How to Get Strong Without Injuries
Getting strong isn’t about luck or genetics—it’s about showing up, working smart, and committing to the long game. Real strength is built over time with consistency, focus, and intentional effort. But just as important as getting strong is staying healthy in the process. Injuries can derail progress faster than anything, and often, they’re completely preventable.
Here’s how you can build real, lasting strength without beating up your body.
1. Play the Long Game
Gaining strength takes time. There are no shortcuts. If you’re lifting with intensity and chasing numbers every single session, your body will eventually push back and burn out. Strength training is a marathon, not a sprint. The strongest people in the world didn’t get there by rushing—it was the result of years of doing the basics consistently and with intent.
There are several different paths to getting strong. Some do a 4-5x per week training program. Others train 3x per week. Some get really strong only training 1-2x per week due to work or travel schedules. Getting stronger has more to do with pushing hard at the right moments and being patient with the results.
2. Train Smart, Not Just Hard
Intensity matters, but only at the right times. A great program doesn’t ask you to hit personal records every week. Instead, it uses healthy progressive overload, gradually increasing weight or volume over time. This allows your body to adapt without being overwhelmed. A good strength program also includes planned deloads—periods of reduced intensity to help your body recover and prevent burnout.
For the majority of folks, a ~5% increase in load week over week is recommended to avoid overreaching and straining tissue. Most people new to working out will see very quick results and adaptations to any program. This is largely due to neural adaptations. The nervous system is learning quickly and improving efficiency. Most people don’t see significant muscle mass development or fat loss rapidly, but get “in shape” due to the learning & coordination of their routine.
The most common mistake is overloading and progressing too quickly. Tendons, ligaments, joints, and muscle tissue respond to a stimulus given over time. If you do too much too soon, the tissue will yield to that stress, causing injury.
3. Keep It Simple and Effective
The best strength programs aren’t flashy. They focus on simple, foundational movements: squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, pull-ups, and carries. These movements build full-body strength and transfer well into real life. A great program also includes structured variation—enough change to promote adaptation, but not so much that progress becomes impossible to track. If you’re doing something different every week, you’re not training—you’re just exercising.
This is a really hard concept for many. The idea of doing similar movements for long periods of time seems boring and mundane. However, when you look at strength athletes and see what’s worked for them, almost all will share a similar priority, do the basics well. Regardless of the sport, every elite athlete shares a relentless pursuit of doing the basics extremely well, and repeating them for the duration of their career.
If you want to get strong, but struggle with the boredom of repetition, I would encourage you to start small and engage in a program that is less frequent but offers you the essentials while leaving room for other movement and activity you really enjoy.
For example, commit to a strength training routine 2x per week, then hike, do yoga, running, spin, etc another 2-3x per week. This is a great way to start seeing progress, and fall in love with the way you feel and how your body performs, then you can commit to more days of strength training if it’s working well for you and you have good balance.
4. Prioritize Technique Over Weight
Poor form is one of the leading causes of injuries in the gym. No amount of weight lifted is worth compromising your joints or your future. Nail your technique with lighter loads before pushing the intensity. Record your lifts, ask for feedback, and stay humble. Strength without proper form is just potential injury in disguise.
It’s no secret that great strength coaches, personal trainers, and therapists all can help clients/patients learn how to move properly. However, a large portion of the population believes they’re competent enough to train on their own, with little to no guidance. This is not to say that there aren’t plenty of people who are in incredible shape and do well on their own. It’s an encouragement to the stubborn folks out there who should hire a personal trainer/coach to help them learn how to move properly over time, and with the right guidance, they can be released out on their own.
Even having another set of eyes on you as you workout is extremely helpful. Working out with a friend or group of people is beneficial to catch mistakes and correct form quickly.
Phones have become an issue in public gyms, but they can also play an important role when it comes to technique. Setting up a tripod to film yourself, or asking someone to film your lift can be enlightening and affirming of your technique. Videos are often sent to online coaches who can help make adjustments and correct technique flaws.
5. Fuel Your Body for Performance
Strength isn’t just built in the gym—it’s built in the kitchen and while you sleep. Eating clean, whole foods, getting adequate protein, and fueling for recovery are essential. You can’t expect to get stronger while under-eating or surviving off junk. Supplementing wisely—creatine, electrolytes, omega-3s—can also support performance and joint health.
