Introduction to training for strength.

David Fleming

Apparantly there is more to life than 3 sets of 10, not all reps are the same and building muscle and training for strength are not neccessarily the same thing - David Fleming explains...

Strength: What is it and why should we train for it?

What is strength? Well, some people say that it’s what makes you a man (or a strong woman of course, but that’s pretty niche, so mainly it’s what makes you a man).

While the majority of keen, regular gym users slog it out month upon month in the pursuit of increased muscle size, only a few give much thought to the development of serious muscular strength. The body, depending on the environment in which it is placed will adapt specifically to the demands placed upon it. If you have determined your caloric needs and aim to exceed those, get plenty of sleep and rest, supplement adequately and follow a fairly high volume approach to weight training (plenty of sets, traditional bodybuilding style approach) chances are, you will achieve some level of hypertrophy (muscle growth). As I am sure you have all noticed, not all gym trainees are created equal and some lucky blighters have the metabolic capacity and genetic predisposition to grow massive physiques without half as much effort as others. But underneath all that muscle lies the nervous system (which drives the muscle…the strength) and you must always think: you may be big, but are you strong? And this depends on not just your muscles, but the ability of your nervous system to fire the muscles.

Types of Strength

Strength, in essence is the ability of the neuromuscular system to express high levels of force over varying periods of time. It can be broken down into several different trainable categories. Strength coach Charles Poliquin has some handy definitions.

Maximal Strength ‘The peak force or torque the neuromuscular system is capable of producing in a single voluntary contraction, irrespective of the time element ‘. This is the sort of strength displayed by power lifters and is generally classified as your single repetition maximum, or 1 RM….how much weight can you lift?

Limit Strength ‘The peak force or torque the neuromuscular system is capable of exerting in a single muscular contraction’. This is also known as ‘maximal involuntary strength’. This is the sort thing you occasionally hear about on the news where an eighty year old granny single handedly lifts a car off a trapped child. It’s the kind of strength that is sometimes displayed in life or death situations.

Speed-Strength (Power) ‘The ability of the neuromuscular system to produce the greatest possible force in the shortest possible time frame’. Speed-strength is not a single quality it is made up of starting strength, explosive strength & reactive strength.

Explosive-Strength ‘The capacity to develop a vertical rise in force once movement has been initiated, measured in terms of the increase in force per unit of time; the ability of the neuromuscular system to continue developing already initiated force as quickly as possible; the rate at which one can develop maximal or peak force’. Great examples of this would be MMA (mixed martial arts) or throwing events such as the hammer throw or shot-putting.

How do we measure strength in the real world?

While sports scientists may be linking athletes up to computers or using pressure sensitive devices to record levels of muscular strength, in the gym we look simply at how much weight an individual can shift on various different lifts and take in to account his or her body-weight.

People naturally tend to associate size with strength. It is certainly easier for an individual with a large amount of muscle mass and heavy body-weight to throw around some large weights, but what is really impressive is the smaller and lighter guys lifting the same weights as their beast like counterparts and that is relative strength. Let’s say you weigh 90 kg’s and can squat 150kgs for a single repetition. While this is a decent amount of weight to carry on your back it’s the same load a lifter weighing 75kg’s should be aiming for.

In the above example the strength to body-weight ratio of the lighter trainee is 2:1 or more simply it’s a double body-weight squat & that’s not bad! As you delve in to the world of elite strength sports, you begin to find some amazing feats of strength. I’ve seen footage of a 65kg Bulgarian weightlifter, back squat, ass to grass 250kg’s! Now that’s a strength ratio of 3.8:1 or a nearly four times body-weight squat! While numbers like these may be reserved to a small percentage of the very best of elite athletes, with proper training the focused gym goer can achieve levels of strength that are sure to impress the ladies!

RELATIVE STRENGTH GOALS:

So, you can open jam jars, carry heavy suitcases and bash out bicep curls with the best of them, but it’s time to become a real man so you can hold your head high in the gym and make it official that, yes, you are strong!

Relative strength can be gauged on several lifts. The Olympic lifts, clean and jerk and the snatch, the power lifts, back squat, deadlift and bench press and accessory lifts such as the military press, bent over rows, jerks and pull ups. For the purpose of this article we shall focus on the big 3, being the bench press, deadlift and back squat. These exercises should be very familiar to any self respecting gym fiend and are sure to feature in a plethora of strength and conditioning programs. The following list will give some relative strength goals to aim for.

The Back Squat: As a proponent of the Olympic lifts, I favour the Olympic style back squat to power-lifting. With the Olympic back squat, the trainee squats with a much more erect posture, utilising flexibility at the ankle and knee joints. The power lifting version has the individual sit right back into the hips, displaying much more flexion at the hips and a far more limited amount of flexion at the ankle and knee.

You are strong if you can squat….Relative Strength Ratio: 2:1 or double body weight squat for a single repetition.

The Bench Press: Arguably the most popular exercise on earth! Even if you have never trained for strength before you have probably been asked the question, “how much do you bench?”

You are strong if you can press…..Relative Strength Ratio: 1.5:1 or one & a half times body weight for a single repetition.

The Deadlift: This is a biggy! When trained correctly the deadlift is an awesome strength exercise for the extensor chain (the trail of muscles running from your feet all the way up your back to your skull) as there is a much reduced balance component compared to a squatting movement, this exercise is one where you can really lay on the poundage!

