By: Nick Izzo
Muscles. Do we want strong muscles or muscles with a lot of endurance? This question is answered in workout tests that will differ depending on what you are looking for. Strength is a category that looks to one group of muscles to see just how much force it can possibly put out. Strength tests are normally done with the heaviest weight a person can possibly do 3 times. There is also the one rep max test also referred to as 1 RM. This is how much weight a person can do just one time. This is always fun to watch when the huge guy steps up to the bench and throws on 315 pounds does some grunts to get everyone’s attention and then does it. I mean it actually is impressive though. But there are some downsides to just pure strength and this one rep max test. These 1 RM tests hold an increase in injury. People normally put on as much weight as they think they can do then let gravity bring the bar down to their chest and let it bounce on their chest to have some help to bring it back up. This can literally break your sternum if the bar comes down with enough force. Another problem with strength is that it only focuses on very few muscle groups. So when these people are throwing up 315 on the bench they are only working a few muscle groups in the chest and arms. It doesn’t give any indication to how strong the rest of their body’s muscle groups are. A safe way to improve your strength is taking somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of your 1 RM and completing 8-12 repetitions.
There are also endurance tests. Repeated force on a group of muscles is what tests endurance. These tests have people do many repetitions of a lower weight than if they were to be doing a one rep max test. This will differ from person to person much more than the 1 RM because even two people the same size may have completely different muscle make up; As in one may have more endurance than strength and vice versa. Muscular endurance is becoming much more popular among this generation. This is partly due to the NFL combine bench test. Every guy is tested on how many times they can bench 225 pounds. The more muscular endurance they have, and of course strength is still very important, the more times they will be able to bench that weight. Endurance tests do come with a couple problems. A lot of repetitions in order to test endurance is very difficult. Especially because it takes about 20 repetitions to test it. Also, muscular endurance doesn’t have that “cool” look in the gym. If you are only putting 125 on the bench it doesn’t look very impressive. So people are drawn away from improving their endurance because there’s a stigma of the more plates you have on the bench or what have you, the better you are. Another problem with improving endurance is soreness. Nobody wants to be sore for a couple days and testing endurance will do that to you. It tears the muscles a lot more therefore taking more time to repair and heal.
Muscles. Do we want strong muscles or muscles with a lot of endurance? This question is answered in workout tests that will differ depending on what you are looking for. Strength is a category that looks to one group of muscles to see just how much force it can possibly put out. Strength tests are normally done with the heaviest weight a person can possibly do 3 times. There is also the one rep max test also referred to as 1 RM. This is how much weight a person can do just one time. This is always fun to watch when the huge guy steps up to the bench and throws on 315 pounds does some grunts to get everyone’s attention and then does it. I mean it actually is impressive though. But there are some downsides to just pure strength and this one rep max test. These 1 RM tests hold an increase in injury. People normally put on as much weight as they think they can do then let gravity bring the bar down to their chest and let it bounce on their chest to have some help to bring it back up. This can literally break your sternum if the bar comes down with enough force. Another problem with strength is that it only focuses on very few muscle groups. So when these people are throwing up 315 on the bench they are only working a few muscle groups in the chest and arms. It doesn’t give any indication to how strong the rest of their body’s muscle groups are. A safe way to improve your strength is taking somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of your 1 RM and completing 8-12 repetitions.
There are also endurance tests. Repeated force on a group of muscles is what tests endurance. These tests have people do many repetitions of a lower weight than if they were to be doing a one rep max test. This will differ from person to person much more than the 1 RM because even two people the same size may have completely different muscle make up; As in one may have more endurance than strength and vice versa. Muscular endurance is becoming much more popular among this generation. This is partly due to the NFL combine bench test. Every guy is tested on how many times they can bench 225 pounds. The more muscular endurance they have, and of course strength is still very important, the more times they will be able to bench that weight. Endurance tests do come with a couple problems. A lot of repetitions in order to test endurance is very difficult. Especially because it takes about 20 repetitions to test it. Also, muscular endurance doesn’t have that “cool” look in the gym. If you are only putting 125 on the bench it doesn’t look very impressive. So people are drawn away from improving their endurance because there’s a stigma of the more plates you have on the bench or what have you, the better you are. Another problem with improving endurance is soreness. Nobody wants to be sore for a couple days and testing endurance will do that to you. It tears the muscles a lot more therefore taking more time to repair and heal.
So it really depends person to person which is more important, strength or endurance. Strength looks cool, it’s more fun but is more dangerous. Endurance doesn’t look impressive, you are more sore after, it is more difficult but muscular endurance is very important. I believe both should be incorporated into your workout and a mix of the two will keep you less bored at the gym if you shake things up every couple weeks. Continuously doing the same workouts over and over won’t help.
I find learning this stuff super exciting and interesting.
Knowing how your own body works is crucial to a healthy lifestyle. I’m an
aspiring Physical Therapist so keeping myself in good shape is something I enjoy
and should want to do and learning these things is very helpful to me.
References:
“MSU- KIN
173 – Foundations of Kinesiology – Spring 2017”. Education.msu.edu. N.p., 2017.
Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
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