Understanding the different types of strength can help athletes, coaches, and trainers develop more effective and targeted training programs.
We’ll check out 7 different types of strength, which will cover everything you need to know including each of their unique benefits and how to train for them.
Without further ado, let’s jump in!
What Is Strength?
Strength is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to exert force against resistance.
It’s a main component of overall physical fitness, and it’s needed for everyday activities, sports, and exercises—it’s especially important for all athletes, regardless of what sport you play.
It’s generally agreed on that there are 7 types of strength:
- Agile strength
- Strength endurance
- Speed strength
- Explosive strength
- Maximal strength
- Relative strength
- Starting strength
Let’s check them out in more detail!
1. Agile Strength
Agile strength refers to the ability to change direction quickly and efficiently while maintaining control and balance.
Benefits of Agile Strength
Agile strength is particularly important for athletes who participate in sports that require rapid changes in movement, such as basketball, soccer, and tennis.
Benefits include:
- Better Performance: Enhances the ability to perform quick, dynamic movements.
- Injury Prevention: Reduces the risk of injuries by improving balance and coordination.
- Sport Versatility: Beneficial for many different sports.
Training Strategy for Agile Strength
To train for agile strength, focus on exercises that promote quick changes in direction and build balance and coordination:
- Drills and Exercises: Incorporate agility drills like ladder drills, cone drills, and shuttle runs.
- Plyometrics: Include plyometric exercises like box jumps, lateral hops, and depth jumps.
- Balance Training: Use equipment like balance boards and stability balls to improve proprioception and control.
2. Strength Endurance
Strength endurance is the ability to continue repeated muscle contractions over an extended period.
This type of strength plays a big role for endurance athletes like marathon runners and cyclists.
Benefits of Strength Endurance
- More Stamina: Increases your ability to perform activities for longer without getting tired.
- Improved Recovery: Helps build quicker recovery between sets and workouts.
- Overall Fitness: Contributes to better cardiovascular health and muscular endurance.
Training Strategy for Strength Endurance
To build strength endurance, use high-repetition, low-weight exercises that challenge your muscles over longer periods of time:
- Circuit Training: Perform back-to-back exercises targeting different muscle groups with minimal rest between sets—about 30-60 seconds.
- High-Rep Sets: Use lighter weights and aim for 15-20 reps per set.
- Interval Training: Combine strength exercises with short bursts of cardiovascular exercises.
3. Speed Strength
Speed strength is the ability to exert force quickly during high-speed movements, which is a must for activities that require quick, explosive movements like throwing baseballs, sprinting, or swinging a hockey stick.
Benefits of Speed Strength
- Better Athletic Performance: Improves speed and power in sports requiring quick movements.
- Faster Reflexes: Boosts your ability to react quickly to stimuli.
- Explosive Power: Increases how fast you can generate force.
Training Strategy for Speed Strength
Try doing exercises that focus on quick, explosive movements:
- Sprints: Do short, high-intensity sprints.
- Olympic Lifts: Include exercises like power cleans and snatches to build explosive power.
- Plyometrics: Use plyometric drills like jump squats and medicine ball throws.
4. Explosive Strength
Explosive strength lets you create a high amount of force in a short period of time.
This is really important for athletes in power-based sports, such as weightlifting, football, and track and field.
Benefits of Explosive Strength
- Higher Power: Improves the ability to perform powerful movements.
- Improved Performance: Gives you better performance in sports that require explosiveness.
- Targeted Muscle Activation: Increases the recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers (type 2).
Training Strategy for Explosive Strength
Exercises that require maximal force in short bursts are perfect for building explosive strength:
- Olympic Lifts: Train lifts like the clean and jerk, snatch, etc.
- Plyometrics: Do high-intensity plyometric exercises like depth jumps and box jumps.
- Resistance Training: Use resistance bands and chains to add variable resistance to your lifts.
5. Maximal Strength
Maximal strength is the highest amount of force that a muscle or muscle group can generate in a single effort—AKA your 1RM.
This type of strength is dominant in many powerlifters, bodybuilders, and athletes needing peak force production, but it has a great carryover to other types of strength—it even improves aerobic endurance!
