For years, something I have been trying to understand is at what point progression in strength training becomes detrimental to health and lifestyle and how to give the average person guidelines on how manage their health. Not just the strength training culture.
With all of the information that has been produced by the BBM group, I see there is a reluctance to produce any protocol for the masses in regards to strength training goals. I’m referring to things like % of BW standards for basic lifts that the average person should be able to do. For instance we have blood pressure, vision, heart rate, blood values, etc. numbers that clinicians use to say whether or not medical intervention is necessary.
I also remember RIP saying that he and the SS group were “narrow casting” in relation to this topic. But a common theme from both your group and the SS group is everyone should be strength training, preferably with the barbell, for all the reasons BB training is good for the human body (which I agree with). Especially as an alternative to physical therapy.
I understand that these type of standard values for strength are hard to determine for non-strength training enthusiasts. But isn’t it not important for clinicians promoting the benefits of BB training to have some sort of goals other than “just train”. And when that program stops working just change to a new one. Having a 600 lb. DL is not going to change most peoples lives over a minimum of 1x BW.
Or is BBM “narrow casting” medical guidance to the barbell community and the principals of BB training are too complex to be communicated in such a simplistic way to the masses?
Yes, there is a reluctance on this matter, because it’s extremely complex.
There is likely a fairly low threshold of strength beyond which your mortality, for example, is not reduced any further for further increases in strength.
But while mortality is an extremely important outcome, it’s not the only one people care about. The amount of strength they need for daily tasks may be a bit higher than the mortality threshold, but also depends on what sort of tasks we’re talking about. What does this person need to be able to do?
In terms of strength training’s impact on other health parameters, the response is so variable that we can’t even begin to give numbers here. For example, we can’t say “getting a 135 lb squat will lower your [blood pressure / blood sugar / LDL-P count / waist circumference] by X amount, and getting a 225 squat will lower it by Y amount”. Everyone’s baseline strength levels vary, their training responsiveness varies, and the response of their other physiological parameters varies as well. This is why we focus more on the PROCESS of training, rather than on discrete outcomes.
Eventually, sure, you may reach a point where it becomes impractical (or you just don’t care enough) to do the necessary volumes or frequencies of training to keep the numbers going higher for health reasons.
But what about the psychological side of things? I’m certainly not reducing my risk of death or disease any further by taking my deadlift from 675 to 700. But that’s the sort of thing that gets me going, keeps me training, getting in the gym 4-5 days per week, paying attention to my nutrition, paying attention to my sleep, etc. Those are all much more “intangible” benefits forme. Should I have stopped training once I deadlifted 225, because I hit my mortality nadir? Of course not.
Thanks for the reply. After reading my question I see how I could have come across a bit trollish. Far from it though. I’m just trying to figure out how I can incorporate BB training into my patient’s health strategies. I understand the complexity of what I’m proposing and I am always striving for making things simple.
Most of my patient’s I work with in the PT setting that get hurt from from BB training do so by trying to lift too much weight with poor form or programming. Typical. So I have to get them on the right track. Thankfully they are interested in training at all. I inform them that once they get past their body-weight on the bar for any lift, they better get serious about their training and stop giving BB training a bad reputation. So I point my patient’s in your (BBM’s) direction and hope they figure it out.
Others need BB training but there are significant barriers to entry. The money for coaching and equipment, the time required to perform the sessions, and the true grit that is leaving our species make BB training a new lifestyle as opposed to cardio or calisthenics. But I do see signs of culture shifting and the barbell not being being so scary for the average non-exercising person.
How do you or Jordan get your patient’s started with BB training if they do show interest?