10 Nov The Shocking Truth About What is Most Important With Exercise.

Recently I shared what I believe is the single most important training goal and that is to prevent injury.

That’s goal number one.

As I mentioned, if you get injured while training, there is no more training and it may never return to the level it once was, depending on the type and severity of the injury.

Keep this in mind as I’m about to dive deeper into what is the most important thing to get out of your training.

Preventing injury is the most important goal, which leads me to ask you this question.

What is the most important thing we should be trying to achieve in our exercise training?

Again, this answer may surprise you.

It may even shock you.

The answer is physical strength.

Strength is what is most important.

Stronger muscles, stronger bones, stronger bodies, stronger movement.  We all NEED more strength.

The facts are that in today’s desktop, more sedentary society we somehow have lost our true ability to be physically strong.

Whether you seek strength or not, you need it.  I need it, we all need it.

Why?

Because physical strength directly relates to the quality of our lives.  Are you surprised by that?  Don’t be because it’s true.

The stronger we are in our bodies, the better quality of life we will have.

We function better as stronger humans.

We are meant to be strong, but we have lost the natural gift we all have to be physically strong.

This is something I have personally discovered in the last few years, as I am physically stronger now than I have ever been.

No matter what your goals truly are and why you want them, I would encourage you to make gaining strength one of your top training objectives.

You’ll actually be happier, more productive, more confident, and perform at a higher level.

Today, I spoke with a tremendous man.

An honest and giving human being, Coach Dan John (and our discussion will be coming up soon in an outstanding podcast episode that you will definitely want to hear and learn from).

We discussed strength training philosophy in great detail, discussing his great books Never Let Go and his new book Intervention (which is coming out soon).

I learned a ton, as expected, but what I realized even more today is that strength really matters for everyone.

I have written about this before, about how as we age we lose muscle mass and joint mobility.  This is essentially what Dan said in the chat we had today.

Proper strength training (safe training) will help to improve those 2 areas.  Significantly!

To live a productive and high performing life, we need to be strong.

We need to have stronger, better movement and this does not have to be complicated.

Dan has a famous saying that we discussed today, as well.

He says, “simple does not mean easy.”

Strength training is simple.  Pick up a heavy load and move it, carefully, of course.

It’s a very simple philosophy.

Forget the BOSU ball and Body Blade (no offense) as Dan said, and instead pick up a heavy barbell and deadlift it or pick up a heavy kettlebell and press it.

Move heavy things with safe technique.  Find a local trainer, get a great book on strength training technique, or get a credible DVD and learn how to lift properly.

This is simple stuff, but not easy.

Our physical state is dependent on how physically strong we are.

If you don’t believe me, I challenge you to start training heavier and applying the principles of “progressive overload” to your training (provided you have fundamental movement and skills with a barbell or kettlebell).

Train heavier and, yes, lift heavy things.

Then, watch the magic happen with your mental and physical transformation.

Even ancestral health (primal diets) recognize the importance of lifting heavy things, as mentioned in Mark Sisson’s great book, The Primal Blueprint.

This is primal law #4 from that book.

I’m not saying to ignore your primary training goals, but recognize the absolute critical importance of training to get stronger.

As Pavel Tsatsouline says, “Strength is a skill.”

Develop the skill of strength.

Forget any myths or fears that you have about training for strength and begin thinking in terms of getting stronger, no matter what your goals are.

If you’re a  runner, golfer, recreational exerciser, endurance athlete, or just want to lose extra weight, it doesn’t matter.

You need more strength.  

You can look better, feel better, and move better with more strength.

This is the most important and maybe the most shocking aspect of exercise for you to understand.

We are not ourselves if we are not strong.

We were meant to be strong, so live how you were meant to.

To discover more about strength and to get stated immediately, find a great coach and check out one of these 4 great books:

1. Never Let Go by Dan John. (Stories, programs, exercise philosophy, and valuable lessons.  A truly wonderful book.)
2. Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel. (Programs, training rationale, and an encyclopedia of knowledge.)
3. Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. (The definitive barbell training technique book.)
4. Enter the Kettlebell by Pavel. (The definitive kettlebell training book.)

Learn to lift heavy things and change your life.

Strength matters.  Train strong.  Train safe.

If you’d like more insight and to be on the cutting edge of strength and performance, enter your email right now in the box above and I’ll see you inside!

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