We are first going to talk about the two main types.
Absolute Strength and Relative Strength normally bigger guys have Absolute Strength and smaller guys have Relative Strength.
Absolute Strength is someone like Eddie Hall deadlifting 500kg this is the world record. It doesn’t matter what he weights it is about lifting biggest amount of weight.
Relative Strength is comparing lifter strength to his body weight example is someone like Naim “The Pocket Hercules” Süleymanoğlu a 190.0 kg clean and jerk was 3.15 times his bodyweight which is the highest ratio clean and jerk to bodyweight of all time. Someone having deadlift today of 3.15 times their bodyweight is world class, so doing this on much harder lift even more impressive. the heavier the person more impressive as are body build to hold so much weight. Lamar Gant deadlift five times his own bodyweight – lifting 661 pounds (300 kg) at a bodyweight of 132 pounds (60 kg). look can be easier lift more bodyweight the smaller you are this do with how people build joints and also psychology wise as we will talk about One fact I heard which is not correct that got me into relative strength is that Ant can lift three times there own bodyweight when I was child, in reality they can lift more. I didn’t really think about few year later on tv there was big powerlifter (in terms of assize) the people on tv said he could lift thee times bodyweight which was really impressive as he was big it show for normal people this is goal that could be done.
One last fact of relative strength some dogs can pull 3 or 4 times their body weight.
With strongman like Eddie Hall, Laurence Shahlaei and Terry Hollands. They were lifting for absolute strength they added lot of weight frame as the extra weight help them to lift more. In fact the year Eddie Hall won the strongest man he weight 197 kg (434LBS). This is not healthy all three men I have listed knew this after they retire from strongman, they all lost huge amount of weight. These men look now closer to bodybuilders than strongman. Just to let you know little bit of extra weight can help you if you are going for absolute strength. Don’t have to do this neither am I advising just letting you know.
With Relative Strength sometimes losing a bit of weight will help. For example say person has squat of 300kg or deadlift of 300 kg both really good numbers. The person weights 100kg9220LBS) this is 3 times there body weight. Next goal is to lift 3.5 times weight at 100 kg that would be 350kg(772 LBS). IF this person is able to lose 10 kg go to 90 kg bodyweight 315 kg both psychologically and physically this lift may be far easier for the person to go. Obviously person in 100kg is good shape but still lose fat if they were shredded at 100kg this would not be heathly to lose more weight. This person can lose 10kg over few months or year while maintaining their strength. Adding extra 15 kg to there squat or deadlift is going to be far easier than adding 50 kg. Add this weight as advanced lifter is hard but easier if less weight. These two princples you will see powerlifting in higher weight class Absolute Strength and in the lower weight class for people cutting weight not lifting at their natural weight they are going for Relative Strength.
I will encourage you to train both kinds of strength. These are both impressive feats but if you but gun to my head ask which I think is slightly better in terms of pure strength is I would say absolute strength but I will say again I am huge fan of Relative Strength remember I said slightly. For example, deadlifting someone deadlifting 250 kg at body weight of 62 kg Over 4 times bodyweight is very impressive but when Eddie Hall Deadlift 500 kg he weight 195 kg (not 100% on weight at the time but that was heaviest weight so we will go with that it might have been less) that is still over 2.5 times his bodyweight which is good lift. However, body and muscles are only designed to lift so much weight no matter how big you are with absolute strength you are really push that limit and breaking down barriers. The body is can be train to lift 250 kg we know this but pulling 500 kg is really testing limits of what a body can do because we have never seen it. Breaking world record is about breaking mental barriers than it is physical when Roger Bannister four-minute barrier when ran mile under 4 minute it was thought be impossible by science and runners. The year he broke the record 24 people broke the 4-minute mark within the same year now this now the standard time for all male professional middle-distance runners.
Of course, sometimes you will see someone benching 162 kg which seem really impressive but you than find out they weight 180 kg which is 90% of their body weight. I will encourage you to train both of these types of strength. Knowing these kinds of strength gives different goals to shoot for.
Let’s talk about different kinds of strength
Different kind of strength
- Ballistic strength
- Flexibility/mobility
- Stamina/Endurance
- Maximum Strength
- Power
- Athleticism/Agile
- Strength Symmetry
- Relative strength
1. Ballistic strength is throwing strength which can be develop by punching, throwing medicine ball or hitting hammer with tire. You might have seen huge bodybuilder hit punch bag compare to their size there not hitting that hard that because they have train there ballistic strength.
2 Flexibility/mobility: yes, flexibility type of strength being able to kick over your head or do a 3rd world squat requires strength. This can be train be stretching, yoga, some body weight exercises and even lifts that require lot of flexibility such as front squats.
3.Stamina/Endurance stamina is defined as the amount of time that a given group of muscles can perform at or near maximum capacity, endurance is defined as the maximum amount of time that a given group of muscles can perform a certain action. Basically, be able to do exercise over long period of time. Slow-twitch muscle in exercise such as high rep work sometimes call structural hypertrophy.
But doing long runs or walks help build up endurance
4.Maximum Strength this is pretty much the same thing Absolute Strength. Moving heavy weight using major lifts. Sometimes with major lifts you are using mix of power and strength which is fine and normal. So doing pause sets for example Andy Bolton when doing leg press at the end moment he would pause for few seconds and then finish the rep this was his way of working his strength and taking out the power of the exercise.
5.Power: strength refers to the ability to overcome resistance, while power refers to the ability to overcome resistance in the shortest period of time. Power is about using the whole body together. Power is strength plus speed. Olympic lifts such as snatch and the clean. Training ballistic strength is type of power, jumping and training athleticism. Even training regular lifts fast such as doing speed deadlifts develop power. Power use fast twitch muscle such as sprinting
6.Athleticism/Agile this some require power strength plus speed. But this about being able to move in different direction using the agile ladder helps with this along with some body weight exercises. Normally with lifting weight you are only moving one direction. Speed ladder and cone drills can improve this.
7.Strength Symmetry this is about having balanced strength. Have one-dimensional strength they strong at just one lift. Of course, people are going stronger at their favourite lift but symmetry is about strong all major lifts (deadlift, squat, bench and overhead press. Meaning strong overall body strength.
8.Relative strength we have already talk about.
There is technically nine strength Hysterical strength. Which is more demonstration of the power of the mind. Hysterical strength this is the life-and-death situations where parents lifting vehicles to rescue their trapped children. We talk about Eddie hall using this type of strength by tapping into his mind .
