The only strength training you need is heavy barbell strength training.
There are a lot of folks that live and die by that philosophy. They think that as long as they are barbell strong, and they’re training others to be barbell strong, they’ve done enough. And they’re wrong.
As much as I love the big lifts, they have their limitations. Yes, it’s important to build good amounts of systemic strength with deadlifts, bench presses, squats, rows, and overhead presses. However, that kind of strength training isn’t enough for performance, health, or longevity. This might sound like sacrilege to those of you that know my past, that know that I powerlifted for over a decade. But even then, I knew living and dying only by the barbell was an assault on real-world strength. Worse, it’s an assault on musculoskeletal health.
Powerlifters Move Like…well…Powerlifters
If you’ve never been to a powerlifting meet, I suggest you go. They really are great. Everyone cheers for each other and, though you’d expect a lot of ego, there isn’t any. Lifters walk out onto a platform and attempt to do things they’re not sure they can do. And, oftentimes, surprise the hell out of themselves with their ability.
While you’re there, watch the lifters move around the room while they’re not lifting. Sure, you’ll see intense faces, and you’ll see pacing as nerves race through their bodies. If you watch closely, you’ll also see stiffness – a whole fuckin’ lot of it.
See, powerlifters move like powerlifters. The whole point of their sport is to create as much stiffness as possible so that they can lift the heaviest possible weight in three movements. And all those movements are done in one movement plane – the sagittal plane. That means the only move straight up and straight down. There’s no lateral movement. There’s no rotation. So, as you watch powerlifters walk, you notice that their arms don’t swing as well as they should. You notice that there’s no rotation as they walk. They’re joints only move as much as necessary to perform the three lifts.
And that is fine if you live in a vacuum that never requires you to reach, bend, rotate, or move into and out of awkward positions. But that’s not how life works. I’ve seen powerlifters pay the price for ignoring everything but barbell training. It looks like lower back pain and shoulder injuries. I’ve known powerlifters that got so stiff that they couldn’t bend over to tie their own shoes and had a hard time wiping their own ass.
That, sports fans, isn’t a quality of life worth aspiring to.
Real-World Strength
The real world is full of fun, and treachery, that doesn’t happen in straight lines. And if you want to go on taking full advantage of that fun, and taking on the associated risks, you need joints that move through big ranges of motion. You also need strength to accompany that range. The only way to maintain that strength, and that range, is to consistently train it. That means doing exercises that require more than straight lines.
Now, I’m not saying to ditch barbell training – far from it. Barbell training has a place for building, and maintaining, relative strength. But what I am saying is that we must relegate it to it’s proper place and not treat it like the catch-all for all types of strength development.
We need strength movements that challenge our joint range of motion, ones that ask us to move laterally and rotate.
We also need strength movements that allow us to blend stiffness with movement, because that’s we use our strength in the real world.
Below are four exercises that we use consistently at Beyond Strength to train real-world strength.
Turkish Get-up (TGU)
The TGU is the granddaddy of all movements; it combines just about every movement into one exercise. It trains shoulder strength and mobility. Core strength and spinal mobility, along with hip mobility and leg strength. All the while, it trains you to be strong while rotating your body and moving it laterally. The TGU is about as real-world strong as it gets.
Suitcase Carry
Remember in the last section when I talked about blending stiffness with movement? Well, the suitcase carry does that. It trains core stiffness and strength while walking. It’s important to maintain rigidity in some areas of our body while others move freely. The suitcase carry is a big help in that area. It also trains shoulder stability and grip strength – two pivotal qualities for musculoskeletal health and longevity.
Cross Over Step-ups
Sometimes we need leg drive in awkward positions. Think of stepping over a log while hiking up hill. And sometimes we need leg strength when we are stepping across our body. To be strong in awkward positions, we must train in awkward positions. You might not feel strong while doing cross-over step-ups as compared to regular step-ups. But you’re building useful strength while you do them.
Lateral Lunge/Squat
The lateral plane (side-to-side) is too often ignored. Lunging and squatting in the lateral plane builds hip strength and mobility. It also trains leg drive that’s useful for changing directions and carries over to conventional squatting.
While each of these movements has its own advantages and merits, they all have one thing in common: they break the usual pattern of sagittal-plane-only strength training. Yes, that’s great for being strong in a number of ways. But it’s also important for avoiding things like overuse injuries from repetitive motions. We are built to move and express strength, in multiple directions. It’s important that we train that way.
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