Dr. Darin and Trent dive into the first of the Foundations series of episodes with an exploration of the 10 General Physical Skills, which are in no particular order:
- Endurance
- Stamina
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Power
- Speed
- Coordination
- Agility
- Balance
- Accuracy
In this episode Coach D explains why strength is the basis for all the other physical skills, and why it should be trained first and foremost. Strength is, simply put, the ability to produce force against external resistance. That external resistance could be other objects, like a barbell or a kettlebell, even common household items like lawnmowers and sacks of rice; however the most common external resistance we face, every moment of our lives, is gravity. The mass of the Earth tries to pull us down into it, and we must use our muscles to produce force to keep our bodies upright, to walk, run, bend, stand up… you name it.
As a result, increasing force production, or strength, makes us better at all of these things. Put another way, strength is essential to all human movement, and thus affects all other physical skills. So in our journey to achieve better fitness and better health, we prioritize strength first, then train the other skills. As Mark Rippetoe, a barbell coach of over 40 years and author of Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training, puts it: “Strong people are harder to kill… and more useful in general.”
In the next episode we will discuss how to get strong, what exercises you should be doing, how and how often you should perform them, and the best sources for learning how to strength train.
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