Thread: Why do you need strength ?

Well along with gaining mass, you gain strength. And inorder to keep gaining size, you'll need strength to push heavy weights.. So to get big you still need to continually get strong? Understand? And sometimes peoples genetics blow, and they don't have to potential to have a nice body -- so they just say fuck it, I'll get strong as hell.

Because I enjoy being strong, just as you enjoy/appreciate looking good. Granted, looking good is part of the reason for my lifting, but strength is my main goal. Why are you so vehemently against people wanting to get strong? I've seen posts from you in multiple threads talking about how strength is worthless, or you don't understand, or most people are in it for the looks, etc.

I would much rather bench 400 pounds and look the way I do now than bench 250 pounds and have another 15 pounds of muscle on me. It's really not of any concern to you why I feel that way. Just let me train however I want, and you can train however you want.

Originally posted by CowPimp
Because I enjoy being strong, just as you enjoy/appreciate looking good. Granted, looking good is part of the reason for my lifting, but strength is my main goal. Why are you so vehemently against people wanting to get strong? I've seen posts from you in multiple threads talking about how strength is worthless, or you don't understand, or most people are in it for the looks, etc.

I would much rather bench 400 pounds and look the way I do now than bench 250 pounds and have another 15 pounds of muscle on me. It's really not of any concern to you why I feel that way. Just let me train however I want, and you can train however you want.

I second that!

Strength is also good for a profession, ie sports, construction, anything physical. I would love to see a massive football player in the NFL who looks like he could bench 550 and struggles on 250. He would be getting his ass whooped.

From a bodybuilding standpoint strength is irrelevant, but it's inevitable that you will get stronger, you have to lift more weights as your strength increases (which it will) to continue over loading muscle for continued growth.

So, strength and size pretty much go hand in hand, although strength training is very different than bodybuilding. And someone that trains for pure strength will not look like a bodybuilder, and will typically be much stronger.

I'm with Vieope, but I probably only say that cause i'm weak ;p

Sure, i'd like to be strong too, but given the choice of strength over mass, I pick mass. Though, as previously stated, they really go hand and hand.

*edit
Beat me to it Prince ;p

I enjoy strength and getting stronger, but is has never been my focus. I never do a lift where I cannot get at least 4 reps, my typical rep range is 4-8, but on some weeks I go as high as 12.

Lifting heavy, doing singles, even doubles, is risking injury in my book, so I avoid it.

I can't get out of the strength mentality or at least I am struggling with it. Two Fridays ago I was deadlifting and got a spazm in my back and was down for a couple of days. Now I am not sure what I want to do. I have that heavy weight mentallity(not that I am pushing really heavy weight again, YET) and feel like a pussy when I am not doing as much as I think I should. I have only been back for a month+ and I think I need to slow down.

I want to look good but to put it in terms of cars, looking like a Corvette and going like a Chevette just doesn't appeal to me.

Originally posted by Prince
I enjoy strength and getting stronger, but is has never been my focus. I never do a lift where I cannot get at least 4 reps, my typical rep range is 4-8, but on some weeks I go as high as 12.

Lifting heavy, doing singles, even doubles, is risking injury in my book, so I avoid it.

I agree that it is more of a risk doing repititions in the 1-3 range, especially because I usually have no spotter. I usually aim for 4-6 repititions. Although that is not the best range with which to gain strength, I seem to get quite a bit stronger sticking to repititions in that range. I only max out once in a while. I try to find a healthy medium between strength, mass, and safety.

Originally posted by sYkboY
...and feel like a pussy when I am not doing as much as I think I should.

LOL!

Originally posted by CowPimp
I agree that it is more of a risk doing repititions in the 1-3 range, especially because I usually have no spotter. I usually aim for 4-6 repititions. Although that is not the best range with which to gain strength, I seem to get quite a bit stronger sticking to repititions in that range. I only max out once in a while. I try to find a healthy medium between strength, mass, and safety.

I have just seen (and heard about) too many injuries, pec tears, bicep tears, tricep tears, back and shoulder injuries.

and as I said from a bodybuilding standpoint I don't believe that anything less than 4 reps will really do much in regards to gaining mass.

