When discussing fitness, I divide into categories. 1.) Relative Strength, 2.) Muscular Endurance, 3.) VO2max, and 4.) Metabolic Flexibility.
Relative strength refers to how much weight you can lift relative to your bodyweight. Muscular endurance is ability to repeat the movement pattern without compromising the technique of the exercise. VO2 max is ability for your body to utilize oxygen during the physical exertion. Metabolic flexibility is capability for the body to utilize fatty acid and glucose as energy.
In this article I will be covering basics of how to improve relative strength.
Difference Between Strength Training and Muscular Endurance Training
Difference between strength training and muscular endurance training is the load or weight. Strength training is focusing on how much weight you can move with proper technique. So, focus is more on amount of weight you can lift rather than repetitions.
Muscular endurance and hypertrophy, increase muscle size, training is focusing more on total amount of repetitions to stimulate muscles. Therefore, often time you will feel burn or soreness after the exercise and training is done.
Strength training on the other hand is working with nervous system along with muscle contraction. Therefore, amount of volume you can lift will be minimized. After the training you may not have same burning sensation as you do with muscular endurance training, however, you may feel fatigued do to challenging the muscle but also a nervous system.
Type of Exercises
Although strength training can be done in any form of exercises, however, there are certain exercises that are more effective. Those are squats, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, and rows. These exercises are in category of compound movements, which means you will be using multiple muscle groups.
Tools you can use may vary according to your preference and what you are wanting to accomplish. If you do not like back squat, then you can do leg press or split squats. If you don’t like barbell bench press, then you can do dumbbell bench press. There is more than one way to strength train.
Important thing to keep in mind is, try to work on your entire body within the week.
Quality of Exercise Matters
Just because you are lifting heavier weight, that doesn't mean that you can lower the quality of exercise. If you have joint issues, make sure to correct them rather than working through them.
Common joint issues that lowers the quality of squat are ankle stiffness, range of motion in knees, and lower back problem with hip tightness. These problems need to be addressed or it can lead to medical issue in a future.
Fixing the issue may seem to take time, however, you can strengthen the muscles that are necessary to with squat while you are correcting those issues. You can always use other exercises to improve strength for squat or whatever exercise you want to improve on. Never compromise the quality of exercise or you will be visiting doctors more frequently.
Progressive Overload
Progression in strength training will be lifting heavier weight than you've done before without losing the technique.
For example, if you were able to do dumbbell shoulder press with 10lb on each hand for 5 repetitions last week and you're able to perform same 5 reps with 12.5lb dumbbells then you have progressed in strength.
Depending on the type of the lift, progress can be fast or slow. Initially, spend 2-3 weeks to get comfortable with the weight you are lifting, then you can challenge for heavier weight. How much weight to increase can vary from type of lift as well, however, 2.5-10lb increase at a time should be sufficient.
If you have been working with same weight for a while, then it may be good time to increase the weight.
Rep, Sets and Rest
Repetitions in strength training can range from 1-6 repetitions. Number of sets can be from 4-10 sets. Number of sets and reps for strength training can vary from person to person. Something to consider is your experience, fitness level, and purpose.
Rest between sets can be anywhere from 2-8 minutes. It is longer than muscular endurance and hypertrophy training because you want to make sure to perform as same as the previous sets.
Frequency & Recovery
Frequency of strength training can be from 2-4 times per week. You may split the workout into upper body day and lower body day, push and pull, or based on exercise that you want to focus on that day.
Ideally, you want to give a muscle group 1-2 days of rest day. So, if you are scheduling 3 strength training sessions, for example, it may look like:
Monday – Leg Day
Wednesday – Push Day (Chest, Shoulder, Triceps)
Friday – Pull Day (Back, Biceps)
This may depend on your recovery time from session to session and can be adjusted accordingly. Also, nutrition, sleep, light cardio, and mobility work during your rest day become important to recover properly. Poor sleep and nutrition habits can cause recovery to slow down and may lead to unnecessary injury.
Kota Shimada
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