Spreading the load in strength training

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Subject: Spreading the load in strength training

In civil or structural engineering, there is a central concept of point load and distributed load. Point or concentrated load has a beam or structure supporting a single loading point. Suspend a beam between two points of support and then place an upright beam in the center of that beam. There is one point of loading for the beam to support.

Distributed loading, also known as uniform loading, has the load spread over the support beam or structure. Picture a support beam with multiple vertical beams evenly spread across the surface of the beam. Now, the weight supported by the beam is evenly distributed. Distributing the load is always preferred for safety and performance.

It is the same in strength training. Distributing, or as we refer to it in the StrongFirst principles, spreading the load is a key principle for stretching and strength training. By spreading the load, we bring irradiation and feed-forward tension to every lift, avoiding point-loading the body.

Sven Rieger, StrongFirst Certified Team Leader, takes us into how to spread the load in our strength training. Having lifted the Dinnie Stones, Sven knows what spreading the load means in the most practical sense.

Sven begins:

In his book Flexible Steel—An Insider´s Guide to Ultimate Flexibility, Jon Engum describes “spreading the load” in the following way:“…the third S is for Spread. As in spread the load. Instead of trying to twist and turn or move from one spot or one joint, try to spread the movement over as many joints and muscles as possible, taking up slack where you can. If you gain a little bit here and a little bit there, it adds up to huge gains.”

This is exactly our goal in strength training when completing full-body lifts. We´re trying to distribute the load throughout our entire body by involving as many muscles and joints as possible to move the weight. Instead of focusing on contracting a single muscle or moving one joint by itself, we´re using our body as a unit to access the greatest amount of strength. As the strength legend Earle Liederman observed in his book Secrets of Strength: “A ‘Strong Man’ when performing a feat which requires a great expenditure of strength, will instinctively bring into action as many muscles as possible.

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Subject: Spreading the load in strength training