StrengthMaximal strength

Strength is maximal force production. In a gym context it is usually measured as a one-rep max in a specific lift, which makes it partly a skill: strength is expressed through a movement pattern, and getting better at the pattern is part of getting stronger at it.

It matters well beyond sport. Grip strength and leg strength track independently with mortality and with the ability to live independently in later life, and strength is the buffer that keeps a stumble from becoming a fracture. It is also the quality that declines most steeply with age if nothing is done about it.

In practice, strength is built with heavy loads, low-to-moderate reps, long rests and enough practice of the specific lift. Much of the early gain is neural — better recruitment and coordination — with muscle size becoming the limiting factor over the longer term.