In previous posts I have talked about what tends to make up an ideal physical capacity for folks (see HERE for more on that).
And, within those posts I listed out what you may need in order to have the best chance at avoiding injury, strain or struggle with whatever level of living you may be looking to take on.
How strong you may need to be…
How flexible you may need to be…
How steady you may need to be…
And, how much endurance you may do well to have.
That list of four capacities was something that I had put together after years of not only helping folks rehabilitate whatever problem they may be experiencing, but also by observing the folks that seemed resilient to experiencing the very same problems occurring in the first place
Now, of those four, it is the pursuit of the first… strength… that I have found to provide not only the greatest return on investment, but also to end up laying the foundation and groundwork for the other three when done well.
It is also the one that by and large I experience many folks to have the most hesistance about both valuing its pursuit, as well as understanding what exactly it is to be strong. This is probably due to a cultural misunderstanding of strength more than anything else.
I can say this because I could count at least a half dozen separate conversations that I have had with various clients over the past week alone, where they were struggling to understand exactly where the minimums and maximums of their own pursuit of strength may be.
They wondered how hard should they push it?
How much should they do?
How much is too much?
How much is just right?
The thing is though, all of these questions could be answered if there was a clear understanding of what exactly it was to be strong… not solely in terms of a quantity… but in terms of a quality.
You see, to be strong is very similar to being kind, compassionate, calm or even curious.
It is far more a quality than a quantity… despite us having many ways to quantify it (see HERE, HERE, and HERE for a few of those).
What exactly is that quality?
Well it is quite simple, and when wielded any of us could spot it from a hundred feet away…
To be strong is to both have and maintain composure while engaging in a difficult task.
It is by its defining posture an expression of unyielding intention, while maintaining the utmost of dignity.
It is not a wild expression of physical effort and output… far from it.
That would be berserk by the way…
This is what I mean when I state in the title of this article that strength is not always what most people think.
You see, strength by definition requires restraint.
You could do more, however you do not.
You only do exactly what is necessary to accomplish what you are attempting to.
No more… no less.
This is understood because experience has taught you that if you do more than necessary would likely get ugly, and to do less would not be acceptable. After all… you have things you would actually like to accomplish.
Did you note that crucial word… experience?
You see, you must have some appreciation of what strong actually is in order pursue it, and in order to fully appreciate it you have to have some skin in the game… and actually pursue getting stronger yourself.
And… as you do actually pursue it you will be confronted with how difficult it is to actually be strong.
And so that is the big thing that would answer all the questions that those half dozen folks asked…
In order to both become strong and be strong, you must do hard things.
And with that, you must do hard things well.
You see, building a stronger body… regardless of how you are measuring or expressing it, is no different than learning to play an instrument or speak a foreign language.
You need to learn the basics first, and with the ideal that you are aiming for.
Once you are able to grasp that though, it is mainly a rep dependent process.
And whether we like it or not, strength is gained at its own pace.
That is just how it goes.
You cannot control how many reps, or how long the process may be.
You have to do the reps, and you have to give your body the time it needs to adapt.
So the formula is simple…
Do the work, and it must be work.
It must be hard… and do it well.
Do it in a pace that allows you to do it well.
Be interested in what it is to do it well…
Once you have that under your belt… then do it a lot.
How much?
Simple… a lot.
Do not ask how long you may have to do it for… just do it.
And then, if you do that… if you actually do it day in and day out… it will eventually get easier.
That is just how it goes.
I make no apologies about this, as should no one else.
After all… within this life time we tend to get what we pay for.
However, if you are willing to pay the price of “sweat equity” for the goal of strength… you will absolutely be rewarded.
Do you want to get more flexible?
Well you may indeed need to stretch whatever tissue that needs to move more than it seems to be. However, even if you do succeed in getting that tissue to move more… it does not mean it will have any idea of what to do with that new freedom. After all, all that holding a stretch for a period or time tends to do it teach a muscle to give up
Would you like to be able to endure more in your daily life? To not be so taxed by the demands of your day to day?
Well there are two ways to attempt to accomplish this… the first is to simple attempt to endure as long as you can at whatever endeavor you are aiming to have some mastery over. If you can survive this approach without injury, then over time this does tend to build endurance.
However, most folks will experience plenty of injury with this approach.
Because of this, the better and more reliable way to improve endurance is to build your base of strength to endure upon. After all, if you can hike 5 miles with a 75lb pack on your back, then hiking 10 miles without it will be very achievable.
Perhaps you would like to be steadier, to have better balance?
Well I have observed no better teacher for sensing how to interact with the ground than via a weight squishing you down into it. With that, I have found not better way to wake up the sleepy postural muscles that help pull us away from the ground than a weight or two latched onto a body through a movement.
Yes, despite what Readers Digest may suggest… strength training does work better than standing on one leg while brushing your teeth.
The fact of the matter is this… strength training, when done well tends to do a much better job an anchoring us into the earth than most other approaches.
The only downside is that the work is hard, and the rewards are not overnight.
Worse things have happened.
And so, I will leave you with this additional piece of unrequested advice… provided by many people over the years, said in many different ways.
Relationships are hard… and being isolated is hard.
Obesity is hard… and being physically fit is hard.
Being in debt is hard… and being financially disciplined is hard.
Communication is hard… and not communicating is hard.
Life will never be easy… and it may often be hard.
However…sometimes… we can choose our hard.
I hope you are comfortable, able… and I hope you are well.