There are a million different methods out there that claim to be “the best” method for developing strength.
The reality is that “the best” programming method is going to be different for each athlete and will change over time as an athlete moves further into their strength training career.
It’s difficult to sort through all the noise and figure out what is right for each person at each period in time.
Information overload leads to inaction and/or frustration.
Strength levels solve that problem by clearly defining the missing linchpin quality and directing us toward programming methods that address that missing component.
– Level 1 missing component: technical competency
– Level 2 missing component: the ability to strain
– Level 3 missing component: the “strong enough” threshold
– Level 4: graduated from strength levels
Level 1:
In level 1, the only thing that matters is improving technique.
There is no emphasis on load. The athlete’s movement competency is poor and emphasis should be on enhancing technical quality only.
The primary focus of programming is to enhance technical proficiency through repeated exposure of both the patterns and the positions.
In order to progress to level 2, an athlete must demonstrate the ability to execute our major movement patterns (squat, hinge, press, row) with great technique.
This isn’t a long process. Many athletes progress through level 1 during our initial evaluation. All other athletes are able to progress through level 1 within a single 4-week training block.
Level 2:
In level 2, we’re focused on neural strength adaptations.
It is well established that the majority of strength gains early in training come from neurological adaptations.
Those in level 2 have not yet developed those neurological adaptations.
Most notably, the athlete is unable to achieve adequate motor unit recruitment to train with high intensities.
This is the kid who can press the 20 lbs dumbbells for 15 reps, but gets buried on rep 2 with the 25 lbs dumbbells.
They don’t have the ability to push through a really tough rep and still complete it. They don’t have the ability to strain.
At this point, we’re ready to layer load on top of technique (emphasizing high quality technique never goes away), but the ability to recruit and synchronize motor units to progress intensity just isn’t there yet.
So, we progress with volume first and teach them how to push through tough reps, how to recruit more motor units, and how to synchronize those motor units.
Level 3:
In level 3, we shift our focus to becoming “strong enough.”
The strong enough threshold refers to the point where chasing improvements in strength development no longer have a positive ROI.
As you get stronger and stronger, the effort and time that it takes to improve your strength outputs becomes significantly more extensive.
It’s exponentially easier to take your deadlift from 135 lbs to 185 lbs than it is to go from 455 lbs to 505 lbs.
Furthermore, the return on sport-specific key performance indicators (like sprint, power, and agility tests) and actual game day performance dwindles the further you get into your strength training career.
If strength development maintained the high correlation to speed, agility, and power development that it has in the early stages of training, then our world’s strongest people would also be our fastest and highest jumping athletes.
But, there are no world record power lifters competing in the 100m dash.
After the strong enough threshold is met, the time it would take to develop more strength would be better spent performing other training modalities.
The hard part about this level is that there is no objective strong enough metric.
Collision sport athletes (like offensive lineman) have heavily strength dependent sport demands, so they need to chase strength longer.
Elastic based athletes (like basketball players) have less heavy strength demands, so they hit their strong enough threshold sooner.
When you find that improving strength gains stops improving game day performance and sport specific KPIs, you’ve likely reached the strong enough threshold.
Level 4:
Once an athlete has met the strong enough threshold, we don’t simply abandon strength training.
We’ll still tap into heavy strength training on a regular basis.
It just stops being our primary emphasis.
In level 4, strength development is no longer our linchpin quality, so we need to identify each athlete’s new linchpin quality.
It could be skill development, sprint development, agility development, or simply limiting injury risk.
Programming Tactics:
The levels provide us with a systematic framework to identify what needs to be accomplished in each athlete’s program.
That doesn’t limit the program options that we have.
In fact, there’s a time and a place for just about everything.
This framework just helps us identify what that time and place is.
Level 1:
– Programming should repeatedly expose the athletes to the major movement patterns and positions.
Level 2:
– Programming should allow for progression through volume with higher set/rep schemes, but also allow for the opportunity to learn how to strain. I could refer to this as conjugate with volume emphasis.
Level 3:
– Programming can now include higher intensities and lower volume, as the ability to strain has been unlocked. Progress from emphasizing high volume/low intensity to emphasizing low volume high intensity, then repeat until the strong enough threshold is reached. This method combines linear, block, and conjugate periodization.
Level 4:
– Programming becomes more truly conjugate and more advanced methods, such as surfing the force/velocity curve, become more appropriate.
– It would be rare for a high school athlete to reach this level.
Best,
Zach
Dr. Zach Guiser, PT, DPT, CSCS