How Strong Is Strong Enough?

That is the question.

When we are training with barbells or hangboards or rings or simply awkward body positions, there is an infinite possibility of getting a little stronger.

If I do three sets of three reps in the squat, I might go from working at 100 pounds in my first workouts to working with 200 in six months. As my improvements level off, I might be able to play with sets and reps and assistance exercises and doing either more or less volume, and push it up to 250 or 300. With a focused nutrition plan, more minutes per workout dedicated to the lift, and a good variable training cycle, I could make 325 by the end of the next year. And so on.

But at some point, I would have passed that critical line of being strong enough to reduce injury. I would have checked the box of strong enough to support specific training in my chosen sport. I would also have pushed past the line, at some point, of "Wow, I sure spend a lot of time with a barbell on my shoulders."

With every quality of our training, and doubly so in the strength game, we face a leveling curve. With each gain, we get closer and closer to our limits, and eventually close in on the point at which our own genetic potential looms close.

And somewhere way below that line, we've found the critical compromise point. This is the elusive level at which the time and energy needed to maintain a fitness quality matches up with its usefulness to the athlete. Above this point, we can double our effort, gain a small amount of strength, and yet have to let something else slide—let it slide so much that it negatively affects performance. Below this point, we're simply being lazy and avoiding doing work that will benefit us.

When you started to read this article, you might have been hoping for a specific weight in pounds you'd have to lift to be "strong enough." Or even a percentage based on bodyweight and age. Sadly the truth is a little more nebulous. "Strong enough" starts with a series of questions.

• Can I easily complete activities of daily living without strain? Can I carry groceries, move furniture, carry a backpack? Importantly, can I do an hour or more of moderately difficult exercise every day? If you answer "yes" to all of these questions, move on down the list.

• Do I have particular joints or muscles or movements that are problematic? Do these problems present on both sides of the body (an indicator of weakness or imbalance rather than injury)? Do I avoid certain activities because of the physical difficulty I expect?

• Can I do my sport efficiently and feel OK after a day out in the mountains? Or do I need multiple days of rest after?

• Can I climb or boulder at the same grade level on all angles, hold types, sizes, and styles? Or in the alpine realm, move efficiently and confidently on all types of terrain?

• Do my training or climbing days leave me feeling on the edge of injury?

Although it would be wonderful to know that the ability to do five pull-ups and pull 80kg on the Tindeq would mean that you would never get injured, it's more subtle than that. Even so, there are quite a few interesting rules and ideas coaches have observed over the years that are of interest.

Going way back to the 1980s, the late and great Phil Watts researched World Cup climbers and tried to understand bodyweight, strength, and other factors in performance. One of the takeaways from these early studies was that grip strength (tested by a dynamometer) had very little do do with high performance—the top three competitors at one comp were in the lowest third of the full group—but that general strength might correlate with injury reduction.

Indeed, climbers tend to get very strong fingers in specific static hold positions, but the wrist, stabilizers, and joints might not be as strong. Thus, doing more general hand strength (usually as a warm-up or on days away from climbing) might reduce injury.

Boyd Epley (strength coach at the University of Nebraska) observed that his athletes that were more balanced in their upper body strength saw fewer shoulder injuries. His anecdotal observations (also backed up by some other notable strength coaches) were that players should aim to be able to pull (in a pull-up) as much total weight as they could press (in a bench press).

This one seems crazy to me as a climber and individual athlete! Epley was seeing players that could bench 300 or 400 pounds, but could not do a single pull-up. They were over-strong from the "front." In climbing, we're far on the other end of the scale. I have many athletes that can do one-arm pull-ups (or two-arm pull-ups with +bodyweight attached), but could not even complete a bench press at bodyweight.

I'm not saying that we all need to start benching, but if a climber is way off on this strength ratio AND has should problems, it's worth considering. How much time would it take to get stronger in the shoulders? I'd say about 5-8 minutes a week.

Similarly, a strong leg can be a huge advantage in climbing, so I think we should all endeavor to be strong enough to push our entire bodyweight with a single leg from a "parallel" femur—this means starting from a position where the thigh bone is basically parallel to the floor. You can do this via a pistol-style squat (a bit challenging in knowing what to do with the non-working leg), or by stepping on a box that is 16-20" high. We also love to train the "single leg squat" which is not a pistol, but controls range of motion to avoid back flexion and poor balance.

Again... you might be able to do all of these things—squeeze a gripper to 200#, bench press bodyweight +20%, do a single leg squat, and still feel crushed by a day of climbing and have lingering pain. The essential take home is this: getting stronger is perhaps the easiest-to-leverage adaptation we can control in reducing injury and improving overall health.

Most expert coaches or pro athletes that don't support general strength training are probably in the same space you, yourself are: not sure what to do, and afraid to commit some time there. I recognized early on that strength was a skill I needed to acquire. It takes time and effort, but should not be dismissed because we're not up to the task of learning.

Every one of us has a full schedule. I've never run into anyone, however, who could not find time for something important. We usually just think that money-getting and following through on poorly-considered commitments are the only "important" things. Remember...everyone, regardless of age, can gain strength. If you're going through the above list and are hitting roadblocks, there is probably a way out. And getting a little stronger is the simplest solution.