What is strength?

Strength- the ability to contract your muscles with maximum force against an external object.

However, that is only the beginning of strength. Strength has many different faces and the better you understand what kind of strength you desire the better suited you are to excel at whatever form of competition or fitness you like to participate in.

Limit Strength:

You can think of limit strength as how much force your muscles can generate for one all out effort. Much like your max weight during a bench press, squat, or power clean. This kind of strength can even be broken down into three subcategories eccentric which is how much weight you can lower with out losing control, static how much weight you can hold stationary with out losing control, and concentric how much weight you can lift at one time with out losing control. The key here is that you are giving an all-out effort with each contraction. Think of a linemen when they go to block a defensive end, basketball player when they go to dunk a ball, golfer when they are driving off the tee, or a tennis player during their first serve. Maximizing this kind of strength helps them perform at a much higher level.

Speed Strength:

This describes how well you can apply force with speed. Think of your ability to explode from a still position to an explosive move efficiently. When you see a boxer throwing a knock out punch, shot-putter throwing the shot as far as possible, or a pitcher throwing a 100 mile an hour fast ball remember it all comes from the ability of their muscles to accelerate from a still postion to an explosive movement and this is most commonly found in your fast twitch muscles.

Anaerobic vs Aerobic Strengh

Anaerobic strength is an activity that can be done without the use of oxygen as an energy source. Running a sprint, swimming for 100 meters, swinging a baseball bat, or participating in the triple jump are all good examples of this. All of these activites are explosive in nature and do not last long enough for oxygen to be used as an energy source.

Aerobic strength can be measured during activites lasting longer than two minutes in duration such as 1600 meter run or swim.

Improving my strength

All of these forms of strength can be improved using resistance training of some sort. In order to be more strength specific you want to be sure that the duration of your exercise last as long as your event. This will help you create similar conditions and apply similar stress to the body. Once your body learns to recognize that stress your strength will increase and you anaerobic/aerobic thresholds will increase allowing you to lift more weights, be faster, and go further. For instance if you run long distance work on putting together a circuit that when you go straight through last over two minutes allowing oxygen to kick in as an energy source combining this with the actual experience of running will help you perform better. If you run sprints or want to get a better serve you want to focus on giving all out effort at a few very focused exercises. Try lifting fewer reps but heavier weight.

As to avoid only being proficient in one area of strength I like to cross-train my clients so that their bodies can experience the stresses of all conditions. This allows them to have strength in all areas.

As always go talk to a trainer and ask them to explain to you what you will need to do to excel at whatever event you would like to participate in. Hopefully, they will put together a competent workout plan and you will see your performance sky rocket.

Until next time be healthy, infinitely curious, and eternally grateful.

Micah Hayes