Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Relative Strength

There are many different strength qualities that an athlete can possess. Absolute strength is how much a person can lift maximally. Relative strength is how strong they are in relation to their body weight. Strength endurance, speed strength are a couple others.

Take two individuals, person A weighs 300 pounds, and person B weighs 150 pounds. Person A can deadlift 400 pounds. Person b can deadlift 300 pounds. Person A has greater absolute strength, but less relative strength then Person B.

The greatest example of relative strength I've come across are rock climbers. The ability to lift their body weight repeatedly and for such great time is a perfect example of this strength quality. Hope you enjoy the video of my friend Jessie Zinger climbing and demonstrating relative strength.

1 comment:

Sir Edmund Hilarious said...

Really love the video. Jesse was climbing well that day but recently I have seen him start to get even better. I think it's because he has taken a more consistent approach to rest periods between times of more intensive training.