To get the most out of this post you really need to read the one before it about the pieces, parts, and characteristics of Strength. Otherwise the analogies used in this part may not make a whole lot of sense. This post is going to be about how we can attempt to train all those pieces of strength in order to make you a stronger and more capable individual.
Strength training, like all other types of effective training, works according to a few distinct principles, and if you're familiar with them then strength programming will hopefully make more sense to you. The first principle is the acronym SAID, and is arguably the most important principle in training. It stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands, and basically states that your body will respond in kind to each and every imposed demand you place upon it. If you apply this principle in the right ways your body is capable of truly amazing things. However, if you apply this principle by half assing your workouts and spending a lot of time on the couch eating doritos your body will be happy to "Specifically Adapt" by becoming a worthless pile of goo. Don't Impose that kind of Demand on your body!!
The second principle is that of Progressive Overload. This principle really just means consistently applying carefully planned, and responsible, degrees of overload to the body to bring about those specific adaptations, through changes in the level of resistance, tempo of repetitions, number of repetitions, volume of repetitions, length of rest periods, and quite a few other variables. Basically as long as you continue to consistently overload your system in new ways it should reward you with the adaptations you wish to see. In terms of these last couple posts the adaptation we're shooting for is enhanced levels of strength.
So now I'll go through a few of the adaptations you can attempt to bring about using the analogies and terms from the last post, namely the behavior of all your little Amish dudes in raising that barn frame.
First off are Absolute and Maximal Strength. Since these two are just measurements of your strength they're not really adaptable except to say that with proper training your Absolute Strength level will rise a bit, and your Maximal Strength will be a greater and greater percentage of that Absolute level.
FIBER TYPE: This is the type of little dudes you have available, the 5 year olds and the Vikings. Through training with power and strength in mind you're going to hope to tax your Vikings much more than your 5 year olds simply because they're capable of pulling harder and faster. Your 5 year olds will still get worked, but just aren't capable of that much improvement in this area. However, there ARE certain fiber types you possess that can alter themselves depending on the training you give them. Meaning if you train for endurance activities they're likely going to start acting more like 5 year olds, which is good if you're going to run a marathon. They'll also begin to act more like Vikings if you train them that way. So if you train consistently using heavy loads and fewer repetitions you'll hopefully get as many of these variable dudes to grow into Vikings, and increase the speed and strength you have to pull up bigger and bigger barn frames.
RECRUITMENT: This is the number of total dudes your brain is able to call up at once to pull on that barn frame. Strength training will simply increase the number of dudes your brain is able to call up at once. It'll probably still never hit that 100% mark, but if you train consistently and raise that number from 50% to say 70% of your dudes, that's quite a big increase in the amount of barn frame you can pull up right? Overall this is just increasing the percentage of your total muscle you can activate all at once. And the level of recruitment of somebody fresh off the couch is extremely small when compared to elite strongmen like Olympic Weightlifters or Track athletes. After all, it may not be that a 187 pound Greek guy has any more dudes than any other 187 pound guy walking the earth, but a certain 187 pound Greek guy named Pyrros Dimas was able to recruit enough of his dudes to lift damn near 400 pounds straight over his head in a single movement at one time. Now THAT's some pretty amazing muscle recruitment eh?
FREQUENCY: The adaptation here is that your brain can begin to recruit your dudes faster and faster until that full recruitment is lightening fast! Some strength training is in very fast motions, like olympic lifting, sprinting, highland games type sports, and other training is for slower motions like traditional powerlifting (weird name for sure), strongman sports, etc. Training fast will drive up this frequency adaptation, whereas training slower won't as much.
EFFICIENCY: The fastest, strongest dudes ever can still pull in a fashion that isn't as strong or as fast or efficient as it could be. Training will help your brain to recruit your dudes in a way that's more cohesive and coordinated in order to pull in exactly the fashion it wishes to, instead of a chaotic mess where every dude is pulling at his own pace whenever he wants to. In addition your brain will become better at calling only the perfect number of dudes for each particular frame, meaning it'll use just enough, but not too much energy every time. If explosive speed is what your after, your brain can call upon your dudes in a way that will have them pulling all at once extremely fast. Higher levels of strength demand that your dudes pull in more of a series, applying their force in a steady acceleration applying the perfect amount to move some seriously heavy objects. For times when you'll have to lower and re-raise that frame multiple times (repetitions) your brain becomes very good at rotating the groups of dudes it calls upon for each consecutive lift so that they all get to rest as much as possible between lifts. So even if you're only using 20% of your dudes per lift, it'll probably be a different 20% each time so that no dude gets more tired than he has to to get the entire job done.
So these are the basic ways you become stronger when training for such. As you may or may not have noticed, most of these adaptations are on the Neural side of things, meaning they're all dependent on how your brain interacts with your muscles, and not necessarily the muscles themselves. This is one of the reasons that an individual can become much much stronger without having to get bigger in the process. With that said, there are certain adaptations that will probably take place that will affect the look and feel of your muscles. First off the connective tissues within and around your muscles will become thicker and stronger, yet also more elastic and pliable, leading to muscles better able to transfer their forces to the bones needed for movements, while also being more resistant to stretching or high intensity reflexive forces. Secondly your muscles will begin to store more carbohydrate fuel for those intense workouts. These carbs, called glycogen, like human starch, carry with them some extra water so your muscles will gain a bit of volume. However, these two adaptations will generally add just a bit of shape and/or "Tone" to your muscles.
Let me add to this last paragraph by saying that certain types of strength training can lead to growth and thickening of the muscle fibers themselves, a style of training used most exclusively by bodybuilders. However, in order to gain the type of muscle bulk these individuals are shooting for takes a great deal of time, effort, discipline and the perfect dietary, and in some cases hormonal support. It's fairly difficult to do past a few months, so those of you not wishing to gain that extra bulk need not worry in most cases, especially you lady-types. So I wouldn't worry too much about this. If you are worried about it however, be sure to get programming from somebody who knows what they're doing, as magazines and online forums don't know your story, and can't see you train from day to day.
All in all, strength is your friend, making your day go a bit easier, and adding a bit of extra sex-appeal to your physique. After all, as you may have heard, Strong is the New Sexy!! Go get em tigers!!
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