[QUOTE=IronFist;1161538]False. If this were true, elite level Olympic lifters and powerlifters (and strongmen) would train with body weight exercises. They don’t. Why? Because bw exercises won’t increase maximal strength output past a certain point.
Sure, when you’re untrained they will. Take a guy who has never exercised before and see how much he can bench. Let’s say 100. Now put him on a pushup program for a few weeks and then test his bench again. It will likely be higher.
Muscles get stronger (and your CNS gets more efficient) by training against progressively increasing loads. Bodyweight exercises will never achieve this. I mean you can do pushups with a weight vest and one legged squats and stuff, but there’s no comparison when it comes to actually lifting weights.
Put another way, you will not get stronger (as defined by maximal muscle tension/output) if you never increase the weight against which the muscle contracts. Doing more reps of a bodyweight exercise won’t do this (nor will doing more reps of a given weight). Yes, there is a slight carryover in the low reps (meaning if you increase your bench from 225x1 to 225x5, your 1RM has gone up a bit), however.
A reasonably trained athlete who increases his pushups from 30 to 100 won’t see an increase on the amount of weight he can bench press.
Agreed.
Right, it’s about training for your goals. Agreed 100%.
To increase your endurance for fighting you should spar more (not long distance run).
To increase “functional strength” you should do the things you need to be functional at.
To increase maximal strength you should lift heavy weights.
Due to various physiological factors however you can’t excel at everything at once (marathoners are not champion sprinters), so pick what is currently most important to you and just work in a bit of the others for variation. Training for one thing for too long can mess up your strength curve, too. You can get really strong (high 1RM) but have a disproportionally low 10RM if you only do heavy low rep stuff. And vice versa, you can probably train to the point where you can bench 135 for 50 reps but not even get 1 with 225.
So like in that article you posted, if you want to be a better fighter, train fighting. Increasing your deadlift from 315 to 405 is awesome but is it really going to make you a better fighter? Not really (unless you end up needing to pick up a guy heavier than you could lift before). Although it could be argued that if you’re fighting a guy who is the same weight and skill and endurance as you, but he can bench/DL/squat 800lbs and you can only bench/DL/squat 315, he has the advantage. But you get the point and I agree with the general idea of that article.
Anyway, this has all been covered a dozen times.[/QUOTE]
I guess I was talking about from a fighting point of view. If you’re training for a powerlifting comp then you should be powerlifting. That’s very specific. I was talking about fighting and general strength. Body weight will get you to the same fighting ready, I believe. I’m not just talking about maximal strength. I’m talking about strength endurance, exposure strength, etc as well. If you can power lift a billion pounds, but you gas in the beginning of the match from focusing on maximal strength too much, and I throw you around…who was stronger at that moment?
This is an ongoing debate in the strength community. I can do body weight anywhere. How’re you going to power lift when you aren’t near a gym. Nyah Nyah poo poo
