The Beginner’s Guide to Strength Training (Part 14 of 30): How Strong Is Too Strong?

This article marks a huge shift in this series: we’re going to talk more about the philosophy of strength training as opposed to just the nuts and bolts. We’ve come a long way in learning the exercises; how things like power, conditioning, and adaptations work; and the many different ways of periodization — now we’ll detail what goes behind a strength training program, troubleshooting (which is a big part of what coaches do), and programming for different goals.

Today, we’ll start by answering an all-too-common question among strength and conditioning coaches:

How Strong Is Too Strong In Strength Training?

There’s a “point of diminishing returns” for strength. (That’s an Economics term so bear with me.) Basically, that means the stronger you get, the less benefits you’ll get. For example, if you’re weak, gaining strength will give you huge benefits; when you’re already strong, however, gaining more will have less benefits.

Let’s imagine a collegiate soccer player — say a striker. Can she benefit from increasing her squat from 75lbs to 135lbs?

Sure!

We talked ad nasuem about adaptations, but here’s a quick recap of the overall benefits she’ll develop with more strength:

• More muscle mass (slow-twitch and fast-twitch)
• Better inter- and intramuscular coordination
• Better motor recruitment within the muscle fibers
• Stronger joints, tendons, and ligaments
• Better movement patterns (if she’s using correct technique)

She’ll run faster, run longer, recover better, resist fatigue, and reduce injury risks. (“Umm, winning.”) Can she get the same – if not more – benefit from driving up her squat to 225lb?

Not necessarily.

Sure, she’ll get strong as hell. But for her sport, that might not be optimal. You’ll know you’re too strong when the risks outweigh the benefits.

Risk/Reward

First, let’s look at the demands of their sport.

Using the previous example, soccer players generally have a strong lower-body, but a relatively weaker upper-body (especially for females). Should a female soccer player lift with a 225lb weight on her spine?

What about a male football player? A 300lb squat might be a-okay. (Heck, some of the guys weigh that much.) What about a 500lb squat? He may be able to do it, but it’s rougher on the joints, tendons, and ligaments.

And finally, what about an Olympic weightlifter? Pictured above is China’s 85kg Lu Yong — you better believe he wants to get as strong and powerful as he possibly can in his lifts, injuries be damned.

For the rest of us mere mortals and athletes, follow these guidelines:

Strength Standards (1RM):

Back Squat: 1.5 x bodyweight
Bench Press: 1.25 x bodyweight
Deadlift: 2 x bodyweight
Overhead Press: 0.85 x bodyweight

If you’re not here yet, get here — this is the baseline that most athletes should reach. For a 200lb athlete, his 1RM on these lifts should be at least:

Back Squat: 300
Bench Press: 250
Deadlift: 400
Overhead Press: 170

There will be slight differences, however, from athlete to athlete. A person with really long arms, for example, will be at a mechanical advantage in the deadlift, but a mechanical disadvantage for the bench press. Also, a baseball player – or any overhead athlete, really – might not benefit from overhead presses (or even bench presses) because of the stress they put on the shoulders. Again, it depends on the sport.

Regardless, you still need to focus on build a solid level of strength. The benefits are enormous.

Now — what happens when you easily beat those numbers and have an awesome level of strength?

• Incorporate more unilateral training.

  Unilateral training – or training one limb at a time – builds strength with less stress on the body. I talked about this in Part 7, but basically, you’ll reduce spinal load, spare the lower back, develop more stability, and fix imbalances.

  Which leads us to…

• Incorporate more injury prevention.

  A lot of what they do at the highest level of sport is injury prevention — strengthening weak links, maintaining and improving movement patterns, and activating problem areas (glutes, shoulder girdle, etc).

• Occam’s Razor.

  Where you’re gaining size and strength, your strength training program will have phases with a lot of volume and intensity. When you’re maintaining size and strength, however, you won’t need as much volume.

  For an athlete with a great strength base, err on the side of simplicity.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.

– Albert Einstein

Most People Aren’t Strong Enough

Lou Schuler once said that most people need to add lean muscle mass (including women). And he’s absolutely right. Understand that if you aren’t at those strength standards, it should be your priority — I’ve seen too many young athletes that miss this because they want to do the “sexy stuff” first when they built a foundation of strength.

But once you get strong, the focus shouldn’t just be on increasing strength. Unless you’re a strength athlete – a powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, etc – focus on safer movements that builds strength with less risks on your body.

You’ll be glad you did.

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Stay tuned for the next article in this series where I talk about dealing with injuries. This part is huge. Almost every client I have is dealing with some injury (preexisting, thankyouverymuch) — yet, through a lot of study and patience, I’ve been able to train around issues either maintaining the status quo and even fixing the problem. You don’t want to miss that article.

Throughout this seres, I’m sure you’ll have a lot of questions, so be sure to ask using the comment section of this post. Feel free to reach out to me via Facebook and Twitter to get your question answered. See you soon!