"The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong."

- Swami Vivekananda

As we know from the performance pyramid, our training begins with developing quality movement. Only with this optimised do we then look to performance. And when we do, our purpose is 'general fitness'. We aren't pro athletes, and the absence of sport-specific or other professional demands means the true measure of training is that it must enhance our lives. And it is here that strength shines.

It will make you a better runner, a better tennis player, a better ballet dancer. Through better posture, more efficient breathing and a higher degree of endurance, strength will make you better at chess. I challenge you to think of any occasion in which you might go - damn, I wish I was weaker. 
 

It's not only a game-changer. As the precursor to all other qualities - power, speed, endurance and skill, strength is the game. Despite this, it's pursuit has been denied to half of us. In training, men will, sooner or later, try to pick up something heavy. Being men, it's very likely to be both sooner, and heavier, than it should be. Women, conversely, are lead away from this and although things are changing, those that do cross the divide - usually through high-level sports coaching - are the exception.
 
Of course, it would be absurd not to acknowledge that while performance is all well and good, we are likely just as concerned about how we look. And it is at the intersection of strength training (or what it is perceived to be), and the pursuit of an aesthetic goal that perhaps the most persistent and damaging of all fitness myths resides.

Specifically, gender divisions between:

The gender divisions between:

• Long, lean, and toned

• Hard, ripped and muscular

These are distinctions that have us conditioned, falsely educated and flat-out lied to. Muscles are 'shaped' by something outside our control - genetics. You can make muscle bigger or you can let it get smaller. There is no such thing as shaping, lengthening and toning. Muscle attaches to bone, so unless your skeleton is still growing they are never lengthening, no matter how much time you spend at pilates or barre class.

This leaves just two ways in which you can alter your body shape: 

1. Build muscle (called muscle hypertrophy) - so there is something to look at

2. Lose fat - so you can see it

There are subtle differences, but the best methods for both these protocols are common to both genders. 'Long and toned' AND 'bulky and ripped', being the same thing, are therefore achieved in the same fashion, yet women have traditionally been lead to avoid bodyweight exercise in favour of yoga, heavy lifting in favour of pink dumbbells, and sprinting over spin-class. And all with the same underlying reason - that strength training will add a masculine bulk to the female frame. The unfortunate result being that, as a rule, women training for aesthetic reasons are slavishly devoted to fitness practices that will get them there in about the same way that a rowboat can get you to New Zealand.

Most women who step foot in a gym cite a change of body shape as their primary reason for exercising. They walk in the door, past racks of weights and go straight to some piece of equipment that, short of sitting on the floor, is the least effective method of body-change in the entire room. Not surprising considering the influence of mainstream fitness magazines and celebrities all touting the same nonsense. Not surprising also then that we see a majority of women describing their experience with fitness as frustrating.

Rowing to New Zealand is likely to be very frustrating. Even more so when Gwyneth Paltrow would have you believe that's how she got there. And when you learn that you can fly. As ever, it is not your frustrations that are misplaced, they are exactly where you'll find them every time your behaviour doesn't match your goals. It's your expectations that need to be relocated.

Cue. Traditional 'cardio' - in all its forms from jogging to swimming and typical cardio machines. Throw in Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, etc. etc. etc. There is no denying some of these options may be fun, will help you work up a sweat and, in most cases, will provide a particular set of fitness benefits. Changing your body-shape is not one of them.

You can get stronger from some of these methods, and yoga in particular but don't fall for the classic trap: That pilates class is not full of people that have developed a dancers body from doing pilates. It is full of dancers that do pilates. 

(Strength training won't give you the body of a dancer either - a dancers body, like any high-level athlete, comes courtesy of their parents)

So, there's no need to choke on your chai latte; I'm not having a crack. I do yoga, and I am a big fan of it, and whatever else might float your boat. We are only as good as our weakness and given that males have a higher degree of natural strength, and women superior flexibility, the gender ratios in gyms and yoga classes, should ideally, be reversed. Just be clear as to what the benefits (really) are.

If your goal is to create a lean, muscular physique then by far the best means to that end is to build muscle. If you insist on picking up something pink, just be sure it's bloody heavy. To address any concerns about this resulting in an overtly muscular look here is:

 
The Skinny on Gaining Muscle

• Muscle gain is a product of a number of factors including training methods, recovery practices, and hormonal environment. But primarily it is a dietary consideration.

• It is impossible to gain any significant muscle mass without purposefully and consistently eating a caloric excess, and not the sort of excess you're now thinking of. A daily excess you would hardly believe it was even possible to consume.

• Hormonally, women will always have a harder time than men in gaining muscle mainly due to low levels of testosterone.

Even given the practice of eating to excess, and with roughly 100 times higher levels of testosterone, even for a male, it is exceedingly difficult. As evidenced by the fact that the fairly common desire of your typical teenager to turn himself into a rippling, veiny, shrink-wrapped bag of walnuts, results in how many of them ever pulling it off? Sweet f.a.

It doesn't happen accidentally.

When the focus is on 'developing' certain areas of the body that either gender may want to enhance the 'shape' of, we can only ever be adding muscle. Unless you think skeletons look hot, you'll agree that muscle IS shape. Additionally, for those of us that like to eat - muscle is metabolically active tissue - it’s constantly burning fat. Are you still sure you don't want it?

Having outlined the importance of building muscle, somewhat confusingly, you also need to understand that:
 
Strength does not (necessarily) equal size.

Many sports and athletic pursuits require an extremely high degree of strength, but also agility and speed. In these instances, size is a disadvantage. You can create sufficient muscle hypertrophy to give you your desired shape, but training purely for strength beyond this point causes more of a neurological adaptation, not a muscular one.

The best way to think of this is to put yourself back in that sinking car again. In a life threatening situation, you are able to call on vast reserves of strength - you could kick out a windscreen. Your muscles do not magically increase in size to do this, but (with a little help from adrenaline) you are able to tap in to what you already have - a neural mechanism.

The methods and protocols for building muscle size (hypertrophy) and building strength are different. Strength training is more about learning how to use what you have. Most efficiently, and on demand.

The fountain of youth

Falling only just short of providing a solution to global warming, strength (and hypertrophy) training covers everything else:

• Increases muscle tissue - in decline from your 30s

• Increases bone mineral density

• Enhances joint stability and strength

• Improves posture

• Increases metabolic rate

• Increases energy expenditure

• Enhances performance

• Decreases risk of injury

• Decreases degenerative diseases such as arthritis

• Decreases blood pressure and diabetes

• Decreases risk of cardiovascular disease

• Improves mood

• Enhances self-esteem

If you could list even half of these on the side of a bottle you would be looking at a miracle drug. But it doesn't come easy. Strength training takes time, and effort. It takes adjustment, progression and regression. Above all, it requires engagement. It's a skill. You have to learn it.

Learn how to create tension throughout the body. Learn to use your entire frame as an extension of your core. Learn to harness the full efforts of mind and body to bend, both them and the environment, to your will. In performance terms, any lack of strength is obvious. Aesthetically, although it might be harder to tell, when you take dietary calculations into account you can be sure that without strength training behind it, all you are looking at is a facade. Forming the cornerstone of Leftfield Training it primes body change and drives performance building both physical strength and strength of mind. It creates fluidity and elegance of movement and confers a confidence that can be the result of only one thing:
 
Doing anything and everything, with ease.

 
Further reading:

http://fivex3.com/2013/08/11/how-to-carry-your-husband-out-of-a-burning-building/

https://bretcontreras.com/long-lean-muscles-oh-irony/