Muscular Strength

Muscular strength is the capacity of your body's muscles to generate extreme amounts of force in a short period of time utilizing anaerobic energy.

Strength training can include weight lifting, push-ups, chin-ups; exercises that develop muscle. Muscle burns fat, so building muscle will help you lose weight and increase your fitness level.

Anaerobic energy produces short term bursts of energy, and does not require oxygen. Instead anaerobic energy comes from the burning of carbohydrates, and can be sustained for several minutes, after which a short rest time is needed to replenish the system. Anaerobic energy is used for everything from weight lifting and sprinting, to the low impact sports of tennis and golf. Anaerobic energy is also used within aerobic-centered workouts when additional spurts of energy are needed.

Enhanced muscular strength often increases muscle and connective tissue size and density by enlarging cells, or "building" muscles. Apart from their aesthetic value, larger muscles and connective tissues are less prone to accidents and aid long term weight control, since muscle tissue burns more calories than fat, even while resting.

Muscular Strength is defined as the ability of the muscles to produce force at high intensities over short intervals. Strength is developed through daily efforts. To improve on muscular strength work on the same muscles. Pull-ups and the lat pull-down are good exercises to improve your strength.

Muscular Strength: Upper body strength is important for individuals to perform daily activities and tasks such as taking out the trash, moving furniture or appliances, or changing a tire and lifting, pulling, or pushing objects. Many tasks involve use of the upper body and limbs. In an emergency a strong individual has a better chance of avoiding serious injury than a weak person. In many cases upper body strength can make the difference between a serious injury and escaping harm.

Muscular Strength is evaluated in our physical education program by the student either performing the flexed-arm hang or the pull-up test. The female students usually are evaluated by completing the flexed-arm hang and the male students the pull-up test. However, there are norms (averages) available for each of these evaluations for both genders. If a student can perform numerous repetitions in completing these tests, then they are demonstrating muscular endurance rather than strength. If this is the case the instructor may choose to use a hand dynamometer to measure hand strength or have the student perform a maximum lift (1 time repetition) in the bench press while assigned to the weight room in order to get a true measure of strength. In order to evaluate this test, use the data listed below:

Males		Females
5	greater than 1.26	5	greater than .78
4	1.17 - 1.25	4	.72 - .77
3	.97 - 1.16	3	.59 - .71
2	.88 - .96	2	.53 - .58
1	less than .87	1	less than .52

Strength training is exercise that uses resistance for example, weights, to strengthen and condition the muscle-skeletal system, improving muscle tone and endurance.

The benefits of consistent strength training include an increase in muscle size and tone, increased muscle strength, and increases in tendon, bone, and ligament strength. Strength training has also been shown to improve psychological health as well, by increasing self-esteem, confidence and self-worth.

These improvements have a great influence on our physical performance, metabolic efficiency, physical appearance and risk of injury. We will go into each of these in detail, outlining some very exciting benefits of a good strength-training program that most people overlook or don’t realize.

Stronger muscles enable us to lift or move something that is heavy, which is considered muscle strength, and to lift or move something that is light more times, which is called muscle endurance. Increases in both muscle strength and muscle endurance contribute to improvements in our work, our favorite sports and hobbies, and our general day-to-day activities.

Types of Muscular Strength

	Isometric contraction Iron Cross (Gymnastics) Tug-of-war
	Dynamic contraction Power lifting Weight training
	Power contraction Olympic style weightlifting Shot put (Field event) Plyometrics

Tips for Building Muscular Strength:

	Stagger exercises. Concentrate on activities that work specific muscle groups. Work slowly with concentration on form and resistance to gravity. Directed energy provides the best effect, while helping to avoid injury.
	Anaerobic activity produces lactic acid build-up in muscle tissue, which can be temporarily painful. Stretching before and after workouts can prevent this condition.
	Like aerobic workouts, gradual progression of stress on muscles will increase muscular strength. Again, moderation is key to avoiding injury and realizing benefits.
	A warm-up is crucial to any workout.
	Rest. One or two days recovery time is necessary for maximum effect and injury prevention.Our muscles also function as shock absorbers and serve as important balancing agents throughout our body. Well-conditioned muscles help to lessen the repetitive landing forces in weight-bearing activities such playing, jogging or basketball.
	Well-Balanced muscles reduce the risk of injuries that result when a muscle is weaker than its opposing muscle group. For example, jogging places more stress on the hamstrings and calves than it does on the quadriceps, creating a muscle imbalance that often leads to knee injuries.
	So it is very important that runners be on a good strength-training program that includes training the quadriceps as well as the hamstrings and calves.
	To reduce the risk of imbalanced muscle development, you should make sure that when you are training a specific muscle group, the opposing muscle groups are being trained as well (though not necessarily on the same day). For example, if you are doing strength training exercises for your chest you should include back exercises in your program as well.
	Of course, you will have no problem with muscle imbalance when using the WF Strength Training programs; we cover every group in the body, promoting well-balanced muscle development.

Strength Training Principles:

Overload: To see gains in strength you must always stimulate the muscle more than it is accustomed to.

Progression: The active muscle must continue to work against a gradually increasing resistance in order to meet overload.

Specificity: Gains you receive are dependent on the muscle group used, and movement pattern performed. (See Specific Strength Training Programs)

	Strength (maximal force): If you are interested in strength gains you want to train with higher weights and closer to your 1 RM.
	Endurance (submaximal force that is repeated): If you are interested in gains in endurance, you should concentrate on lifting lower weights and higher repetitions.

Arrangement:

	Warm-up - the warm-up should be "sport specific". In other words, if you are performing the bench press, begin your warm-up with a light intensity and perform 8-10 reps.
	Stretch - it is important to stretch to promote increased blood flow to the muscles, and to increase flexibility, range of motion and decrease the risk of injury.
	Workout - work larger muscle groups first, then smaller muscle groups.
	Cool-down - keeps the body active and prevents pooling of blood in the extremities. The cool-down is done at a lower intensity.

Breathing: When lifting weight or working muscles against resistance, exhale through the mouth as you are performing the work. Caution: Failure to breathe correctly during heavy weight lifting may cause drastic increases in blood pressure that may be harmful.

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