The 7 Best Exercises to Get *BRUTALLY* Strong + Standards to Reach For

Most powerful strength movements to develop for athletes to be able to throw, hit and move opponents with ease + strength standards to shoot for long term

Contents:

1. Applying Force is Paramount for Performance

2. You Probably Aren’t that “Strong”

3. 7 Exercises to focus on for strength development for athletes & recreational trainees + STRENGTH STANDARDS TO REACH

4. Thoughts on Standards for different classes & athletes

Force is Paramount

I’ve spoken frequently about how the primary attribute in athletics is ultimately strength (read details here). Your strength, or ability to produce force, is the basis for all actions you take whether you consider them “athletic” or not. Certainly, in physical training however, we know that every attempt to get faster, improve endurance, or increase power are a derivative of prerequisite strength. These qualities are essentially descriptive twists on producing force.

To be fast is to produce small amounts of force rapidly. To be powerful is to produce a large amount of force rapidly. Endurance is the ability to be able to produce force for long period of time. Every action we take is a muscle contraction from a nervous system impulse in order to produce a desired result.

You Probably Aren’t “Strong Enough” to Ignore This

Depending on your goals, various levels of strength will determine your “minimum requirements“ for ideal performance. 90% of trainees, however, are not at the point where they would see any kind of diminishing returns. It is *very likely* you are not “strong enough” & the gross majority of both the general and athletic population would benefit greatly from getting much stronger in a broad context. (See standards below)

This isn’t to say that the only thing an athlete needs is strength but it is to say that *you are probably lacking in it* and your results in other areas would also be benefited from improving it. (Or at least, you are likely not strong enough where you wouldn’t still see great improvements in athletics from getting stronger)

As an added note, it’s common that the top metrics used for how strong an athlete is are simply identified using the powerlifts; squat, bench & deadlift.

There are both good and bad reasons why this is, but I think strength in a broad athletic contest goes beyond the “big three”. I also think strength goes beyond this list as well - that said, if you want a fairly succinct general list of what you - a non-powerlifter - should focus on, I think these are the 7 best movements for you to get very strong at. These provide the best “global” strength effect on the body in order to overwhelm the majority of people in sport - especially contact competition - or to just be a disgustingly powerful human being:

Top 7 Exercises for *BRUTAL* Strength Development + Strength Standards

1. Squat

   This one was probably obvious. (*BUT KEEP READING THE REST OF THE LIST*) The strength of the legs to be able to produce maximum force through a full range of motion is integral to any overall athlete. The squat produces a massive raw stimulus magnitude for strength production in the whole body and unlike deadlifts, possess a stretch reflex at the bottom of the movement. This stretch reflex is extremely powerful in sports athletic motions frequently involve cyclical motions to the legs like running, or rebounding motions like jumping. This also applies to any movement that involves high levels of force through the legs and torso. If your squat is weak, it is difficult to contend with competition that can lift so much more than you making this one of the most important lifts.

   I provided no sort of specific variation on purpose as I don’t believe any particular squat is supreme as long as it is a variation that can be loaded fairly heavy (conducive to sets in the 1-8 rep range)

   Squatting double your bodyweight or 400 pounds is a good standard.

2. Chin-up

   The chin up is a classic in the world of fitness because of its accessibility around the world. Every action you take especially in contact sports like wrestling or rugby that require you to grab, wrap, and throw slash tackle opponents rely on a strong grip and back to tear your opponents down with. If these qualities are weak it is far too easy for opponents to escape the rest of your body is strong. In contact sports especially you need a strong back in order to maintain contact & CONTROL with an opponent. A brutally strong chin up will develop the hands biceps and lats to coordinate so you can control a resisting opponent with ease.

   Weighted chin ups are superior for strength in comparison to high rep body weight numbers so you should be able to shoot for a full dead-hang chin-up with 100lbs added to your body. This standard also encourages you to maintain a healthy athletic body fat percentage – as being overweight will make this challenge far more difficult.

3. Sled Push

   probably the most underutilized but powerful exercises is a sled push. The sled push helps your body coordinate driving forward as one unit with the shins at a steep angle (This activates different muscles in the lower leg complex than a squat). It has several unique advantages.

   • It trains the foot and ankle to be very strong when driving force forward. A squat does not accomplish this but it is crucial in most sport actions that take place on the balls of the feet. Floppy ankles will zap your strength away even if your squat is strong.

   • It trains the legs for strength without demanding work from the lower back. The lower back being trained in a squat is a good thing. However, having heavy options that can prevent the lower back from being a limiter instead of the strength of the legs being the limiter of your ability to lift in a weight is also positive to have any program.

