The recreational strength athlete

The people I have in mind don’t lift weights, train or exercise solely for the sake of vanity, for lifting the most weight, or to compete in any strength sport.

They do what they do in their homes and in our gym to improve their everyday lives and how they feel while at work.

They are athletes in that they are good at physical exercise. They have more strength than the average joe or jane. They do it for fun. They fall in a category I call the recreational strength athlete. A person who lifts weights not solely for vanity, sport or maximising strength or endurance. But for a little of all of it.

I propose a more accessible view of the recreational strength athlete. First they are:

• Not a bodybuilder
• Not a crossfitter
• Not a powerlifter
• Not a strongman
• Not an Olympic lifter

All those protocols work just fine. They have made millions of people stronger and given trainees a strong sense of purpose and pointed direction. But recreational strength athletes do not fall into those categories. They may occasionally dabble in it. But they cannot be pigeon-holed.

Instead a recreational strength athlete is a person who can :

• Push themselves off a floor they are lying on
• Pull their chest to a ledge while hanging off it
• Pick things off the floor safely
• Squat to the ground and stand back up
• Roll off the floor and stand up safely
• Sit at the bottom of a squat
• Hang off a bar
• Hop across a puddle
• Lunge down the stairs
• Lower yourself down a high stool on one leg with the other dangling in the air
• Run up 4-5 flights of stairs without having to breathe too hard
• Move fluidly with stability when presented with practical obstacles

All the patterns I have described above are things you do everyday. They are also exercises that can be practiced, trained and dosed.

I truly believe strength can be framed as an accessible skill anyone can aspire to without the exagerrated images of vanity, performance enhancements, sterile machines and air-conditioned gyms.

Just a person on the beach, in a gym, on a terrace or in their living room moving to make their everyday lives a little simpler.

---