Originally posted by Vieope
If I can build a nice body, symmetric, all this things and with strength. I will not complain. If I can build without strength, I will not complain either.

But I heard a lot of ppl saying that they prefer to look bad as long they have their strength, everything is ok. Tell me something..
Why do you need strength ? Unless you are a professional fighter or a powerliflter, you rarely use strength.
The world out there today is about brain power and how sexy you look. I wonder if one day it was different.

Oh yeah, I have another real world example of the usefulness of strength. Approximately the same time that I started lifting again, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. As well, she had surgery on one of her knees a while back. The knee began to act up a bit. Well, no treatments were working, and she was getting less and less mobile.

We took a vacation to Europe so she could go to a couple places she had always wanted to. If it wasn't for my strength, she wouldn't have been able to see the blue grado on the isle of Capri. I had to carry her up and down about 100 steps because she just couldn't walk it. Also, I could carry her up and down the steps in our house so that she could have some scenery changes and take more frequent baths.

You never know when that extra strength might come in handy.

I don't agree that rep schemes less than 4 reps cannot translate into mass gains. I switch my workouts every week, one week I might do 3 sets of 8, the next week I might do 8 sets of 3, or 12 sets of 2, and I gain mass and strength concurrently while switching my routines up. I basically do GoPro's rep range/shock/power plan, but add a bit more volume ( I respond better to more volume) and rep ranges (yes, I have done 12 sets of 2 before). My routine is basically a powerlifting routine with two or three isolation exercises, though. I love the tough exercises.

And why strength? It's functional. Muscle is in every sense other than aesthetic absolutely worthless.

Peace.

Strength Rules!

Tell me something, do you have any respect for a juicemonkey who looks like he could carry a building, and yet he cant even come close to what you are lifting?
I DONT (no matter how good and big he looks)
Some people might not agree but strength WILL get you respect as well as confidence in the gym and anywhere else, just like the nicely built body will.

Originally posted by Prince
From a bodybuilding standpoint strength is irrelevant, but it's inevitable that you will get stronger, you have to lift more weights as your strength increases (which it will) to continue over loading muscle for continued growth.

Exactly

Originally posted by Mr.No
Tell me something, do you have any respect for a juicemonkey who looks like he could carry a building, and yet he cant even come close to what you are lifting?

Yes, I do have respect for them. I don´t use anabolic steroids or prohormones because I am not educated yet on this subject.

It is all about what you are trying to accomplish.

People are often ignorant of the things they lack...
Once you start lifting heavy, and you will because that is a ticket for gaining muscle mass, then you'r gonna realize the satisfaction and enjoyment it gives you. When you set a goal to lift certain weight and once you accomplish this goal, you WILL be satisfied regardless of what you think now, and then you'll see what I'm talking about.
As for anabolic stereoids, I have nothing against it. It just looks odd to see some of those huge guys strugling with 185lb bench press.

this is ridiculous fellas, first of all, in the context of what is practical in a real world setting, strength is much more relevant in our day to day lives, as well as struggles, then asthetics are. There doesn't have to be such a seperation either man. I started out strictly BB and as tiem went on I realized that you can focus on both and not have such a distinction. You aren't gonna be a pro BB, nor are you gonna be a world class PL, so why worry so much about catagorizing man. Weight training involves both mindsets and countuing one out is silly IMO. To build teh physique you want, you have to engage in pregressive resistance training, which involves building strength. Its that simple for you BBs. why not aim to be a big strong mo fo and not worry about the rest huh?

"Why do you need strength ? Unless you are a professional fighter or a powerliflter, you rarely use strength.
The world out there today is about brain power and how sexy you look. I wonder if one day it was different"

Actually I'm a single girl with 2 kids and strength is needed in all that I do. From carrying the 76lbs child up a really long flight of stairs because he fell asleep in the living room, to hauling 2 hockey bags (one on each arm) 4 times a week or what my friends like to say is really important is the fact I love changing the way my furniture in the house is arranged without having to call my male friends or friends husbands or brothers over.
Our day to day activities do require some strength and the people who are out of shape and have minimul muscle tone are the ones who get hurt easliy just by trying to bring in a case of dog food or pull their backs because they promised to help their girlfriends move etc... I'm sure you get my point.
Some people want to be big and some people just want to be healthy but all of us use our muscles everyday because all movement does require a little strength.