   • Due to the nature of how the sled moves there is no east centric component to this lift. This allows you to focus entirely on building strength driving forward and also have to recover from the east centric portion of a Lift which is the most stressful and damaging. This makes sled pushes easy to incorporate without taxing or training economy. It also trains your ability to drive force through the concentric off of one leg at a time – Like most actions will require.

   Pushing 4.5x bodyweight for 15 yards without stopping is excellent. (Yes you read that right)

4. Deadlift / Hinge or *Heavy Dynamic Pulls*

   There is nuance in explaining the deadlift for performance. There are several types of heavy “hinges” in this slot because they are variable in their use and application. Getting strong in each of them or in particular ones is up to the individual.

   • Any form of deadlifting *off the floor* differs from the nature of a squat in the sense that there is no stretch shortening cycle. The lack of a stretch reflex gives it its name - “DEAD-lift”. This can be powerful as it teaches your body to build a tremendous strength moving very heavy weight from a dead stop off the floor. In terms of developing your bodies maximum ability to produce force this could potentially be the number one exercise. Any form of deadlift from the floor fits this category - barbell in a conventional stance, trap bar, sumo etc. (Conventional barbell & Trap bar are my preferred choices however.)

   • There are very powerful hinges however like a Romanian deadlift that do involve a stretch reflex which are also powerful because they teach your posterior chain to produce force while using the eccentric & stretch shortening cycle like athletes often do in a sprint. Romanian deadlifts are also superior for muscle gain for this reason.

   • The third type of hinge are actually heavy dynamic pulls. These are usually a variation of the traditional Olympic lifts. I think they should be done heavy for strength when used in a program - which they often are not. This means erring on the heavier end of the spectrum rather than light lifts for speed. When moving lighter loads at a higher velocity, I believe there are usually better exercise options - especially since the point of this post is STRENGTH.

     These work a similar movement pattern as conventional deadlifts and RDLs - however strength with a speed component is built into them. You must learn to accelerate a heavy weight. This is obviously crucial in many sports (contact sports but also any power sport). I prefer power/hang cleans, or high pulls with a wide grip for most athletes as they are easy to learn & focus only on the main elements a non-competitive lifter is looking for (rate of force development & force absorption). Which of these (or multiple) you choose to focus on will depend on your goals and needs. A 500lb deadlift, 350-375lb RDL, or a 250-275lb snatch high pull / or power clean are good metrics to shoot for long term.

5. Bench Press (YES, I know. But read)

   Everyone bench presses yet it has also come under fire in recent years. There are both valid and mistaken reasons why. I won’t go into depth on that topic here - however, ANY chest press exercise that can be done heavy 1-8 reps is invaluable in building strength in the shoulder girdle and developing the upper bodies ability to produce force. Forget having a big chest for aesthetics (though you may also enjoy that), having a fairly strong bench/chest press of any kind is the best way to develop and possess maximum power potential in the upper torso.

   This lift builds the ability to push and hit opponents with the arms, or throw and drive a shotput/stone/stiff arm etc. with maximum power. A bench press is not “non-functional” - it just needs to be executed & programmed correctly and with a reasonable variation besides the powerlifting style that is cemented in fitness culture.

   A close grip, low to medium incline, multi-grip bar or dumbbell variation (or any combination of them) are a staple in building a base of strength in the shoulders, chest, and arms for action.

   Lifting 1.5x+ bodyweight on any barbell lift or 300lbs is a solid goal to aim toward - Dumbbells don’t work as well for max lifts but 115 for 5 clean reps is a good target.

6. Single leg Variations (of both squats & hinges)

   Finally - getting strong on one leg is SUPER key for performance and athletic strength. Single leg work emphasizes several things:

   • Coordinating strength production without assistance from a stronger side. We all have a slightly stronger or weaker limb (More or less coordinated). This is the way to develop the limbs individually so they do not limit each other from holding the strong side back or taking away from the work to be done by the weak side. Imbalances can be avoided using single leg movements.

   • Single leg movements also force muscles and angles of movement that aren’t used as much or in the same way on two legs. This forces the body to learn to produce high force while also having to maintain stability using the adductors & abductors more than usual. (Glute Medius is also more involved) This is *HUGE* for change of direction when cutting on the field/court & finishing takedowns in grappling or in any contact sport.

   • Single leg work also provides a unique benefit to strength due to something called the “bilateral deficit”. The nervous system seems to be able to produce more force out of a single leg at a time than both legs together. This may seem confusing - it means yes, you may be lifting less weight on one leg, but you are lifting more than half of what both legs lift in a bilateral squat.

