Why We Test Strength Twice a Year

Most people who train have no idea whether the program is working. They feel sore, they feel tired, the clothes fit about the same. A number taken twice a year settles the question. That is why strength testing is built into the HYBRD Membership alongside the VO2 max test.

What we measure

We keep the tests simple enough to repeat exactly, because a test you cannot repeat cannot show change.

• Dead hang. How long you can hold a pull up bar with straight arms. It measures grip and shoulder endurance, and grip strength is linked with how well people hold up as they age.
• Push ups. Max reps with full range of motion. Upper body pushing strength relative to body weight.
• Pull ups. Max reps, or a timed hold for people who cannot yet do one.
• Force plate. You stand and jump on a pair of plates that measure force many times a second. The sheet gives jump height, peak power, rate of force development, balance and left versus right symmetry.

The first three need nothing but a bar and a floor. The force plate adds the piece the others miss, which is power: not how much force you can produce, but how fast you can produce it.

Why power is the number to watch

Strength and power age differently. Strength, the ability to move a heavy load slowly, tends to hold up fairly well with training. Power, the ability to produce force quickly, tends to fade sooner and faster. Power is what gets you off a chair, up a step and back on balance when you trip. A 60 year old who can still deadlift well but cannot jump has lost something a barbell test will not show.

The force plate also catches asymmetry. If the left leg produces 15 percent less force than the right, that can point to an old injury that never fully came back, and it is a reason to add single leg work to close the gap.

What the number does for the plan

Twice a year is often enough to see a trend and rare enough that the test itself does not disrupt training. If the dead hang went from 40 seconds to 55, the grip work is paying off. If jump height went down over a year of lifting, the program may have too little speed in it, and we add jumps, throws or lighter loads moved fast.

The retest is also motivation of the plain kind. People train harder in the weeks before a test they know is coming, and a number that moved tells them the hours counted.

A hypothetical 48 year old woman who has lifted for two years without a single measurement is guessing. Six months from now she could know. That's why we check it.

This article is educational and is not medical advice.

Book a force plate test at HYBRD Health ($149)