The worst thing about fitness today is that most people keep on chasing aesthetics and ignore the strength part. Performing 30 above reps with puny pink dumbbells and then enjoying that temporary pump is what a lot of guys do at the gym. Now understand this thing: attaining aesthetics without gaining strength is like modifying your 100cc bike and giving it the outer look of a 600 cc bike. But the reality is that you are still a 100cc bike. It is always a smart to hit the gym for gaining strength, and functional strength to be precise. Aesthetics is a byproduct of your strength training, however, only if your nutrition part is on point. 

Now, here are the 5 tips that can help you gain strength as well as aesthetics:

1. Incorporate more compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, military press and push press. These lifts trigger maximum muscle fibers contraction and engagement. Simply put, they are the foundations of functional strength.

2. Keep your working set’s rep range between 4-8. This rep range is ideal for packing on muscles as well as strength. Keep the loads heavy.

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3. Do not underestimate the power of progressive training. Your body is designed to grow and get stronger, in respect to the mechanical stress you put through the exercise. Try to increase the poundage with your every set.

4. However, there may come a point when you may hit a plateau for the poundage you have been lifting. Now here comes the trick: incorporate drop sets, pause sets, giant set and fluctuate the tempo of performing a set. This way, you can still gain strength without adding the extra poundage on the bar.

5. Always prefer free weights (barbell and dumbbell) over machines. Free weights give you better range of motion and enhance the symmetrical muscle strength.

Remember, there are no shortcuts to attainting stubborn strength. You need to train hard and lift heavy weights. Even if you use gear to boost strength, you still need to push your limits and have that extra edge benefit.

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As far as the supplementation is concerned, Creatine is the most effective and pocket-friendly supplement you can incorporate in your stack in order to support your intense training sessions. Creatine fills up the missing ATP (energy source of cells) while performing an intense anaerobic workout. Apart from creatine, I would also recommend fish oil that will enhance your joint mobility, heart health and the brain function. Hence, train to gain strength and your aspiring lean shredded physique will follow you.