Training for Total Fitness
Training for total fitness means following a program that improves all five components of fitness: strength, power, agility, endurance, and flexibility. Here’s a closer look at each of these components.
What Is Strength?
Strength is a basic component of all human movement. Its definition can be confusingly broad, and its term is used to describe many things in the world. In the context of human movement, strength can be displayed under many conditions; it can be expressed in the form of speed, or it can be produced repetitively and be called endurance.
As functional human beings, we possess many strength qualities, but for the sake of simplification, we will refer to strength solely as “the ability to produce maximal force against an external resistance.”
Strength is an important quality to develop and optimize, because it enables you to lift, push, or pull something heavy. When these actions occur in daily life, you must be prepared for it. Strength makes many tasks easier to handle.
Examples of Strength
Maybe it is a true story or maybe it is urban legend, but “the desperate mother who lifted a car to save the life of her child” displayed a feat of strength. Though we hope you will never encounter a situation like this, we know that there are times when you must lift or move something very heavy. You can rent equipment to do the job or round up a few good Samaritans, but what if those options are not available and the heavy object in question needs to be moved, pronto? If you are strong, chances are that you can accomplish this task. If your body is strong, you can avoid injury while doing it, but if not, the potential for injury is great, and the chances of moving that heavy object are small.
Strength does not have to be represented by brute force, being the Charles Atlas of feats, or being the workhorse of getting things done. Strength can be represented in a father hoisting his child in his strong arms, creating a sentimental experience that is stored forever in the child’s mind. Strength can be one measure of the many positive changes that result from a workout program, or it can offer feedback to indicate you are on the right track to losing fat and becoming lean. For some of us, strength can simply be fuel for the ego, but for all of us, strength is fuel for the real world.
Measure Your Strength
Many techniques have been developed to measure strength: two common tests are the back squat and the bench press. These tests are also excellent exercises that are used by athletes and people who want to get strong and stay strong.
The back squat is used to assess strength in the lower body (hips and legs), and it is a great test for determining strength in the back and torso. Because of these requirements, we at Workout-X consider this a test for nearly the entire body.
View Back Squat Exercise
The bench press is used to assess strength in the upper body (chest, shoulders, and arms). Performing the bench press requires stabilization of the shoulder girdles—the shoulder blade (scapula), collar bone (clavicle), and humeral head or top of the arm bone—which, when done correctly, requires the involvement of the rotator muscles of the shoulder joints and the large muscles of the upper back (latissimus dorsi). Without the participation of these other muscles to provide “checks and balances” for the primary working muscles, the bench press would not be possible. We consider the bench press a great, all-around upper body test.
View Bench Press Exercise
Put Strength in Your Life!
• Strength makes you a more functional human being.
• Strength allows you to lower the risk of injury.
• Strength allows you to use more of your muscles.
• By using more of your muscles, strength allows you to burn more calories.
• Strength assists with weight management.
• Strength gives you more confidence.
• Having strength makes you feel good.
