While going to the gym or carrying out a fitness regime, what often hovers through our minds is will I be able to gain strength through this workout? Does the exercise I do make me strong? How do I gain superhero strengths? What can be considered strong? These and many similar queries keep on boggling our minds until we are able to come up with a logical explanation and answer.
So what exactly is a STRONG PERSON? With so much going on in the fitness and bodybuilding industry worldwide, doing a thousand pound squat or 900-pound bench press is not something extraordinary. There are thousands of videos and real examples where you can find guys lifting huge weights with little extraordinary efforts.
Looking at such content and real life He-men, sometimes we start feeling weak and feeble. But this is not necessarily true. There is much more to it than what it looks like. How can a person lift weights that only Hercules could lift in the past? Can it be for real?
The answer to these questions for such great strength levels lies in the two underlying reasons:
- The Training Gear
- The Supplements or Drugs
Most of the people who can carry out such heavy squats and similar heavy exercises are utilizing various types of training gear.
This means that they use professional and specialized equipment for their workouts. Ranging from a squat suit specialized for body builders to shirts for bench presses and much more.
These professional suits are designed to assist the weightlifters in carrying extra pounds during their regular lifts. This many reach to an addition of not just few numbers but hundreds of pounds. This means that if he tries the same lift without the gear, well it just would not be the same.
But that does not mean he is not strong enough. There is no magic associated with the training gear. The whole process requires dedicated efforts, practice and above all the real strength. The second element that contributes to man’s ability to lift heavy weights is what we eat. This particularly refers to the many types of drugs and supplements that are available on the market.
Many of these are powered with steroids that make people extra strong. The growth hormones are also one of the widely used fitness drugs in the industry. Although not all bodybuilders can be labeled as users of these wonder drugs, the usage is quite common nowadays.
Especially when we are talking about power lifts in sporting events.
Even If You Are Far Ahead Of Such Supporting Stuff For Your Strength Building, You Need To Have Certain Benchmarks To Analyze Your Level Of Strength Or Gauge How Strong You Are.
It is pertinent to understand that being strong does not mean that you are able to load large plates and heavy weights in your workout regimes.
Such acts will only add to your misery and will be damaging in the long run. So instead of getting stronger, you will be getting weaker.
The key to becoming strong in the gym is to follow a dedicated and continued routine of a workout.
Make regular adjustments and keep on fine tuning your sessions. This will increase your chances of getting stronger will near at a much faster pace.
But sometimes it is just not enough. So, you might stop and think whether you are strong enough or not?
Here are some benchmarks for strength building that might come handy for you:
HOLDING THE PLANK FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES
Something that is very much necessary for all heavy weight lifters is to have a strong core from the inside. This allows them to show optimum performance but at the same time avoiding all types of injuries. To check your strength you need to hold the plank for as long as you can for at least one time every week. It is a strength building exercise that will only make you stronger.
BENCH PRESSING A PERCENTAGE OF YOUR ACTUAL WEIGHT
The idea behind this workout is to bench press with one and a half times your actual weight. You can do this for one rep.
It is always advisable to exercise on lower rep ranges regularly. But in between, you can play a little with higher ranges as well.
STANDING BARBELL PRESS
In order to check your ultimate pressing strength in one go, you can try the standing barbell press. It is a good indication of what is your maximum strength.
It is not just focused on your core muscles but also on the frontal shoulder and triceps as well. The pressing weight should be equal to your own body weight.
PUSH UPS
Push-ups are the traditional and old fashioned way of checking how strong you are. They have been used since ancient times.
Performing at least 50 push-ups helps gauge the body’s strength in the upper regions. The parts involved in this include chest, shoulder, triceps and the core muscles.
CHIN UPS
Just like the above exercise, the chin-up test helps gauge the body’s strength in relation to the entire body weight. Doing 15 chin up set is a minimum check of endurance levels. You can work on it every week and sometimes even twice a week.
DEAD LIFTS
Doing a deadlift that is equal to 2.5 times your own body weight helps indicate your full body strength in no time. Even if it is done for a single rep the purpose of identifying the strength benchmark is achieved.
BARBELL SQUAT
For a very long time, the squat has been one of the leading indicators of strength in the gym. Guys who can lift larger and heavier weights in the barbell squats are considered the strongest. To analyze your own strength level and see whether you are strong enough, lift a weight of double your own.
HANGING CLEAN
The ability to hang clean at least 125 percent of you won weight is a good indicator of your strength and power. Trick to help you with this exercise is to build strength in your abs. Check out this link for our ab machine buying guide.
SO, FIND out whether you are STRONG!
You should try to carry out these benchmarks on a regular basis, to assess where in the strength gauge you currently fall. The key is to be able to do all. You might not be perfect in the beginning, but as you move ahead in your workout, your ability to perform increases and hence you become stronger.
If you are still unsure as to how strong you are, check out this article to find out how many exercises per workout you need. If you are only able to do a few of them, do not sweat. Set your targets and goals and try to achieve them in the most efficient manner as possible.
For any further queries and comments, do not forget to drop in a line.
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