Defining Strength

By Doc

The internet is a great and terrible thing.  A couple of afternoons of browsing can bring the strength trainee in contact with nearly every training modality known to man.  This great mass of information can be a great benefit to the trainee if he has the tools to sort thru what he has been exposed to and select the things that will benefit him in his journey.  If, however, the trainee does not have the ability to sort, compare, and think critically about this avalanche of propaganda he quickly descends into a constant loop of thinking about training, talking about training, and rarely actually training.

So what does our modern strength trainee need to do?  Turn off the computer for about 4 hours, sit down with pad and paper, grab a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and tackle the task of defining strength. 

Now when our trainee defines strength, we’re not looking for a definition from a scientific text.  We’re looking for the things (in the gym or outside of the gym) that the trainee wants to do that his work in the gym is preparing him for. 

This is what our trainee is going to do with his pad and paper.  He should sit down and write down the things he wants to do.  Sports he enjoys, life long goals, etc.  His list could look like this:

1)      Be able to walk hills all day while hunting turkey

2)      Be prepared for pickup basketball game with my football team

3)      Deadlift 600 pounds

4)      Strict overhead press bodyweight

Or this:

1)      Total Elite in high level powerlifting federation

Or this:

            1)   Lose 30 pounds

            2)   Increase flexibility

            3)   Be better able to do chores on horse farm

I could give examples like the above for quite some time.  Hopefully we can see that the training of each of the individuals above would be quite different.

Now that our trainee sees what his target is, he should then look at his training and ask himself, “What are the things that I do in my training that give me the most bang for my training buck?”  The answer to this will be different for each trainee.  Each individual responds to training stimuli differently and has different parameters that training must take place within.  This process is intensely personal.  Your friends and training partners may be able to give you some direction, but ultimately it’s about learning yourself, and learning what you need to reach your goals.

Our trainee has just set the parameters for his training.  Now he can go out and learn about the spectrum of fitness systems because he has a filter, a grid to run the ideas thru.  He can look at the various training systems and ask, “How does this fit into the training that I already do?”  He can add a new idea and test it against this written document that guides his training.  He is no longer a wanderer easily led astray from what he wants to accomplish by flashy results or empty promises.  He knows his destination, and now he can learn the way from here to there.