Strength standards for a high quality life
#34
I once asked a personal trainer I trained with how was I doing against benchmark performance and he replied your progress is what counts not your comparison to other people. I found this answer a bit frustrating.
I think benchmarks and standards are important to create a goal and challenge to get to a certain level of performance, but they are problematic.
Most benchmarks on strength, speed, power, endurance or anaerobic capacity are set by elite athletes or highly committed amateurs. They are often specialist in that one capability and may be absolutely rubbish at all the others.
Social media accentuates this, as strong people post video of their best lifts, not the majority of the training they do.
This means you are unlikely to get near the top benchmark performance which can be disappointing.
There is also the question do you really need to be that good?
3 years ago, when I was 51 my deadlift 1 rep max was 250kg (550lbs). My ego set a goal that I should get to 600lbs or 272.5kgs. That’s a 9% improvement.
When I worked out the intensity of training required to get there I asked myself the question what practical use is this goal? The only one I came up with was being able to tell people that’s what I can lift.
The problem is no one except you cares what you can deadlift. Unless you are the best, no one cares.
So I ditched that goal as the effort didn’t deliver any practical benefit.
When it comes to longevity I think there are realistic and useful strength standards we can work with that improve the quality of life and are achievable for most people.
The strength movements that matter
There are 5 movements you have to maintain strength in to live a high quality of life.
Press - ability to push weight away from the body. Essential to put heavy items in a cupboard, open a heavy door, keep someone at arms length to feel safe.
Pull - ability to pull a weight towards your body. Essential to get a heavy item out of a car, open a heavy door, move furniture.
Squat - ability to lift a heavy weight from a low height to fully standing. Essential strength to walk, lift a child or pet, stand up quickly.
Hinge - ability to pick a dead weight off the ground. Essential to move heavy items, avoid back pain, lift someone up if they fall over.
Carry - ability to hold a heavy weight and walk with it. Essential to carry luggage or shopping, move items from one place to another, carry someone out of harms way.
The 3 levels of standards you can work towards
Level 1 - The minimum to support everyday movement
To be able to move effectively and lift everyday items is essential to live independently and pain free.
Male and Females should be able to lift 50% of body weight and carry 20kg as that is the size of a suitcase.
This level of strength can be achieved with a strength programme over 10 weeks for most people.
Level 2 - Be useful
This means you can move yourself, heavy objects and other people with relative ease. To be at this standard you will be generally strong and move well.
Males - Lift bodyweight for all movements and carry for 1 minute 75% of bodyweight.
Female - Squat/Hinge - lift bodyweight. Press/Pull 75% of bodyweight. Carry at 50% of bodyweight (or 32kgs which is the maximum size of a suitcase allowed as plane luggage) for 1 minute.
This requires about a years training to get to.
Level 3 - Reduce all cause mortality risk
Research suggests if you are in the top 20% of strength all cause mortality can reduce by 35%.
This is when the benchmarks and standards become problematic as who determines what the top 20% is. Is it based on all recorded lifts which includes professional sportsmen or is it top 20% of the general population?
At this level there is a difference in strength capabilities of Males and Females so the difference in standards are larger.
The data gives some guidance and looks like this:
Male Female
Squat 1.75 x bodyweight 1.5 x bodyweight
Hinge (deadlift) 2 x bodyweight 1.75 x bodyweight
Press 1.3 x bodyweight 1 x bodyweight
Pull 1.5 x bodyweight 0.9 x bodyweight
Carry for 1 minute 1 x bodyweight 1 x bodyweight
But it’s less useful as to get to these standards.
Requires a lot of time focused training over 2-3 years depending on age and consistency of effort. This means you may be neglecting other health goals.
The reality is if you weigh 100kg (220lbs) your not likely in everyday life to need to lift 200kg(440lbs) from the ground with a hinge movement.
What Level 2 looks like in reality
I weigh 94kg (207lbs). So the standard is 94kg on each movement. In the video I do the squat, hinge and pull at 100kg (220lbs) and the press at 95kg(209lbs) to give you an idea of the size of weights and what the movements look like.
Strength is the physical capability we retain the longest so you can still improve it at any age
My advice is aim to be useful. Level 2 standards are a good goal to get to and maintain if you are aged over 50. If you are already at level 3 when you become 50 aim to maintain that as long as you can but don’t let your ego take over as your chances of improving are limited.
If you are aged under 50, level 3 should be your goal, but recognise this can take 3 years of training to get to.
For your longevity set yourself a goal and make sure building and maintaining strength is a long term fitness project.
Love being strong as you age.
We have just launched the 40+ Strength Programme specially designed for people 40+, 50+, 60+ to achieve these strength standards. You can find more about it by clicking on this link.
Great information, especially for over age 50. Video was helpful.