Strength Training

Know Your Outcome

When it comes to strength training I think that most people don’t know whether they’re coming or going. Am I wrong? What I mean is that people undertake fitness programs for any number of reasons but the most common one I tend to come across is to look good or lose weight. This results in the stupidest fitness program design.

It’s easy to look good. All you need to do is eat the right balance of macro-nutrients, strength train and burn enough energy to make the muscle visible and defined. But this is such a cliched purpose for exercising that I completely overlook it when I deal with people. If someone tells me they are undertaking a fitness program to lose weight, get toned and look good I always press for more. I ask them things like “what do you want to be able to do?” “How do you want to feel?” etc.

Looking good is simple, but it does not mean you are functioning at your peak. However, functioning at your peak has an in-built guarantee that you will wind up looking good as a result. So strength training MUST have a purpose. Of course, the issue then becomes, “what purpose?” and “How do I train for that?”

Fitness centres are packed with people performing the silliest exercises in the most ridiculous ways. I constantly see people striving for a certain goal and training in a manner that will most certainly not get them there. It seems that Flex Magazine and all the overnight fitness trainers have powers that could be put to better use. They are masters of manipulation and mind control. So many people buy into the crap that these so-called experts are promoting.

Strength training comes in many forms. If you are to train for muscular endurance it is far different than training for absolute strength. Then there is another dimension; take a step back from there and work out what outcome you are striving for. You might be a rock climber for instance. So what sort of strength does a rock climber need? What if you are a rugby player? The outcomes must be formed around the true purpose for the training. So this needs to be the first step, finding out what aspect of strength is required for you to attain your intended outcome.

First of all lets step back even further; why should you strength train?

Everyone needs strength, despite what you may have been told. Every undertaking, including daily tasks for normal living require some degree of strength. Of course, you can get by without significant amounts of strength but what would be the point in just getting by? It makes sense that everyone wants tasks they perform regularly to be easier. This is attained through strength development.

Now that we have established that everyone needs to develop strength, it’s time to move on. Unless you have any objections to my statement. If you do I will be glad to debate it with you and back it up with years of my own research, anecdotal evidence and formal, peer reviewed journals. What’s that, no objections? Good, didn’t think so.

Now for the techie stuff that I know you all love. Or is that me? Sometimes I forget.

Lets look at the purposes for which you may want to develop strength and break it down with a few very basic guidelines for best practice.

Relative Strength

By far my own personal preference and purpose for strength training is the development of relative strength. In fact, I believe that relative strength should always be the focus, even whilst focussing on other goals.

Relative strength is the ratio of strength to bodyweight. So if a 200lb person can bench press 200lb but a 150lb person can bench press 200lbs also then the 150lb person is more efficient. They both have identical levels of absolute strength but the smaller guy can lift a larger percentage of his/her bodyweight. This means that the smaller person has more relative strength. It would be pointless functionally speaking for the 150lb person to pack on another 50lbs only to still bench press 200lbs. In terms of relative strength the goal is to get as much strength as possible for every bit of extra bodyweight.

Who wants relative strength? Absolutely everyone on the planet wants relative strength, even if they don’t know they want it. It makes a person more efficient and able to move their body through space much more easily. It also allows for people to lift heavy external objects without the need for large increases in size. So when high levels of relative strength are developed the person possessing it has less of their own bodyweight to carry.

Relative strength should be the sole focus of many athletes, emergency services personnel, military and anyone else requiring function from their strength development efforts.

So how do you train for relative strength? Here are a few guidelines…

• Watch what you eat. Control portion sizes and eat as if you are either trying to lose weight or maintain it. This ensures you are not overfeeding the muscles. However, be warned that inadequate nutrition will result in poor recovery and less strength development. So it’s a fine line and one that needs to be carefully planned.

• Train low repetitions. Avoid the slow moving 8-12 repetition range. Training for relative strength is designed to stimulate neuromuscular responses without significant muscle fibre damage that would normally result in an increase in size.

• Burn plenty of energy and train other aspects. By burning a lot of calories per day you decrease the likelihood of ending up too heavy. If relative strength is your primary strength training goal then I would recommend combining it with sprint and power training.

Absolute Strength

In some instance bodyweight becomes less of an issue but strength is still a major goal. In these cases a person might be aiming for absolute strength. Absolute strength is simply the maximum amount of strength produced by a muscle or muscle group regardless of the size of that muscle.

Some instances where absolute strength would be the primary goal include strongman competitions, power lifting, some physically demanding jobs and anything else where moving external objects is the primary concern as opposed to moving your own body through space.

So how do you train for absolute strength? Here are a few guidelines…

• Pretty much eat as many calories as you like. You want to gain muscle size because generally bigger muscles become stronger muscles.

• Still focus on relative strength to a certain degree. Milk as much strength out of the muscle mass you have as possible.

• Lift in phases of low reps and mid-range reps. This may include a six week cycle of each. The purpose of this is to develop as much strength as possible during the lower rep cycles and then begin gaining muscle in the mid-range rep cycle.

Strength Endurance

In some instances you will require strength that is applied over a prolonged period of time. This may occur in activities such as cycling, rock climbing, jobs requiring repetitive exertion etc.

Strength endurance is developed by conditioning all the fibres within a muscle to endure a certain amount of effort without fatigue. This can be achieved in part by increasing absolute strength. You also need to focus on specific strength endurance tasks that closely mimic the actions and durations required. By doing both you are ensuring that a muscle is capable of performing at a certain level over a certain time period.

Also, strength endurance is often required by people who are moving their body through space. Having said that, you will need to maintain a relatively low bodyweight as you do for relative strength development.

So how do you train for strength endurance? Here are a few guidelines…

• First develop a solid strength base. Without an absolute strength base you will not be able to perform at and sustain the levels you are aiming for.

• Once there is a solid base of strength to work with you must condition the working muscles to be able to metabolise energy at a rate fast enough to continue for prolonged periods. An example of how you can do this is through high-rep strength training.

• Use your brain. You must develop a certain level of sustained mental focus when you are developing strength endurance. This is done by pushing through pain barriers and continuing to perform. Because strength endurance takes more time per set, it requires more focus and discipline to actually keep going. There is always a temptation to stop when it burns.

Muscle Hypertrophy

Muscle hypertrophy is an increase in muscle size. Many people strive for this end rather obsessively. Rarely is muscle hypertrophy a necessary primary goal. There are times when an athlete may need increases in muscle size in order to increase absolute strength but it is almost never an end in itself.

Increasing muscle size is achieved by stressing the individual muscle fibres until they are damaged by Z-line tears and then have to repair themselves. This is the muscle soreness you may be familiar with.

So how do you train for muscle hypertrophy? Here are a few guidelines…

• Eat well and eat frequently. Strength training burns a lot of energy. As a result the energy normally used for recovery is partially used up in a strength training workout. This is best replaced by eating small, infrequent meals.

• Train between 8-12 reps per set and limit the sets per muscle group to allow for maximum recovery.

Conclusion

As we have discovered, there are a number of reasons for undertaking strength training. You must have a definite purpose in mind because without it you could be chasing the wrong thing. Strength training is performed in order to make the things you do in life easier. This includes sports, general daily tasks and work.

Looking at the above three purposes it is important to do a bit of analysis and decide what suits you functionally, as opposed to training just to look good because I must tell you, the novelty of a shiny six-pack wears off. However having those six-pack abs along with an increase in an ability of some kind is far more rewarding.

Please don’t be one of those clowns in the gym lifting weights with the worst technique and performing stupid exercises just because a dumb arse trainer wants to look intelligent.

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