     For example, you may squat 400lbs, but you would likely be able to squat on one leg ~300lbs instead of what most would assume would be ~200lbs. (More on this in the future when we go in-depth on single limb training) This may be because of the large CNS demand being split between 2 legs at a time and them being large body parts - the brain and CNS only has enough power to send an impulse to both legs that is less than what they’re maximally capable of. This makes sense in theory as our legs are often only being used one at time in the gait cycle and other actions - hence the value of training single leg exercises. (This is still being studied, however)

   • They require less total weight in order to ~equally develop the leg - this allows them to usually possess a higher “stimulus to fatigue ratio” (Ie. They are easier to recover from) This is almost always a good thing.

   • You can also develop better mobility from these exercises as well. They can be done in such a way that you move through a larger range of motion than you may squat - valuable for mobility and injury prevention + strength in all ranges is never a bad thing.

   • Note: You may have noticed that a sled push is also a “single leg“ exercise. I placed them separately because a sled push is unique in the sense that it has no eccentric component - and an eccentric is also valuable in terms of hypertrophy & strength. Sled work has unique advantages but so does traditional single leg training so they both have a place on the list.

     My personal favorite single-leg exercises are Front foot elevated Split Squats, Bulgarian split squats and Hatfield split-squats. (Any of the previous versions can be done Hatfield or hand supported version as well)

     Shoot for a Split Squat at ~1.4-1.5x bodyweight for 4-6 reps or 300lbs for 5 reps (depending on the variation used)

7. Loaded Carries (ex. Zercher Carry, Farmer Carry)

   Loaded carries are very powerful. They have become somewhat more common and popular in the last ten years with the popularity of CrossFit & Strongman - however, they are useful training tools beyond sport events. A loaded carry is a natural task our bodies need to be capable of and require a system of coordinated contractions from the *entire* body to do so effectively. From feet to hands the body develops an iron isometric hold on the weight - controlling it from start to finish. It’s clear how this is “functional” in some practical sense, but it should be noted the stimulus for strengthening the body from muscle to bone is huge here when done with appropriate loads.

   As usual, I believe doing things fairly heavy is the best way to go to get a strong stimulus for strength gain. These are commonly done with moderately heavy dumbbells and done in a conditioning sense, or with grip strength being the main factor. This is fine for those purposes but for broader strength development I would expand further into challenging the rest of the body with heavier carries - use straps if needed. In the case of any type of carry - 10-20 yards are good distances to work with but timed sets of 20-30 seconds are good as well.

   Using a Zercher or Farmer (trap bar works well) style set up works very well. The strength in the upper back from the stretch of holding weights like this is both good for its stability and health, but immensely powerful for transferring force/power into the upper body from the lower. Like the lower torso, or core, is well known for how it helps transfer force from the legs to shoulders - the upper back and traps are also extremely crucial to that end as well.

   It’s not hard to see how carrying a heavier & heavier weight for a short distance over time would make one a much harder person to move while literally having an easier time moving other things (or people).

   2x bodyweight for 20 second walks, 2.3x bodyweight for 15 yards, or 450lbs for a 15 yard walk on a trap bar carry would be a game changer for most athletes. If using dumbbells, 50% bodyweight in each hand for 60 seconds walking sturdy is roughly equivalent.

If you can reach the standards for each of those exercises there is no one who will be considering you weak and you will be in tremendous shape to make great gains in speed, power and other facets of your athletic ability. These are by no means “easy” and for many of you will take a lot of work to reach, however they are not insane by any standards and can absolutely be achievable by most healthy trainees.

Make these the nuts and bolts of your programming and facilitate getting stronger until you’re virtually never at a physical disadvantage.

For non-contact athletes, and even some athletes that are still contact/power focused, you do not have to hit all of these standards. They are simply numbers to shoot for to hit a high level of strength relative to the broad population.

A tennis player wouldn’t need to hit all 7 of these and perhaps not quite hit any of them fully. A football or rugby play certainly would however, so use judgment on what you need or reach out/ask questions for coaching advice. But it is advised that if strength which is applicable in a broad context is your goal (if not, you’re reading the wrong substack) then these 7 exercise types & standards are excellent development markers and can be achieved within 5 years with good training.

If you can reach 3 of those 7 standards, you are a formidable physical specimen - if you can reach 5, you are extremely strong and likely standing out amongst a crowd.

Anyone hitting all 7 of these numbers is approaching superhero status and ready to go toe-to-toe with the biggest beasts around. Progress slowly but diligently - with sensible & effective programming.

Use one of my programs on the Substack if you do not know how to properly program for strength improvement.

OR get custom programming by DM’ing me on Twitter or email at HybridAthleteTraining@protonmail.com