Muscular Strength? Not just for bodybuilders.

Fitness Fact FridayFitnessNeurosciencePhysiologyPsychologyScience

8 May

Written By Design Your Life

What is Muscular Strength?

Muscular strength is about the amount of force you can produce with one maximal effort.

When you think about it from a weights point of view, it is about how much weight you can lift just the once.

I don’t care about weight-lifting, why should I care?

Inceasing muscular strength,

Helps you build stronger, healthier muscles AND bones.
This is good for good posture and helps with back pain.
Helps with your balance and stability which helps you not fall over.
Helps you maintain a health body composition (the ratio between fat and muscle).
May help to boost energy levels, mood and good sleep patterns.[i]

Photo by Wavebreakmedia/iStock / Getty Images

How strong am I?

As you can imagine muscular strength is specific to the muscle. Just look at those guys with huge arms and tiny legs!

The standard test used to measure muscular strength is called a one-repetition, maximum (1RM) test. However, we would not recommend you try this if you do not have a professional with you or are experienced. As you can imagine, when trying to lift the heaviest weight you can, the risk of hurting yourself is high.

How do I improve my muscular strength?

A big part of increasing strength is increasing the efficiency of your muscle.

This is about your muscle (or group of muscles) ability to work together. Think about a rowing crew. If the rowers are not in time, the boat won’t go as fast. By training for strength, you are training your motor units (the units contract parts of your muscle) to work together (telling the rowers to row together).

We are reluctant to quote rep ranges for exercises as it often sparks lively debates within the gyms. However, the usual strength range is around the 1-4 repetitions. Not much, hey? But remember this is about training your body produce large amounts of force for small amounts of time.