We strength train to become stronger and to develop more muscle mass or at least preserve the muscle we have. Regardless of whether you want muscles that pop, you need your muscles to stay strong. With strength comes functionality! But even with the most consistent training, there are limits to how much strength you can gain and how much force your muscles can generate. But no matter what strength we start with, we can become stronger through consistent training.
Strength, Absolute Strength, and Maximum Strength
What is strength anyway? In terms of bodybuilding, strength is the ability to generate force. A stronger person will generate more force when they contract their muscles than a weak one. Absolute force is the greatest amount of force a person’s muscles, tendons, and bones can theoretically develop. It’s the upper limit of what is possible to generate and even the strongest, most diligent bodybuilder will never achieve this level of strength. It’s more of a theoretical than something achievable.
Instead, we focus more on maximum strength, the maximum force a person can generate with conscious effort. The gold standard for measuring maximum strength is the one-rep max, a test that determines the most weight you can lift for a single repetition. It’s the greatest resistance you can lift, pull, or push a single time using an acceptable form. You can do a one-rep max test using upper and lower body movements as well as compound or isolation exercises.
However, the one-rep max test has some limitations, especially in untrained people. A person who hasn’t worked out with weights before has a higher risk of injury when they perform a one-rep max test. Therefore, some fitness trainers use a formula to predict one-rep max based on how many repetitions an individual can perform using a weight under their one-rep max. One such formula called the Epley formula is:
1RM = (0.033 x RTF x resistance) + resistance
RTF is the number of repetitions and the resistance is the weight used. For example, a person who can do 10 repetitions using a 45-kilogram weight would have a one-rep max of 59.85 kilograms.
1RM = (0.033 x 10 x 45 kg) + 45 kg = 59.85 kilograms.
If you do the test correctly, 59.85 kilograms would be the most you could lift and complete one repetition. It’s also your maximum strength.
Under extreme circumstances, you might exceed your maximum strength. You may have read about people when in a life-threatening situation muster up the strength to exceed their maximum strength. You’ve probably heard stories of an average-sized person lifting a car off someone! In these situations, the fight-or-flight component of the nervous system kicks into high gear and you can for a brief period do what seems impossible. So, there are cases where we can exceed our maximum strength but it’s not something you can do consciously.
It’s Not Just Your Muscles that Determine Force Generation
Our muscles and tendons impose limits on how much we force we can generate but these peripheral components are just a part of the equation. Your nervous plays a key role in how much force your muscles can generate. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Everything starts with a command from your brain. When you first begin a strength training program, you become stronger before your muscles grow. These initial strength gains are because of nervous system adaptations. In fact, in nervous system adaptations account for 90% of strength gains during the first two weeks of strength training.
How do these nervous system adaptations take place? In response to strength training, your brain and nerves learn to recruit the necessary muscles more efficiently and teach them to work better together. The motor units that innervate the muscles increase their firing rates and fire with greater synchronicity. Plus, repeated training reduces the activity of Golgi tendon organs, the components that guard a muscle against injury. The Golgi lies where muscles and tendons meet and have a sensory function. If they sense overstretching of a muscle, they fire and that shortens the muscle to protect against injury. If you can override the input from the Golgi tendon organs, you have less inhibition of muscle force generation and the muscle can produce more force.
So, you need not increase the size of a muscle for it to generate more force. Training also changes the neurological input to the muscle. What goes on in our brain can also limit your ability to generate force. For example, if you have a fear of lifting weights, your brain may inhibit your muscles and limit how much you can lift. That’s where belief and thought patterns come into play. Your mind plays a role in how much you can lift too!
As you can see, most strength gains during the first few weeks come from changes in the nervous system input to the muscles. After three weeks or so of consistent training, your muscles start to change too. The stimulus of training increases the thickness of the muscle fibers that produce force and the muscle becomes stronger. A load that was once a challenge to lift now becomes easier. However, if you keep training with that load and don’t increase the resistance, the number of reps or alter the training stimulus you won’t continue to make gains. Muscles grow in response to the stimulus you place on them and that stimulus must be progressive. If you don’t give a muscle a reason to grow bigger, it won’t.
You also have to supply your muscles with the nutritional building blocks they need to grow, amino acids from protein and enough calories to create an anabolic environment. In addition, muscles need enough rest between workouts to repair and grow.
The Bottom Line
Now you know what absolute strength is and how if differs from maximum strength. You also have a better idea of how muscles grow and what they need to continue to increase in size and become stronger. Keep training and using progressive overload and you’ll continue to make gains. After all, you never know when you’ll be in a situation where you need Herculean strength!
References:
- Scientific American. “When Fear Makes Us Super Human”
- org. “Principles of Training”
- On Fitness. January/February 2015. “The Neurological Side of Strength”
Related Articles By Cathe:
Absolute vs. Maximal Strength: Why You’re a Lot Stronger Than You Think
Can You Build Strength Lifting Lighter Weights?
5 Biggest Myths about Female Strength Training
Are Some People Non-Responders to Strength Training?
Strength Training: Avoid These 5 Mistakes When Lifting Heavy
Related Cathe Friedrich Workout DVDs:
STS Strength 90 Day Workout Program
All of Cathe’s Strength & Toning Workout DVDs
Total Body Workouts
Lower Body Workouts
Upper Body Workouts