Folks in the strength and conditioning sphere often espouse beliefs about the correlation between muscle mass and strength stating that an increase in cross sectional muscle mass is necessary over the long term for most strength gains and that technical mastery/efficiency/neuromuscular adaptations only account for a small increase in strength. How then can it be explained how someone like Austin for instance can put a hundred pounds on his deadlift over the course of a couple years at the same body weight? He hasn’t gained much weight, but he and many others seem to become much stronger without much of a gain in size or a reduction in body weight. Many top lifters in the country have 0 lb weight changes yet increase their totals exponentially. It seems that many top lifters also elect to remain the same weight throughout the in and off season. Is gaining weight absolutely optimal for strength gains or does it not matter? Assuming that programming is completely appropriate for the individual.
Austin didn’t put 100’s of pounds on his deadlift at the same body weight. He has gained a modest amount of weight since first pulling 500 to his current PR of 720.
That said, the relationship between muscle CSA and strength performance is rather complex. We discussed this recently on a YouTube video:
And finally, no, many top lifters in the country are not “exponentially” increasing their total without BW changes. What you see in weigh-ins vs what happens outside of competition are two different things. Additionally, it’s likely incorrect to assume someone has maximized their efficiency with a given level of LBM at any given time.
While gaining weight to get stronger isn’t absolutely necessary- most things like this aren’t black and white- gaining LBM over time is probably a good idea for maximizing strength performance. Programming is obviously more important here.