The recreational strength athlete

31 October 2023
Adarsh Gopal

The people I have in mind don’t lift weights, train or exercise solely for the sake of vanity, for lifting the most weight, or to compete in any strength sport.

They do what they do in their homes and in our gym to improve their everyday lives and how they feel while at work.

They are athletes in that they are good at physical exercise. They have more strength than the average joe or jane. They do it for fun. They fall in a category I call the recreational strength athlete. A person who lifts weights not solely for vanity, sport or maximising strength or endurance. But for a little of all of it.

I propose a more accessible view of the recreational strength athlete. First they are:

Not a bodybuilder
Not a crossfitter
Not a powerlifter
Not a strongman
Not an Olympic lifter

All those protocols work just fine. They have made millions of people stronger and given trainees a strong sense of purpose and pointed direction. But recreational strength athletes do not fall into those categories. They may occasionally dabble in it. But they cannot be pigeon-holed.

Instead a recreational strength athlete is a person who can :

Push themselves off a floor they are lying on
Pull their chest to a ledge while hanging off it
Pick things off the floor safely
Squat to the ground and stand back up
Roll off the floor and stand up safely
Sit at the bottom of a squat
Hang off a bar
Hop across a puddle
Lunge down the stairs
Lower yourself down a high stool on one leg with the other dangling in the air
Run up 4-5 flights of stairs without having to breathe too hard
Move fluidly with stability when presented with practical obstacles

All the patterns I have described above are things you do everyday. They are also exercises that can be practiced, trained and dosed.

I truly believe strength can be framed as an accessible skill anyone can aspire to without the exaggerated images of vanity, performance enhancements, sterile machines and air-conditioned gyms.

Just a person on the beach, in a gym, on a terrace or in their living room moving to make their everyday lives a little simpler.

All writing