Gaining Superwoman Strength

Surely this is the age of the Superwoman. We want to do it all. We want to be Superwoman moms, girlfriends, and wives and have Superwoman careers. There is no reason why we can't have Superwoman strength as well. Just because 20 years ago women were jumping around in aerobics classes and wearing leg warmers as a fashion statement (and to help their shin splints) doesn't mean that we have to now. Ideas about fitness and health have evolved throughout the years, as has every other aspect of life.

In the 1800s people generally believed that any kind of exercise a woman did was harmful to her body. Now we know that strength training is one of the best things a woman can do for herself. Embrace the Superwoman of Strength inside yourself. Every woman can make strength gains and be stronger than she currently is; she just needs a little guidance in devising the best program for doing so, given her busy schedule.

The classic definition of strength is simply the ability to exert force. If that definition told the whole story, however, then we could all consider ourselves strong-- every day we exert force just to get out of bed and walk to the shower. And if you compare the strength of those of us who can exert enough force to get out of bed to that of a 90-year-old woman who can't, we really are strong. What about the woman who can squat 300 pounds and dead lift a truck? Certainly she is stronger than someone who just manages to get out of bed and make it through her day. Strength is definitely a relative term and we need to have some agreement on how to measure it.

You can measure strength absolutely or relatively. Absolute strength is the total amount of strength that a person can exert, regardless of her body weight. Relative strength, on the other hand, takes body weight into account. For example, in absolute terms a 100-pound woman who can bench press 200 pounds is just as strong as a 200-pound woman who can bench press the same weight. Relatively speaking, though, the 100-pound woman is much stronger because she can bench press twice her body weight, whereas the 200-pound woman can bench press only her total body weight.

Coaches and scientists have developed normative values throughout the years that give us an indication of what strong means for certain movements like the bench press and squat. Also, research data indicate what it means for certain body heights, body weights, genders, and ages. So we have to qualify all of the variables when it comes to claiming that someone is strong; that is, we need to define what type of strength we mean.

Speed-Strength Versus Strength-Endurance

Strength-Training Methods