Total Strength

          What makes you physically strong? This is often a source of constant debate and there are many differing opinions as to what constitutes a strong person. That is because there are a number of different types of muscular strength.
What are the different qualities of muscular strength and what is best type to have? Or do we have to train in all aspects of the strength game. If so, what ratio between the different strength types should we aim for?

          In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries the common measure of strength was a 200lb press overhead, these remember were the days before the squat and bench had come into existence. 


Relative Strength
 
Relative strength shifts the question from “How much can you bench?” to “How much do you weigh and how much can you bench?”
In the interests of not filling this article full of scientific jargon and technical malarkey, what is the best layman’s definition for relative strength? The easiest way to explain it is the ratio between the total weight being lifted and the total bodyweight of the lifter. The easiest example is a 200lb lifter bench pressing a 300lb barbell. In this case the ratio is 1.5, that is to say, the lifter is bench pressing 1.5 times their bodyweight.

Explosive Strength
 
Explosive strength is best explained by the Oxford Dictionary of Sport Science & Medicine. Their definition: “The ability to expend energy in one explosive act or in a series of strong sudden movements as in jumping, or projecting some object (e.g. a javelin) as far as possible.” So our bench press question becomes, "How fast can you push the bar from chest to lockout in the bench press"

Muscular endurance
 
In short, muscular endurance refers to the ability to sustain a number of muscular contractions over a sustained period of time. So to use the bench question again it shifts to, "What is the most amount of reps that you can bench for a set period of time?" or just "How many reps can you continuously bench?" Bodybuilders who utilize high volume, high rep training with reduced time between sets certainly have a certain amount of muscular endurance.
 
What aspect of physical strength should we focus on?
 
As old school trainers, relative strength should always be a primary focus. Depending on what aspect of the iron game you are focusing on, you need to balance out the other three types of strength accordingly. Most importantly do not ignore any of them to your peril. Old school muscle men essentially liked to take a generalist approach to strength and then developed a specialty interest within this. These days, trainees tend to specialize from the outset which leads to imbalances in overall physical strength.

 Workout 7-25 (The Test)

Run 1 mile

3 sets of pushups till failure

Max situps in 1 minute

run 1 mile

Max distance lunges in 1 minute

Wall walk ups

run 1 mile

 

The Next Step, High Intensity Training (Turning Steal)

Do you know those exercises you hate to do? you should do more of those. 

Recently i was asked what the next step would be to see more gains. They had been seeing great results and they want to go further. This is a common question I hear quite often. As a personal trainer, my first response to someone would be to get some personal training with me of course. A personal trainer can restructure workouts and diet plans. There are a few tricks and tips i can share to help out the avid fitness buff looking to get more out of their workout.

Decrease your rest! Stop texting, facebooking, tweeting, and socializing in general. I understand that the gym is a great place to pick up girls or guy, but if a girl/guy sees you absolutely crushing a workout and focused, shoot them a smile. If all goes well they will slip you their phone number and leave it at that.

If you usually take a minute of rest between sets, take 45 seconds. If you aren't used to doing super-sets of multiple exercises, start incorporating them into your routine (back to back exercises with no rest).

Do core movements between other exercises to get your abs worked out while not spending more time in the gym. Doing this also keeps your heart rate up and you will get more out of your time in the gym.

Drop Sets are great for taking a good routine to the next level of training. Example: A set of hammer curls by itself can be a great exercise if you push yourself to keep good form and get enough reps and sets in. After you are about to fail with your set, pick up a lighter weight (5 - 10 pounds lighter) and do another set right away. and then take your rest. This can work for almost every exercise.

Diet is a big part of progress, if your trying to gain. Eating one more meal can make a big difference on how your body recovers and receives its energy. If you are trying to lose weight, tracking your calories and allocating calories per meal is an important way to make sure your not over eating on a meal to meal basis.

Hydration is something i assess with every client and anyone i give a fitness consultation too. It is just as important as whether or not they smoke or drink alcohol. Everyone can drink more water, even if its just a glass more per day.

Sleep is necessary for everyone in different ways. Getting enough sleep per night to rebuild and function is important for body builders. and maintaining a healthy sleep cycle is important for those trying to lose weight so they can get thru the day without napping and to keep a healthy metabolism.

Consistency is a defining mark of an individual looking to maximize their progress. 5 meals every day, enough water every day, working out on a regular basis and not eating the wrong foods on a weekly basis.

Once you have met most of these by yourself and you hit your next plateau is when you should consider getting a personal trainer. If you are unable to push yourself to achieve what was just laid out in this list, you should also get a personal trainer to push you to reach your goals.

Workout 7-10 (Turning Steal)

 5 Rounds of

Single Arm Flat Bench (12-15 reps on each side)

Rotating Shoulder press (12 - 15 reps)

Front plank (1 minute)

Drink some water

5 Rounds of

15 Walking Lunges (15 on each leg)

20m of max distance frog jumps

2 minute of Farmers carry (hold weight in right hand for one minute,

And then carry it for another minute in left hand)

5 minutes of continues ab work

If you can think of an ab exercise, 

do it until you cant anymore and then do the next one 

that comes to mind until the 5 minutes is up.

 - Mike