Defining what we mean by strength begins with taking an outcome and method perspective. An outcome is what you need to change, while the method is what you have available to make this change.
Let’s consider these for strength training:
- Outcome: Force characteristics (the body’s ability to produce maximal forces or the largest forces under a time constraint).
- Method: Strength training (the training parameters required to develop these force characteristics).
Within strength training, there are three distinct outcomes that you intend to achieve. Each of the three is associated with a type of training.
These are:
- Hypertrophy, for when the goal is to increase muscle mass.
- Heavy strength, for when the goal is maximal force expression.
- Explosive strength training (power training), for when the goal is rate of force development (RFD).
Each of these outcomes and training methods has its own set of conditions that must be followed to make the desired changes.
If you’re unsuccessful in making the changes or helping the people you coach to achieve the outcomes, you should always refer to these conditions and determine if they were fully met before exploring other reasons for the lack of change.
The video explores this further.