So…you want to forge that body of steel? Learn about Strength and what you can do to achieve it.

What is strength anyway? That question is asked by a lot of people who are just getting started in their quest for fitness. There are many textbooks written by many masters in the field devoted to this very topic. Basically, strength is a fundamental part of human activity and its development is important for all of us as a society. It is necessary for such a diverse group of people ranging from the man carrying 8 bags of groceries to his apartment in a 6 story walk-up to the Olympic athlete competing in the heptathlon.

According to  the late Dr. Mel Siff “Strength can be defined as the ability of a muscle or a group of muscles to generate force under specific conditions.” Said differently, it is the ability of a group of muscles to do work on a given load.

Another definition of strength is the maximal force that a muscle group can generate at a given speed.

O.k…so here’s the deal…essentially it is your ability to move ANY object from point A to B. And it doesn’t matter whether it is your own body or the 8 bags of groceries mentioned.

Now, unless you are an athlete or work in a profession where some physical strength is necessary, you probably want to know…What does it have to do with me? I did mention above that strength is a fundamental part of human activity, but I will be a bit more dramatic….
Strength Is Essential For Our SURVIVAL.…OK intelligence is also necessary to apply the strength in the most efficient way, but that’s to be saved for another discussion.

We do indeed live in a time in which technology has allowed us to adopt more of a sedentary lifestyle. BUT there may be time when you need to be physically strong to help you overcome a precarious situation. I am not talking about the strength  of pushing 200 pounds on your selectorized weight machines. What I am talking about is FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH. The strength that you gain from practicing movements that are closely related to a real life activity such as picking up a weight from the floor and pressing it overhead. There are also rudimentary skills that we share with our primate cousins such as climbing, swinging, running , swimming, and wrestling that are important when living the challenging life in the jungle. So, it is important to develop the different types of strength so that you may easily adapt to changes in an unpredictable world.

I’ll list for you the different types of strength and give you an example of each.

• Maximum Strength is just like it sounds. It is your ability to apply as much force as possible to a given weight. In sports, you think of the powerlifters who do lift impressive weights. When thinking about real life, you think of the parent turning over a car to save a child. While this is a special case and other nervous system factors are involved, it is important to train your body to become as strong as possible. Your maximum strength will be expressed in the other types of strength that are listed below.
• Explosive Strength is producing a large amount of force in a short amount of time. Any movement that involves throwing, striking, or jumping falls under this category. This is also very important in a self defense situation.
• Speed Strength is how quickly you are able to perform a movement against a load whether it is your own body or another object. Again in sports, this could be the 40 yard dash, or lateral cone drills. In self defense, that could certainly mean throwing a 3 punch combination as quickly as possible
• Strength Endurance is either holding a position for a long period of time as in wrestling or performing an exercise during a specified time. Ever tried running the 400 meter dash? That is a good test of strength endurance. Also kettlebell sport in which the athlete must perform a lift for 10 minutes is another great muscular endurance test. The good old fashioned pushup and situp tests tell you a lot about your local muscle endurance.

Here is a demonstration of absolute strength.  This is when lifting as much as you possibly can counts for something; to save a loved one’s life .

Explosive Strength is at work here.  You have to admire how the athlete soars to his country’s record in this photo.

The receivers and defensive backs positions on the NFL are known for their Speed Strength. This 40 yard dash was clocked at 4.25 seconds!!

Edwin Moses in the 1984 Olympics

The 400 meter hurdles is a race that requires both strength and endurance.   Absolutely brutal!

How do you put it together to get that strong toned body that you have been looking for?
I know that some of you have heard the one about the man in New York asking for directions to Carnegie Hall. He stopped a New Yorker and asked,”Sir, do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?” The New Yorker looked up and responded “Practice my man, practice.” Yes it is true. You are going to have to practice a bit to gain the benefits of each phase of your strength training regimen. Luckily for you, this isn’t going to happen all at once. You are going to have to go through phases just like the pros to get the most out your strength training.
AND…more importantly, you won’t burn out and lose motivation after only a few days. Often times it is the mistake of the novice to do too much too soon. This can often times result in an injury.

It is my purpose to have you implement these phases of training anywhere. I understand that you may not have the time or desire to always get to the gym. This is why I want all of you to go now and grab a set of KETTLEBELLS. The kettlebell is truly your own portable fitness center. So, you can train in your living room, office, or even at the beach. If you had any reservations (excuses) about your time committment, your kettlebells will give you the solution.

Let’s learn about the strength training phases and some examples of the drills that you will do in each phase.

• Adaptation Phase In the adaptation phase, you will learn new exercises like the kettlebell swing, the Turkish get-up, the kettlebell press and squat. You’ll review some old standbys like the pushup, pullup, and burpee. And finally you’ll learn new movement patterns such as joint mobility drills which are movements based on martial arts techniques. This phase will take about 6-8 weeks and CANNOT be overlooked. You are preparing your connective tissue to take the stress of the phases that will follow. Also, the mobility techniques that you will practice should address any movement restrictions in your joints, assuming that they are healthy, as well as instabilities resulting from tight or weak muscles.
  Please note: If you are under a physician’s care for a musculoskeletal or internal disorder, please get permission before starting any exercise program.
  Your base levels of strength and cardiovascular conditioning should definitely increase. In the adaptation phase, you will perform all of the exercises in a circuit meaning that the exercises are to be done back to back with a relatively light weight for 2-3 sets depending on your level of conditioning. Example
  1. Kettlebell Swings (Swings) x 10
  2. Pushups x 10
  3. Swings x 10
  4. Turkish Getups 2 per side
  5. Kettlebell presses x 5 per side
  6. Burpees x 10
  7. 1 minute of rope
  8. Repeat 2-3 times

  Of course some more kettlebell drills will be added as your technique improves, but this is a good start an introductory phase to your strength training.

