1. My family
2. Food
3. Lifting heavy things
4. A cold beer
If the world ended tomorrow, I would want to be surrounded by these four things. One of these four things (can you guess which?) also forms the cornerstone of my training philosophy. When life seems to get really complex, I simplify and put what is most important in perspective. In which case, I am left with these four things. This can be a useful exercise for all of us.
List 3-5 of the most important things in your life in order. When feeling overwhelmed, reflect on your list and remember what really matters.
However, my analytic nature sometimes gets the better of me and I find myself losing sight of what is most important. I'll give you an example.
Last month I began training a Division 1 Lacrosse player. She has a history of knee problems and was forced to redshirt her freshman year due to an injury. I performed the usual intake, taking pictures of static posture and performing a Functional Movement Screen. I found a few asymmetries and determined what we needed to work on from here on out. When writing her program I began thinking of what correctives she needed, corrective programming etc, when my inner meathead conscience spoke to me:
Matt, what the hell are you doing? This girl just needs to get stronger!
Now there is definitely a caveat to all of this. To quote Gray Cook: "Don't put strength on top of dysfunction". This is why assessment is so important. We needed to do a few correctives and red light a couple of movements in order to keep her injury free and improve her movement patterns, but the core of her program needed to revolve around strength development. There was no need to re-invent the wheel.
Ask any good strength coach and they will tell you the same thing. If you increase the athlete's ability to produce force (ie make him or her stronger), you give them a better chance of success. The same can be said for anybody. Your goal could be fat loss or running your first marathon. The stronger you are, the more successful you will be. We can talk all day about HIIT training, tempo training, time under tension etc, but if you aren't getting stronger, you aren't making progress. Plain and simple.
Consider the following analogy:
Absolute strength is like your bank account. The bigger the balance, the more cool stuff you can do with it.
A guy that can deadlift 400 pounds is much more capable than a guy that can deadlift 200 pounds. This is why strength development is the cornerstone of my training philosophy. You want to run a faster 5K? Get stronger. You want to lose 30 pounds? Get stronger. You want to beat Sylvester Stallone in an arm wrestling match? GET STRONGER.
(Hint: Drinking motor oil WILL NOT make you stronger.)
Every program I write begins with developing a strength base. After we establish that, we can begin to build the rest of the program around the specific goals/needs of the individual.
So how does one go about building strength?
There are several types of resistance one can use to develop a solid strength base. Dumbbells, Kettlebells, and bodyweight resistance all work great, but these implements have their limitations. To develop true strength, the barbell is king. The reason the previous three are limited is a simple physics lesson. The more force you can generate, the stronger you are. Since force (F) = mass (M) x acceleration (a), the more mass (weights) you are able to move, the greater your force output. Due to the increased stability demands of dumbbells for example, you will never be able to handle as much weight with dumbbells as you can with the barbell.
I can take this one step further and make this a question of work (W) performed. Work (W) = force (F) x distance (d). Take the typical fat loss client for example. The goal of any fat loss program is to increase energy expenditure so one is operating at a caloric deficit. In order to accomplish this, one has to do a lot of work (W). A fat loss client can greatly benefit from getting stronger especially while using the barbell because the barbell allows one to do more work (in less time I might add) than dumbbells or bodyweight. So to recap:
W = F x d
F = Ma
W = (Ma)d
Confused yet? It's ok, I'm a geek so I like this sort of thing. Putting it into layman's terms:
More Strength = Ability to do more Work = You are more awesome
How can you not love this?
If you are interested in learning more about barbell training, I recommend Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, and 5/3/1 by JimWendler. Anything written by Dan John is pure gold as well. They are right at the top of my all time favorite strength development books. I've read them all several times.
Before I get too carried away, I'm going to end here. Among the sea of information present in society, its easy to get overwhelmed and lose sight of what training is at its core. How do you think the Egyptians build the pyramids? How did the Incans and Mayans build their ancient cities? They lifted a bunch of heavy shit and put it together! People get so wrapped up in corrective exercise, interval training protocols, endurance training, sets and reps. As a fitness professional, I believe when we strip away all the fads it all boils down to accomplishing one simple thing. Getting stronger.
Enjoy the weekend!
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