He/she doesn't look that big, how are they so strong?  I have heard expressions like this for years and I am sure that there are many people out there who don't grasp the concept of training for strength and power versus training for size or muscle. 

The average person puts muscle size and strength together, usually thinking that bigger means stronger.  They think that bodybuilding training is the one and only way to get big and strong.  Now, muscle cross sectional area is one part of the strength equation.  The bigger and more muscle that someone has, the more potential they have for strength.  The piece of the puzzle that most people don't know about is the very important role that the nervous system plays. 

Neural factors that determine strength are intramuscular and intermuscular coordination.  With intramuscular coordination, recruitment of motor units, rate coding or firing rate, and synchronization of motor units all come into play.  A motor unit is made up of a motoneuron in the spinal cord and the muscle fibers that it innervates.  It is a basic element of motor system output. When you perform movements, your nervous system uses these motor units to activate muscle fibers and execute movement. Taking these three factors of intramuscular coordination into consideration, maximal force is acquired when a maximal number of motor units are recruited, rate coding is fast enough and at the desired level, and motor units are activated in sync during the maximal effort. 

Where intramuscular coordination deals with a single muscle group, intermuscular coordiation deals with the coordination of numerous muscle groups.  Movement patterns must be trained rather than just single muscles.  For example, if someone trains their quads with a leg extension, this won't necessarily carry over to a strong squat since they don't have the intermuscular coordination to execute the movement pattern efficiently.  You have to train movement, not just muscles, to become stronger. So if someone has a supercharged nervous system that works efficiently and effectively, they can possibly be a lot stronger than someone who appears to be bigger and more muscular. So how do you train your nervous system to work like this? 

Keeping it simple, by training fast and explosively with lighter weights and training max strength with heavy weights, for multiple sets of low reps, usually in the 1-3 range but as high as 5 depending on what you are trying to do at the time.   Ultimately, you need to train muscles and the nervous system for optimal performance whether you are an athlete or someone trying to get in shape. There will usually be some carry over between different training modalities (e.g. max strength will help build muscle and vice versa) but hopefully you now realize that there are more pieces to the puzzle than just training to get big muscles. 

I just spent the last week back in La Crosse and graduated this past Saturday.  It was a very exciting experience and I had a great time all week visiting with many friends and mentors at the University.  My time at UW-L was amazing in every aspect of the word and I could not be more satisfied with my decision to go to school there.  The great people and friends that I had the opportunity to meet, the wonderful experiences that I had, and all of the awesome memories that I will carry with me forever will never be forgotten.  I feel that the exercise science and strength and conditioning programs that I have graduated from have prepared me well to have a successful and enjoyable career in this field.  I can't believe how fast time has gone by and that graduation is over with.  Its been a great journey that has prepared me well for the next journey to come.  Thank you to everyone at UW-L for making the last 5 years of my life incredible!

When people go out to eat, they have the choice of eating at a cheap fast food restaurant like McDonalds or at a quality restaurant with well prepared food and good service. Now if you are looking at price, why would someone pay 7 dollars for a burger at a nice restaurant when they could go to a place like McDonalds and get multiple burgers for the same price? Its because they realize that they are getting a higher quality food and service for the higher price that they are paying. There are more and more chain gyms popping up that offer really cheap month to month memberships. With one of these gyms, you will most likely get terrible service from a staff of salespeople who have no real training knowledge or any concern about you as a person with goals. If you have a choice between joining a cheap gym with their "value menu" or spending a little more for a professional trainer that will get you real results, what do you think you should do if you really want to get in better shape? If you need a doctor, do you want a cheap one who probably won't help you very much or do you go to a quality professional who you know you can trust. Fitness should be no different.

It really saddens me to know that there actually are some people out there, trainers included, who believe that females should not lift anything heavier than a 5lb dumbbell. "It will make me bulky" is something you might here female trainees say. This is one of the biggest myths around and I really wish that it could be buried and hidden away for good.

Muscle is the most important part of the metabolic equation and in order to build muscle, you need to give your body a good enough stimulus.  In order to do this, you need to use heavy enough weights to generate enough intensity to provide the needed stimulus. I am not saying that you have to lift extreme amounts of weight and be powerlifters or strongwomen (although you could if you wanted to), I am just saying that you need to stimulate your muscles to grow. Females don't have the genetic makeup to get "big and bulky" as their muscle fiber size is generally smaller than males and they don't have enough testosterone. Building muscle is the real way to get the "tone" that you always hear about. In fact, "tone" is simply having low body fat with muscle showing.

 So ladies, don't be afraid to pick up some weight if you really want to get that toned body you always talk about.

If you are going to a gym, working out, working with a trainer, etc., what is your reasoning for doing so? The reason I ask this is because of the following. I was looking at reviews of some of the gyms back in Kenosha just for fun on google and saw an interesting one that someone posted about an Anytime Fitness 24 hour gym. He talked about how great the stone tile floors were, how clean and sparkling everything was, how wonderful all of the "top of the line" machines were, and how friendly all of the staff was. Ok, if you are going to a gym, I really hope that you are going there to get some results for your body and to do something productive while working hard. You shouldn't be worried about the "stone tile" floors and how many useless machines that they have. You should be worried about the quality of the results that you are getting and the effectiveness of the workouts that you are doing. Stuff like this just makes me laugh and also makes me realize why most people never achieve the results that they want with their bodies. If you are unsure about your training and workouts, maybe you should reconsider where you are at, who you are working with, and what you are really in it for. If you are worried about whether or not they have beautiful stone tile floors, then maybe you aren't as serious about your goals as you think. End rant.

I have been very interested in the importance of "core stability" lately. I am not talking about balancing on a bosu ball while pressing a dumbbell overhead, which is pointless and stupid. I am talking about the ability to stabilize the lumbar spine during movement. I recently read "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance" by Stuart McGill, which is an amazing book. He repeatedly emphasizes the importance of stability in the lumbar spine while generating power and movement at the hips and thoracic spine. I learned a lot about this while I was interning with Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman at their facility in Indianapolis. While abdominal and low back strength are important, abdominal and low back stability are just as important and are often overlooked in many training programs. Research shows that often times people who suffer from low back pain lack this stability and don't have sufficient support while loading their spine. Many people, including myself for some time, put too much focus on building strength in their abs and low back and forget all about stability. Increased stability will help performance in many athletic movements and activities of daily living. A stable abdominal wall to transfer force through to the hips with, will help with anything from a squat or deadlift to a punch or golf swing. That being said, stability exercises such as planks and bridges often need to be included in many people's workouts.