What is Strength? by Brandon Richey :

For ages strength has been an attractive quality that people are drawn to. I want to pose the question though, what is strength? If you have read some of my other material you know that I have defined strength as your body's ability to produce muscular tension! This tension is what gives a person the ability to lift a weight, to run, to jump, to bend nails, or to grow and develop big muscles. So with all of these examples of human strength what is considered strength?

Well the truth is that there are many ways to display strength and performance. If you look at Olympic weightlifting a lot of the competitors are lifting very heavy weights. The amazing thing is that the "big men" lift a huge amount of weight, but so do the smaller female and male competitors. As a matter of fact, body-weight to weight lifted ratio is greater with smaller female competitors than with larger male competitors! So this raises another question. Does size equate to strength? The fact is that pound for pound the smaller female lifter is stronger than the bigger male competitor. The perception is that people generally equate strength to size. Size is relative.

So if size is relative then what about big bodybuilders? Well, bodybuilders don't train for strength. Relative to their size bodybuilders aren't that strong. Their goal is to build and to get their muscles as big as possible. This also takes strength, but it is for a different purpose. For hundreds of years we have looked at strongmen and their huge muscles. The bigger and stronger the better! This is certainly the mindset in obtaining an optimal level of athleticism in today's culture.

The bottom line is that there are many forms and types of strength for humans to drive towards. Whether you have the ability to bend nails, lift hundreds of pounds above your head, or to be the biggest man (and women) around there is one common trait that can be found in all of these people. The one common factor is their mental strength! The best of the best have been proven to have an extraordinary amount of mental focus when lifting that heavy weight. So is the brain power the ultimate key to strength? Draw your own conclusions and compare this to your own fitness and strength program!