You are strong if you can lift….Relative Strength Ratio: 2:1 or 2.5:1. Double bodyweight or two and a half times bodyweight

It is worth noting at this point the importance of technique. Each of these lifts should be completed with perfect form. You can’t claim a 200kg back squat because you once managed to lift it out of the rack and bend your knees a couple of inches with a bent, crumbling spine- you would only be lying to yourself. To truly claim a lift as your own, you must complete it through a full, clean range of motion without a spotter lifting half of it for you. With regards to safety I strongly recommend the use of a spotter when lifting heavy weights. The role of the spotter is not to do the work for you, but to make sure you complete the lift safely and bail you out if anything goes wrong.

More experienced trainees will have a rough idea of what sort of numbers they can lift for lower repetitions. Those on a bodybuilding quest will rarely have been below 6 reps per set & arguably, rightly so. As the rep ranges used in strength training are so low, only some individuals will achieve a hypertrophy response (get bigger). For the majority, strength training will illicit an increase in strength without a corresponding increase in size or weight.

So what actually happens? How do we train for strength?

In traditional bodybuilding, the sole aim is to force the body to adapt by increasing the size of the muscle groups being trained. A body part split is often used where each muscle group is trained once or twice per week. A high volume program (fairly high reps with plenty of sets) that focuses on several exercises for the same muscle groups tends to be how most people train for this goal. When it comes to training for hypertrophy, diet is the most important variable, but that’s for another article.

When training for strength you are essentially training the nervous system. Absolute beginners will notice a rapid increase in strength over the first eight weeks of training as the nervous system learns and improves its ability to control and forcibly contract various muscle chains in sequence. Increased density and strength of bones as well as ligaments and tendons are the initial adaptations. This also tends to occur with extremely light loads, something that unfortunately does not continue for very long thereafter. Once your training honeymoon is over, weights have to get a little heavier and training a lot more structured. You have to let go of the single body part training ideology and embrace your body as a whole. When training for strength you train compound movements, not muscles.

The body must undergo several exposures to heavy loads on specific movements. If you want to be good at sprinting, you have to get outside and sprint, a lot! If you want to get strong you’re going to have to be squatting, lifting, pushing and pulling frequently as you’re body learns that it needs to improve the efficiency and speed with which it signals motor units to recruit all muscle fibers at the right time with the right amount of force to make you look cool! (A motor unit is a motor neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates – it is the part of the puzzle that takes the instruction from the brain and screams at your muscles to get the job done).

How to get stronger

The great Russian sports scientist Vladimir Zatsiorsky established that there are 3 ways to improve maximal strength. These are:

1) Lift a submaximal load to failure

2) Lift a maximal load

3) Lift a submaximal load as fast as possible

As the focus of this article is to encourage people to lift heavy weights, we shall focus on lifting maximal loads. It is generally accepted that gains in strength will only occur lifting loads of 85% 1 RM & above.

While technique, experience and training age are all important factors that need to be considered when planning a strength phase, it can be much safer and user friendly to approximate your 1RM. As a guide…

A weight you can lift with good form for a maximum of 3 repetitions represents 90% 1 RM.

A weight you can lift with good form for a maximum of 5 repetitions represents 85% 1 RM.

Once your training loads have been established, you will probably notice that your gym sessions are looking pretty tough for the foreseeable future and you’re right! Lifting at 85% 1RM and above is hard work and takes as much mental focus as it does physical. There will be good days and bad days depending on how much sleep you’ve had, what you’ve eaten, if you’re program rotates the exercises properly and schedules in enough rest. It is said that the nervous system can take up to 5 times longer than the muscular system to recover, so burn out is a real possibility.

Why the hell should I?

Now, while this all may be quite interesting, you may still be wondering why training for strength is a good idea. As I mentioned before, the body will adapt specifically to its imposed demands. Body building training is largely about isolation. Isolating a specific muscle and beating it in to submission (compound exercises may be used, some similar to strength training, but usually with the goal of working a specific muscle group before isolating it further). Unfortunately, this isn’t how the body works day to day and this form of training tends to confuse the nervous system becoming part of the problem with regards to muscle imbalances, reduced flexibility and propensity towards injury. If being massive is your one and only goal without a care in the world about performance, then go for your life, forget about strength and pump it up.

If on the other hand you want to be both big and strong and not get out lifted by some jumped up punk half your size, pencil in a few strength phases each year. At the end of the day if you increase your max lifts, you will be able to lift more weight for more reps and praise the lord, get even bigger.

Another, very real reason to train for strength, aside from looking cool, being a real man and impressing your friends, is sports performance. Strength and power are variables trained and improved in the weights room with a view to improving athletic performance. Strength, power and speed are all closely correlated. If your sport is governed by weight classes, or requires you to be fast, jump high, take a hit, throw or strike an opponent or ball, you’d best get training for strength pal.

In part 2 of this article I will prescribe a beginners strength training routine and give a little more insight in to what it really takes to develop maximal strength!. Although I don’t believe in a ‘one size fits all’ approach to programming, the example will show how to structure the exercises, sets and reps to set you on the path to brut like strength!

About the Author

David Fleming is one of London’s top personal trainers. He is obsessed with helping people get stronger and helping people to get More-Athletic. He has studied and learned from the best strength coaches in the world. He is happily married and can lift heavy weights. His mother is very proud of him and he writes a good article.It took him until the age of 30 to pass his driving test, but other than that he is a solid chap.

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