Working at a Commercial gym I see many members working out throughout the day. Out of these members I see all varieties, big, small, skinny, fat, weak, and strong. Some of the bodybuilders/power lifters at my gym can push some serious weight. For instance the other day I watched a 195lb kid bench press 450lb for a set of 3. Now that is pretty damn strong if you ask me. After watching the kid complete his set and proceed to walk around the gym like he was superman, the question I asked myself was simple. How does that big bench press translate to functional strength, or what I like to refer to as Real World Strength? The Answer is simple; it does not do much of anything for you. Any isolated “bodybuilding” type movements are not going to do sh*t for you when it comes to that real world strength.
Now a lot of you may be a bit confused since many people (including me at one time), think the bench press is the ultimate test of a mans strength, let me explain. Very few movements that are done in the “Real World” are isolated movements like a bench press or a lat pull down. Real World strength has much more to do with how well you can use your entire body, as a whole, to generate the most force or power. So what does this mean? I will give you a real world example from my college days at SUNY Cortland. Our wrestling team had two brothers on it, both of whom were roommates of mine. One of them was an All-American and the other was a national runner-up and has the most career wins at the school. They also have a younger brother who currently wrestles for Indiana University. None of these brothers touch weights unless at team lifts and are considered “weak” kids on the team when it comes to weight room strength. Yet when they are on the mat they show far superior skills and strength then there opponents. How is this possible you may be wondering? Simple, these three brothers grew up in a small farmer’s town. They grew up not bench pressing but lifting bails of hay and other odd heavy objects.
So now that I have caught your attention, you are probably wondering if all the years of hard training were for nothing. Do not get frustrated and realize it is not too late to make changes in your training. Being the nice guy that I am I will begin to explain some different training methods you can use to develop that real world strength! Below are some simple changes that can be done in your program to help develop real world strength and turn yourself into a true beast!
First become extremely good at training with bodyweight exercises. Squats, Pushups, variations for both, bounding, and leaping are a few examples of bodyweight exercises that will help improve your Relative Body Strength, which will then translate into Real World Strength! Very few people understand the value of your own body weight. If you are not strong enough to perform bodyweight exercises, with flawless technique, then you should not touch any machines, period!
The second key point in how to develop Real World strength is to train full body movements with odd objects. This means tossing a sandbag, heavy stone, and kettlebells around or dragging or flipping heavy tires. This will help you develop Real World strength and improve your athletic performance like no other!
Now I don’t want you to be confused. A simple barbell is still, after all these years one of the best tools for developing overall strength. The purpose of this post was not for you to stop Bench Pressing or Military Pressing but to add more tools to your tool box. Heavy Benching/ Military Pressing alone will not build nearly the amount of Real World Strength as if you lift heavy odd objects as well as pull sleds! So in a nutshell, performing heavy isolated movements combined with odd object training will develop the most Real World Strength no questions asked. Hope you enjoyed today’s post and please leave any questions or comments below.
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