Overhead Strength…; The Rising Tide Raises All Ships

Strength can be built by many means, does it really matter which one you choose? Well, that depends. It's true to say that the rising tide raises all ships. But it’s also important to get your ship on the tide which rises highest.

Check out the stark difference in my overhead pressing performance when I move from a resistance machine to a Rock Press with roughly the same load!

I go from a nonchalant 50RM (stopping at around 20ish because it's apparent to me that it's pointless) with two arms and 6 reps with one arm, on the Machine Press. To an absolute 1RM on the Rock Press!

"Hey bro, resistance is resistance, barbells are overrated and dangerous, with machines you can hit the prime movers harder"

We've all heard this before from 'bros' at the gym, from social media 'influencers' and even from sports scientists.

As much as I'd love to totally disagree with that statement, alas I cannot, for it is MOSTLY true.

1: Although different implements and modalities do offer various benefits which are unique to said implements and modalities, when speaking about improving force production in general, especially as that pertains to providing a stimulus for muscle growth specifically, ultimately resistance IS resistance.

2: I wouldn't say barbells are overrated and dangerous. But, many folks do have an unjustifiably inflated sense of the barbells universally undisputed superiority to all other things when it comes to muscle growth. And although not an inherently dangerous activity relative to most things you might consider dangerous, barbell training does carry a higher risk than most other resistance training options. With both Calisthenics and Machines you don't have to worry about being crushed by an external load (made from steel).

Additionally, Machines are very stable and enjoy a fixed lifting groove, which makes it much more difficult to fall out of alignment and hurt your joints and connective tissue. Hell, even Dumbbells and Kettlebells can be less injurious than barbells because they load the limbs unilaterally. This allows you to subtly adjust the groove of the movement pattern to better fit the specific mechanics of YOUR body. Thus avoiding the torque related joint flare ups more commonly associated with the barbell. Plus, if some goes wrong, or you prematurely reach failure without a spotter, it's WAY easier to escape a pair of DB's or KB's than a fully loaded barbell.

Having said all that, it should also be noted that just because something is a little more dangerous relative to something else doesn't necessarily mean that it's very dangerous at all. In fact, if my +30 years’ experience has shown me anything it's that when form is optimized and you're only progressing load within the confines of an ever expanding Comfort Zone, barbell training is very safe.

3: The more unstable the lifting environment, the lower the loading potential, period! In an unstable environment the CNS deliberately inhibits high force production to preserve safety. The degree of force inhibition is directly proportional to the degree of instability detected by the CNS. When the CNS inhibits force production you lift less load. There exist a few different, entirely independent pathways of muscle growth stimulus. The most powerful of which is force stimulus. Which is dictated by total load. Therefore you will Barbell Press more than you Dumbbell Press, you will Machine Press more than you Barbell Press.

This also suggests that the magnitude force related growth stimulus is directly proportional to the stability of the movement (So your 'functional' One Leg Swiss Ball Sotts Press while having water balloons thrown at your head will provide about as much strength and growth stimulus as I'm getting from typing this article).

However this is far from the complete story, especially if strength, power and overall athleticism is as big (or bigger) a part of the goal as hypertrophy is.

As much as it would be great to only ever have to produce force in a slow, controlled and optimally stable environment, that just isn't the case, in fact, that almost never the case in any real world scenario (work, play, sports, hobbies, physical confrontation, unexpected dangerous happening etc.).

As such, the implements we use to build our strength DOES matter, they matter quite a lot in fact. So when viewed through the lens of holistic benefits, we see that barbells offer a near perfect balance of high force production potential and realistic levels of instability, with the potential to be used explosively as well. Thus they simultaneously provide high levels of growth stimulus and real world maximally transferable brute force.

Let's take another look at that Machine Press and Rock Press, now with the realization that the vast majority of my overhead pressing has involved only free weights. Note how high my performance level on the resistance machine needed to be in order to be capable of lifting a Rock of similar load for just ONE rep.

Also note that only training on this machine alone to become capable of performing as many reps as I did here with the full stack, would be unlikely to grant me the ability to press this Rock. I'd have enough gross force production to do it, but nowhere close to the stabilizing strength required to USE that gross force production.

Also note that training on random Rock Presses alone would be unlikely to have built the strength required to blast the full stack on that machine the way I can either. This is because optimal strength programming requires progressive resistance. And resistance is most effectively progressed when you have the opportunity to micro manipulate small accurately measured loads.

Rocks aren't known for their standardized loading variability. In fact, it’s hard to know exactly what they weigh at all. They also vary wildly in terms of shape and load distribution. Meaning you could have 10 Rocks of the same load who all carry 10 different RPEs for the same person on the same exercise due to variance in shape, surface friction and load distribution.

The fact of the matter is, it was all the strength that I'd built on the BARBELL which instantly allowed me to be capable of both these feats without ever consistently training on either implement.

Stay Strong.

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