I don't train like a bodybuilder, powerlifter, crossfitter or a strong man.. because I'm none of those things, they are athletes.. I am a gaming, cruising, father to two who trains with a focus on relative strength and its direct correlation to my mental health.
What it means
Training for relative strength means pushing or lifting any weight relative to my bodyweight. When I started lifting (and by this I mean not fluffing around for a couple of days then nothing for a year) my bodyweight was 63kg and I struggled to benchpress 60kg.
I had some friends who trained with different approaches, strongman, bodybuilding and powerlifting. All of them I considered to be strong. Some wanted to look good, some just wanted to be strong.
Why not just copy them?
In a nutshell, because I'm not them, my goals are different and the exercises I enjoy are different, even the amount of reps/sets I wanted to do was different. My goals initially were:
Be as light as possible
Benchpress as much as I could at a light weight
Maintain a positive headspace
I made my own routine that suited me and my goals, I tracked and wrote down everything I did. My friends who trained in their respective disciplines all knocked my approach to training because they couldn't see what I was trying to achieve on paper (and that is ok). I stuck to my plan, and through consistency and tracking, my strength started to present itself.
Comments