the lifts and accumulate stimulus. A progression scheme that forces you to add weight over time. That's it.

You don't need dozens of exercises. You don't need to hit muscles from multiple angles. You don't need to vary your rep ranges weekly. You need to squat, hinge, press, and pull. You need to do it consistently. You need to add weight when you can.

The specific programme matters far less than people think. What matters is that you pick something simple and stick with it long enough to actually see what it can do. Most people never find out because they quit too early.

A male lifter can typically ride simple linear progression to a 140kg squat, 100kg bench, and 180kg deadlift before needing anything more complex. Most will never reach those numbers because they'll abandon the basic programme for something shinier long before they've exhausted its potential to build muscle.

The Recovery Problem Nobody Wants to Admit

I see it constantly, someone stalls on their programme, decides the programme is broken, and starts shopping for something more sophisticated. They never once consider that the problem isn't the training. It's everything else.

You cannot out-train bad recovery. Your body builds muscle and strength between sessions, not during them. Training provides the stimulus. Sleep, nutrition, and stress management provide the environment for adaptation. Skip the recovery and you're just accumulating fatigue without the payoff.

Most people dramatically underestimate how much recovery matters. Six hours of sleep instead of eight. 60g of protein instead of 150g. Chronic work stress that never lets their nervous system settle. Then they blame their programme when they stop progressing.

T

his is especially true for lifters over 40. You don't recover like you did at 22. That's not an excuse to train less. It's a reason to take recovery more seriously. The same simple programme that works for a 25 year old works for a 50 year old. But the 50 year old needs to be more disciplined about sleep, nutrition, and managing life stress.

Before you add complexity to your training, audit your recovery. Are you sleeping seven or more hours consistently? Are you eating enough protein and overall calories to support muscle growth? Are you managing stress? Fix those first. Often that's all you need to start progressing again.

The Complexity Audit

Before adding complexity to your training, run an audit.

1. How long have you been running your current programme? If it's less than twelve weeks, you haven't given it a fair trial. Go back and keep grinding.

   
   

2. Has the weight on the bar increased over the last three months? If yes, your programme is working. Don't fix what isn't broken. If no, have you actually tried adding weight, or have you just been maintaining?

   
   

3. Are you recovering adequately? Are you sleeping seven or more hours? Eating enough protein? Managing life stress? Often the problem isn't the programme. It's the recovery supporting the programme. Fixing sleep will do more than changing your set and rep scheme.

   
   

4. What specific problem are you trying to solve with added complexity? If you can't articulate a specific problem, you're adding complexity for its own sake.

Most people who fail this audit don't need a better programme. They need more patience with the one they have.

Why Simple Strength Training Feels Wrong

Basic programmes offend the pattern-seeking part of your brain that wants to believe results come from clever strategy.

You want the answer to be sophisticated because sophisticated answers feel worthy of the goal. Building muscle seems like it should require mastery of complex training theory, not just showing up three times a week and adding small increments to the same exercises for years.

But bodies don't care about intellectual satisfaction. They respond to stimulus and adaptation, stress and recovery. These processes are simple even when they're not easy.

The gap between simple and easy is where most people fail. Simple strength training is easy to understand and hard to execute. You have to show up consistently. You have to push through sessions when motivation is low. You have to add weight when your brain is inventing reasons not to. You have to be patient across months and years, not weeks.

Complexity offers an escape from this difficulty. If results come from optimisation, you can optimise your way to strength. If results come from consistent hard work over time, there's no shortcut. Just the work.

Conclusion

The strongest version of you probably isn't following a complicated programme. They're doing basic lifts, adding weight progressively, recovering adequately, and repeating this process for years.

This isn't exciting. It doesn't require an app or a new certification. It doesn't make for interesting social media content. But simple strength training works, and it keeps working for longer than most people are willing to try.

Before you add another variable, another exercise, another periodisation scheme, ask whether you've actually exhausted what a basic programme can do. In most cases, you haven't. You've just gotten bored.

Boredom isn't a training problem. It's a discipline problem. And discipline is the only programme that never stops building muscle.

Ready to Get Strong?

If you're tired of spinning your wheels with complicated programmes that don't deliver, I can help. I work with adults who want to build real strength using methods that actually work. No gimmicks. No unnecessary complexity. Just progressive overload, proper recovery, and consistent effort.

Whether you're starting from scratch or you've been training for years without the results you expected, the principles are the same. The difference is having someone who knows how to apply them to your situation.

Get in touch to find out how we can work together.