Get Stronger without Lifting More Weight

Make your favorite exercises harder with this one tip

October 16, 2014

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You can work out longer to get bigger and stronger—or you can just make your body longer. 

Positioning your elbows under your nose instead of under your shoulders during a plank forces your core to work nearly two times as hard, according to a study published in Sports Biomechanics. 

Anytime you lengthen your body, the exercise becomes more difficult because you're decreasing your mechanical advantage, says study author and sports biomechanist Bret Contreras, C.S.C.S.  Translation: You'll feel weaker. 

Think of it like this: Holding weights at shoulder height with straight arms is tougher than holding them with bent arms—even though you haven't changed the

amount of weight you're lifting. You've increased the distance between your target muscles and the load, diminishing your leverage, Contreras says. Suddenly, those weights feel a lot heavier and your muscles have to work a lot harder to perform the exercise.
While this isn't a novel idea, it's a super-simple tip that you can incorporate into your daily routine to increase your gains. Lengthening your body not only works during a plank, but it can make other exercises more difficult, too. Contreras recommends raising your hands above your head instead of crossing them in front of your chest during a situp or holding a kettlebell at arm's length in front of your body instead of in the goblet position at your sternum when doing a squat.