How Strong Is Strong Enough? Part 1 - The Deadlift
How Strong Is Strong Enough?
Strength is a very important quality to have in order to achieve a resilient and adaptable body which is resistant to injury. Being stronger also makes ordinary tasks much easier and require less energy expenditure. However, its a mistake to assume that if you JUST get stronger all your problems and pains will go away. Strength is just one quality of overall health and there will be a point of diminishing returns. I understand for PERFORMANCE purposes you may choose to try an get stronger. Which is fine, but you must also understand that HIGH level performance is not sustainable across the lifespan. It's why people retire from sport, because that level is simply not sustainable forever.
So when we are talking about health and longevity, what would be a good goal to strive for?
That's the purpose of this article. To help create a better objective measure/goal one would want to try and achieve as well as sustain across the lifespan.
The first of the foundational movements we will examine is the Deadlift:
Goal: Your Body Weight for 3 x 10 reps.
Keys: You should not feel any "stiffness", "tightness", or "soreness" in your low back while performing this exercise. Likewise, you should not notice those sensations the following morning 24 hours later. This would help ensure that someone wasn't using an over extended position to accomplish the lift.
Why: Again, I am not saying that you cannot be stronger then this figure. You certainly can still work on achieving increased strength. What I am suggesting is that at this point, the amount of benefit you will gain from increased strength will not be as significant as before. As a result, depending on your goals and past medical history the emphasis of your program may start to change to another quality.
I like this figure for a number of reasons:
1) A body weight deadlift means that you can pick your body up off the ground, which is very important as one starts to age. It also makes daily lifting tasks much easier because more times then not you are lifting something lighter than your body weight (which will now feel much easier).
2) Repeating 10 reps and for 3 sets. This demonstration means that you have the capacity to perform the task repeatedly. It also means that you will have better recoverability after performing a task of less intensity. Ultimately helping with ones overall energy levels.
3) Confidence - For most general population, this task is actually pretty intimidating. Meaning if you can do it, your confidence in your bodies physical capabilities is probably higher than most.
4) It's a self limiting exercise. Meaning if you are heavier, this goal is going to be harder to achieve. Which means that to achieve this goal weight loss may be the primary focus to start with training.
5) It's not just a measure of glute and hamstring strength. The lumbar multifidi need to experience heavy loading to gain strength and hypertrophy. Many people who lack strength in the low back do not actually experience strengthening benefits from low level exercises such as the bird dog (or even resisted bird dog/fire hydrants).
6) To emphasize point #1 and #5 again. To get lumbar multifdi strengthening without exaggerated stiffness or soreness from over extending at the lumbar spine is HUGE for low back health in my personal experience working with clients.
7) The implement DOES NOT MATTER - Stop forcing someone into using a barbell if they cannot achieve the optimal position at the spine to do so. For your general population and even athletes, it's better to be safe then sorry. Now it's certainly fine to try and get them to achieve a nice looking deadlift with a barbell! But you do not have to wait to TRAIN someone in the deadlift if they are unable to utilize a barbell right off the bat. I use dumbbells and hex bars all the time! In fact, I prefer the hex bar to the barbell for most people. The deadlift with a barbell is a very technical lift to perform perfectly. Not everyone needs to be good at the skill of deadlifting with a barbell. They need to be good at picking things up off the ground with a hip hinge.