Are you still strong?

This statement/question or thought has made a big impact on much of my training recently. Many of you have probably experienced training hard or getting in a big game or something to that effect and feeling absolutely drained at the end. Maybe you could lift 500lbs at the beginning of the game or workout, but by the end you were lucky to lift 300. Muscular, energetic or aerobic fatigue had set in and temporarily disabled your strength.

This thought has brought me to a place where in training I'm often pushing to find how strong I am in fatigue or after a highly fatiguing workout. Because this might be the ultimate representation of both strength and endurance or fitness. Think about it.

Certainly there are absolute levels of both strength and endurance for instance: there is a weight you can lift in whatever your particular max exercise might be that you'll be able to lift one time and that's it. It's your true maximum lift. The same with endurance. Both done in under reasonably optimal conditions. You set your fastest time for say a 5K run or row and that's your absolute max on that particular movement.

But the real world isn't done under optimal conditions. True fitness, strength and endurance is what you can do under adverse conditions. How much can you lift when your heart's pounding and you've already stressed your aerobic system? How far or fast can you go after you've endured high strength strain? What if you repeat both? How do they affect each other?

The closer you get to your max in either strength or endurance while having pre-fatigued with the opposite spectrum - the more fit you are. If you can squat 900lbs as a max, but only 500 after you're heavily winded then you can see the exact toll that the fatigue has taken on your strength. But if you can move up to move that weight that up you know you're getting stronger and more fit.

I posted a challenge on some boards recently - something I rarely do, but it's relevant here. The challenge was to take two kettlebells or a dumbbell or a t-handle kettelbell substitute with the weight of 140-150lbs and perform five sets of 20 swings alternated with five sets of 20 sprawls or burpees for the fastest total time. It's an extremely tough workout. Every time I've done that workout I've also added heavy lifting after the heavy conditioning.

The first time I did it I did barbell clean and presses, barbell curls and one arm rows. The second time I did squats and one-arm presses. Heavy singles on all the movements. You want to find out how in-shape you are? Try it!

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