• Maximum Strength Phase This is the point in your training in which you will learn to train with heavier loads. In this phase it is important to note that you will do no more than 5 repetitions per set with a 3-5 minute rest between sets.
  Why is it not necessary to do more than 5 repetitions? Well, training with near maximum weights involves the central nervous system (cns) and it takes a bit longer to recover than the skeletal system does. Without the CNS, you lose the ability to have optimal nerve impulses sent to the muscles during a given lift resulting in impaired performance. Besides, the energy that is used during strength training also takes longer to be replenished. Note: You are still able to do some interval training during this phase. The following example is adapted from master trainer Pavel Tsatsouline:
  1. 1 arm Kettlebell Clean and Press 3 sets of 5 repetitions (3×5)
  2. Pullups 3,2,1,1
  3. 2 Kettlebell Sumo deadlift (3×5)

  In this example, you would progressively overload the repetitions in the exercises until you are able to finish 5 sets of 5 in the kettlebell lifts and are able to do pullups for sets of 5,4,3,2,1. Once you have achieved this, increase the weight and start again at 3×3 for the kettlebell lifts. For the pullups, add a set of 4 so that you are doing a session of 4,3,2,1. You can do these drills 3-4 times per week

• Speed Phase:In this phase it should be your goal to practice a movement as fast as you possibly can for a short time duration. It is important to learn how to use the strength that you developed from the previous phase and apply it in a coordinated movement. Here you’ll do a base strength routine at the beginning of the session then you will practice an explosive movement for 10-20 seconds. Examples:
  1. Kettlebell Floor presses 2×5, Renegade Rows 2×5 Medicine ball chest passes 10 sets of 20 seconds with a 2 minute recovery time between sets. Note:If your performance starts to drop off during the chest passes, stop the session for the day
  2. Kettlebell Goblet squats 2×5, Single leg deadlifts 2×5, Kettlebell swings 10×20 seconds(the movement should be fast and explosive). Again when the performance fades, stop.The following is one of my favorite drills when I practice speed:
  3. Single leg squats with a moderate weight 2×5, 2 foot hops 2×3 (I try to cover 15-20 feet in 3 consecutive hops) and Roundhouse kicks10x10seconds on the heavy bag.
• Strength Endurance Phase The goal is to increase your work capacity to perform tasks over a long period of time. Examples include:
  1. VO2 Max Snatch Protocol as designed by Master trainer Kenneth Jay. In the initial protocol, you must snatch the kettlebell a specified number of times (cMVO2) in 15 seconds followed by a 15 second rest. This protocol continues until you have reached 80 sets. Let me tell you…this is not an easy task!
  2. Circuit Training Boxers and mixed martial artists have employed this method of training for a long time. Essentially, you are going to take 6-8 exercises and perform them in a sequence for rounds of 3,5, or 10 minutes. Example:
     • Group 1 Kettlebell swings + 3 punch combo
     • Group 2 2 Kettlebell Push Presses + Burpees
     • Group 3 2 KB High Pulls + Body Slams w/ grappling dummyHere, you will perform the first exercise in Group 1 and continue until your output drops then move to the next exercise. You will continue to rotate through each drill until you have completed a 5 minute round. Rest 1 minute and repeat up to 5 rounds.
  3. Stackers I have “borrowed” variations of this from many great coaches. The objective here is to perform 30 seconds of an exercise followed by 30 seconds of rest. You will add 30 seconds of another drill to the sequence followed by a 30 second rest. So, you’ll perform these exercises in a consecutive sequence, until you have stacked 6-10 exercises together. For example:
     1. 30 seconds KB Swings 30 seconds rest
     2. 30 seconds swings, 30 seconds 2 KB burpees, 30 seconds rest
     3. swings, burpees, goblet squats, 30 seconds rest
     4. swings, burpees, goblet squats, pushups, 30 seconds rest

     Continue the pattern until you have 6-10 exercises. When you have completed the entire pattern, take a 1 minute break and go for it again up to 3 or 4 times. I believe that it will feel exhilarating!

IMPORTANT

As you go through these different phases, it is important that you listen to your body. If something is causing pain BACK OFF. If you are in the middle of a drill and you feel that you “don’t have it” that particular session, BACK OFF. If you start to develop colds or digestive issues as a result of training, BACK OFF. These are all signs of overtraining. While the list is not comprehensive, you get the idea that if something doesn’t feel right, DON’T DO IT. The damage that you will cause yourself is not a temporary condition.

The phases are designed to give your body and nervous system “breaks” so that you will be positioned to make more gains in your conditioning. It should also be noted that you should take an ACTIVE REST (no couch surfing) between each phase to recover.
You can roughly follow these phases with examples of the exercises that are given, or you get some assistance with your program. You can contact me if you would like an online coaching program, or if you are in Chicago, stop by my studio.

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