Strength

Sweet mother of Jesus Christ, I have never met an attribute as misunderstood as this one. Working on a construction site, I heard so many myths that could barely handle.

“You don’t need strength. Technique is king here!” or “Why do you need strength at all? Its for losers.” or this wonderful classic “Don’t train for maximum strength, it kills your joints and destroys your health. Do Endurance instead.”

And the most shocking fact about this is, I heard these literally EVERYWHERE. Even from advanced athletes. Even I believed in some of the myths for many years until I hit a wall that I couldn’t overcome and searched for the reasons as to why it happened.

 

Value of Strength

The truth is, strength is THE most important attribute there is for all aspects in our lives. It is THE currency that every other attribute depends on. And to show you that we will make a thought experiment:

Let’s say you can lift 200 lbs once for strength. How many times can you do 20 reps for endurance? Probably around 140lbs. What if I granted you the power of the Gods and you could lift 1000lbs once, how much weight would you lift for 20 reps? Probably around 800lbs?…

Now, by the same example, you have the power of the Gods in your muscles, how many times can you lift 140 lbs?… 100 reps? 120 reps? But more importantly, how did maximum strength RAISE your endurance to such a degree, just logically speaking? Hmm…

Another one. Lets say you pull an object behind you, a tire. It weighs 50 lbs and you sprint for 50 yards in 30 seconds. Your maximum squat is 200 lbs. Again, we imagine I give you the power of Olympus, you gain a 1000lbs squat. Same tire, same bodyweight and tire weight, same distance, and so on. We raised only the one rep max of the squat.

What time would it take for you to sprint? Hmm…

So, following simple logic, Strength is a huge component of every other attribute. But why?

 

What is Strength in Science?

The currency for everything is Strength. Without Strength, you cannot have Endurance because if Strength equals zero, then you cannot jog at all.

If there is no Strength, there is no speed.

If there is no Strength, there is no neural adaptation.

Furthermore, Strength must be applied to have muscle Growth.

Certain amount of Strength must also be applied to improve Health.

Yes, you read it right, Health. What attribute holds the structure together, no matter what happens? What attribute holds the spine when you lift 500lbs? What attribute holds your vertebra in its place when completely overused and hindering from slipping and throwing you into world of hurt? Its pure Strength.

Still not convinced? Let me give you an info bomb:

• Increases Bone Density: Heavy resistance training stimulates bone remodeling by applying mechanical stress to bones, triggering osteoblast activity (bone-building cells). This increases bone mineral density, reducing the risk of osteoporosis and fractures, particularly in aging populations.

• Enhances Muscle Mass and Function: Maximum strength training promotes muscle hypertrophy and improves neuromuscular efficiency, leading to greater muscle strength and power. This supports daily activities, improves metabolic health, and reduces age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia).

• Boosts Metabolic Health: Strength training increases resting metabolic rate due to higher muscle mass, aiding in weight management and fat loss. It also improves insulin sensitivity, reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

• Improves Joint and Connective Tissue Health: Heavy lifting strengthens tendons, ligaments, and cartilage by increasing collagen synthesis and load-bearing capacity. This enhances joint stability, reduces injury risk, and supports long-term mobility, especially when protecting structures like spinal discs.
• Enhances Mental Health and Resilience: Maximum strength training stimulates the release of endorphins and promotes a sense of accomplishment, reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. It also builds mental toughness and confidence, contributing to overall psychological well-being.

 

Myths about Strength Training

Now, you are wondering as to how you never heard of this “Wunderwaffe” before. Unfortunately, this information got lost within a whirlpool of propaganda. Mainly, popularization of bodybuilding (pumping 8 to 12) and nonsensical methods by the industry, influencers, and fitness gurus that have been propagating Aesthetics rather than max. Strength.

Let me extensively address one:

“Endurance is healthy”

I had many exchanges with people who stated that Endurance is for health and Strength training is mostly useless or for “young people” who need to impress the girls with their muscle. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The thing is, Endurance AND Strength training both contribute to health and well being in their own different ways. 

According to the study “Effects of Combined Endurance and Resistance Training on Health-Related Outcomes in Older Adults“, participants who engaged in both endurance and resistance training showed significant improvements in muscular strength and endurance, enhanced cardiovascular fitness, greater reductions in body fat percentage and increases in lean muscle mass and in better performance on functional tasks, compared to those who participated in only one form of exercise.

In other words, the sheer comparison between those two is completely wrong thinking. The human body benefits from all forms of training that have a unique angle to benefit the body. Again, its not about one versus the other, its about overall Intensity! 

Here is a study, “Acute and overuse injuries correlated to hours of training in master running athletes“, that took elite runners as an example and found that overuse injuries were far more common than acute injuries, with the Achilles tendon and knees being the most frequently affected areas.

Nearly half of the runners experienced anterior knee pain at some point in their careers, highlighting that high-intensity endurance training carries a substantial risk of chronic joint and tendon problems. 

So much for “Healthy Endurance”, right? 

 

Training and Experience

Now, to close off the article, I urge you to experiment for yourself. Many things can be discovered even by accident and other will be logically concluded. And in the end, you will know not just from a blogpost like this or any one out there, but from your own experience and you will have 100 percent confidence behind it.

On this note, I thank you for being here and reading the article. At this point, all you need to know now is HOW to train, which will be addressed in further articles. 

 

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PEACE!