Originally posted by Mr.No
Once you start lifting heavy, and you will because that is a ticket for gaining muscle mass, then you'r gonna realize the satisfaction and enjoyment it gives you. When you set a goal to lift certain weight and once you accomplish this goal, you WILL be satisfied regardless of what you think now, and then you'll see what I'm talking about.

I will not deny that getting stronger and pushing heavier weight gives me a certain amount of satisfaction, however it has never been my goal. I honestly could not care less how much I can press, as long as I look like I can squat 500lbs that is all I care about.

I do not set out with a goal of lifting a certain amount of weight, never have. I have always lifted weights from a bodybuilding standpoint, my satisfaction comes from the mirror.

My goals are more geared towards performance rather than just looking good. I want more than just strength, i want balance, speed, flexibility, etc.

Originally posted by Dale Mabry
i want balance.

Amen to that!

Originally posted by Dale Mabry
My goals are more geared towards performance rather than just looking good. I want more than just strength, i want balance, speed, flexibility, etc.

that is cool and respectable, but that tells me one thing: you're not a bodybuilder!

Originally posted by Prince
that is cool and respectable, but that tells me one thing: you're not a bodybuilder!

I could have told you that myself, brother.

LOL, my only point in this thread is that a bodybuilder has no use for strength, it will not help them win a bodybuilding competition!

As far as muscle being worthless if it's not as strong as it looks, that makes no sense to me unless you're some type of athlete that needs strength, i.e. a football player.

A true bodybuilder only needs to look like he can lift a house, how much he really can lift is irrelevant. But as I stated previously obviously along with bigger muscles comes strength, but very few bodybuilders are as strong as powerlifters, they train completely differently, which only makes sense since their ultimate goal is different.

Whether or not performing less than 4 reps can cause hypertrophy could be debated, but for me it's a mute point cause as I said it's not worth the risk of injury for me to do singles, doubles or even triples, so I don't.

But to each his own, if lifting big weights gets your rocks off, then by all means do it!

Originally posted by Prince
LOL, my only point in this thread is that a bodybuilder has no use for strength, it will not help them win a bodybuilding competition!

I totally disagree with this statement. If a person who is weight training doesn't increase his strength over time in the lifts he performs, then he most likely will not continue to make gains, therefore affecting his ability to acrue muscle mass. increasing strength is an important part of BB, just maybe not in the same context as it is in powerlifting.

Originally posted by gr81
I totally disagree with this statement. If a person who is weight training doesn't increase his strength over time in the lifts he performs, then he most likely will not continue to make gains, therefore affecting his ability to acrue muscle mass. increasing strength is an important part of BB, just maybe not in the same context as it is in powerlifting.

We're getting into ridiculous semantics here, but hey why not?

I think Prince's statement is correct relative to the other people competing. Strength in relation to the other body builders competing is irrelevant. However, strength relative to what that person was capable of before he began lifting is important.

This thread is getting kind of crazy... Some people are focused on bodybuilding. Some people are focused on strength. Some people want to be healthy. Some people want to be agile. Some people want speed. Some people want a little from each category. There is no right way; there is no wrong way. If it makes you happy, then do it. Any form of exercise is good for the mind and the body.

Originally posted by CowPimp
We're getting into ridiculous semantics here, but hey why not?

absolutely not. My only point was that he said strength plays no role in a BB day in day out agenda and I am saying that we need not make such gaping distinctions between each subcatagory of BB. They all have something to do with each other.

Originally posted by gr81
absolutely not. My only point was that he said strength plays no role in a BB day in day out agenda and I am saying that we need not make such gaping distinctions between each subcatagory of BB. They all have something to do with each other.

I totally understand your point; I even reinforced it when I said, "However, strength relative to what that person was capable of before he began lifting is important."

I think what Prince was trying to say is that you don't have to be strong relative to the others in the bodybuilding competition to win.