Benefits of Maximal Strength
- More Muscle Mass: Forces muscles to adapt through muscle hypertrophy.
- Improved Performance: Improves performance in activities needing as much force as possible, like 1RMs or the offensive line in football.
- Bone Density: Strengthens bones and reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
Training Strategy for Maximal Strength
Focus on low-repetition, high-weight exercises to develop maximal strength:
- Heavy Lifting: Exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses with heavy weights.
- Low Reps: Aim for 1-5 repetitions per set.
- Long Rest Periods: Allow for enough rest between sets to fully recover, letting you push hard for the next set—about 2-5 minutes.
6. Relative Strength
Relative strength is the amount of strength relative to body weight.
It’s usually calculated as how much force per pound of body weight is produced.
It’s especially important for athletes who need to maintain a high level of performance without increasing body weight, like gymnasts and rock climbers.
Benefits of Relative Strength
- Improved Performance: Improves performance in bodyweight-dependent sports like calisthenics and bouldering.
- Injury Prevention: Reduces the risk of injuries by maintaining a healthy body weight and proportional strength for that body weight.
- Functional Fitness: Improves overall functional strength and mobility.
Training Strategy for Relative Strength
Do multiple types of strength training and maintain a lean physique:
- Bodyweight Exercises: Exercises like pull-ups, push-ups, dips, etc.
- Weight Training: Incorporate dumbbells, barbells, or any other type of external weights into your training routine.
- Nutrition: Keep a balanced diet to support muscle growth without gaining excess weight.
7. Starting Strength
Starting strength is the ability to generate force at the beginning of a movement.
This is key for movements that require a quick start like sprinting, skating, and Olympic weight lifting.
Benefits of Starting Strength
- Quick Acceleration: Lets you start movements more quickly.
- Better Performance: Increases performance in sports requiring quick, explosive starts.
- Injury Prevention: Reduces the risk of injuries by improving initial force production.
Training Strategy for Starting Strength
To build your starting strength, work on exercises that emphasize the initial phase of a movement:
- Stationary Exercise Starts: Perform movements from a dead stop—such as deadlifts—to improve initial force generation.
- Paused Reps: Incorporate paused repetitions to focus on the start of the movement and take away momentum.
- Explosive Movements: Use exercises like jump squats and kettlebell swings to build explosiveness at the beginning of a movement.
Equipment for Strength Training
Properly training for the different types of strength requires the right equipment to be used…
At SimpliFaster, we offer high-quality strength training equipment like:
- Force Plates: Analyze and improve your force production with our advanced force plates.
- Velocity-Based Training Tools: Monitor and optimize your training intensity with our velocity-based training tools like the Enode Sensor.
- Resistance Bands: Add variable resistance to your exercises with our resistance bands.
- Weightlifting Equipment: Level up your gym with our top-tier weightlifting equipment.
- Jump training: Build your explosive strength with jump mats like the Skyhook Contact Mat.
By understanding and training for the different types of strength, you can create more effective and targeted training programs.
At SimpliFaster, we are committed to providing the tools and resources you need to achieve your strength training goals—check out our store!
FAQs
How many types of strengths are there?
There are several types of strength, typically categorized into a few main groups. The 7 main types often discussed include agile strength, relative strength, strength endurance, explosive strength, speed strength, starting strength, maximal strength.
What are strength types?
Strength types refer to different ways in which the body can produce force.
How do you classify strength?
Strength is classified based on how the body generates and uses force. These categories help in understanding and training for specific performance needs in different sports and activities.
What is absolute strength?
Absolute strength is the maximum amount of force an individual can exert, regardless of their body weight or size. It’s often measured by the maximum weight a person can lift in a single effort, such as in the squat, deadlift, or bench press.
What are the most important types of strength?
The most important types of strength depend on the individual’s goals and the demands of their sport or activity. Generally, absolute strength and explosive strength are important for most athletes. Endurance strength is important for sports that require sustained effort (like marathon running), while relative strength is important for sports where body weight plays a big role (like gymnastics).
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