Elite level athletes know the value of great nutrition, supplements and proper recovery. If you workout hard, but have little to show for, it’s likely that you’re not prioritizing nutrition and sleep. Rather than seeing your workouts as a means to rewarding yourself with food, see food as a means to workout better.
I’m convinced that many people don’t know how BAD they feel until they truly start to get in shape. Once you start to feel better, look better, and perform better, your entire perspective changes. You no longer crave eating junk, drinking alcohol, and sleeping terribly. You have tasted the goodness of great health and know how amazing it is to look and perform well.
It’s really challenging breaking bad habits. But once you do, you’ve set yourself up to thrive and not just survive.
6. Sleep Like It’s Your Job
Sleep is the most underrated performance enhancer. It’s during sleep that your body repairs, grows, and adapts. If you’re lifting hard and not getting at least 7–9 hours of quality sleep, you’re leaving gains on the table and increasing your injury risk.
As a gym owner for about 10 years, I can always tell when someone isn’t sleeping. They’re the client who shows up consistently, puts in the work, but doesn’t make much progress. They carry too much fat, have less muscle, don’t improve in their lifts, and feel chronically behind. If this sounds like you, it’s probably time to make changes!
Think about all the time and money you spend on the gym, food, supplements, gas/driving to and from the gym, recovering from workouts, workout gear, etc… You’ve likely made a solid investment. Don’t you want that to show? Don’t you want to look and feel like you put in all that time and effort?
Sleep is so simple, yet so elusive! Even when we try and go to bed earlier, turn off the tv/phone, and get more rest, our brains can go haywire. It’s as if our brains have been programmed for so long to crave the noise and chaos that when we remove it, we don’t know what to do.
If this sounds familiar, remember, these changes happened over YEARS! Be patient with slowly eliminating the things holding you back. Start small with little habits daily. If you haven’t read coach Austyn’s blog about sleep, check it out here.
7. Listen to Your Body
Aches and pains are messages—not just annoyances. Ignoring them leads to compensation, inflammation, and injury. Don’t push through sharp pain. Instead, address it early. This might mean adjusting your program, taking a rest day, or seeing a professional. Pain doesn’t mean you’re weak. Ignoring it does.
Long gone is the old mantra of “NO PAIN NO GAIN!”. We now know so much about how the body responds to pain, and how to heal. If you don’t have the self control to regulate your intensity, especially if you’re chronically in pain or have frequent injuries, you definitely should hire a coach and have a great physical therapist that helps guide you towards better health.
At Journey, we have great therapists that we use to help educate, prevent, and get out of pain faster with the right tools and treatment plans. If you’re in need of a great physical therapist, check out Saldana Physical Therapy. Henry and Lindsay Saldana have been a great addition to our gym community and have offered workshops, assessments and a wealth of knowledge to our members and coaches. They are accessible, personable, and believe in a holistic approach to getting out of pain, and taking healthy autonomous steps to preventing pain and dysfunction in the future.
8. Avoid the Trap of Constant Novelty
The biggest lie in fitness is that you need to constantly change things to “confuse your muscles.” Progress comes from mastery and repetition, not chaos. Constant variety makes it impossible to track progress and often leads to overuse injuries due to poor planning. A good program is repeatable, measurable, and focused.
If you struggle with wanting to constantly be entertained, hiring a coach is a fantastic idea. Investing in a professional that cares about you and your results is one of the best ways to adhere to things that you don’t necessarily want to do or wouldn’t do on your own.
Most people, if left on their own, will continue to go to the gym and waste time doing the same things that they ENJOY doing, while avoiding the things they NEED to do. I’m not saying that you need to despise everything you do. And you definitely shouldn’t love every part of your health disciplines. There’s a health compromise of doing what you enjoy mixed with what’s best for you and your lifestyle. A great coach knows this and doses this appropriately!
My advice, hire a great coach. We have some great coaches at Journey btw…
Final Thoughts
Getting strong is one of the most rewarding physical journeys you can take—but it only matters if you can do it sustainably. Master the basics. Commit to the process. Respect recovery. And above all, train with purpose. When done right, strength training builds not just your body, but your confidence, discipline, and resilience for life.
Stay strong. Stay smart. Stay healthy.
-Tanner