Strength Training Principle

I received a good email from one of my mentors, Coach Mike Boyle, this morning. It was sent to all of the personal trainers and strength coaches who follow his body of work. The message focused around a major tenet of strength training: implementing progressive resistance. If it's one thing I've learned from Coach Boyle, it's that keeping it simple will ALWAYS be the best approach when it comes to improving fitness levels- in this case strength. My favorite portion of the email read as follows:

No one ever got better lifting light weights. Light weight is an oxymoron. A weight should be appropriate to the goal but, rarely, if ever, intentionally light. The load should be based on the strength level of the person. The reality is if you are lifting a weight ten times, numbers nine and ten should be difficult. If you can lift a weight 20 times but choose to do only ten, you are wasting your time. Period. The essence of effective strength training is a concept called progressive resistance exercise. This means that that even if the resistance may be light to begin with, it should not stay that way.