What is the best strength test?

[ForzaCavaliere]

I would have liked to ask "What is the most complete strength test?" but obviously such a test would involve every movement known to man. 

 

But really, how can you determine who is the strongest?

 

As for the definition of strength, I'm not really to certain so it can be quite lenient in regards to this question; but one requisite is that there should be a combination of brute strength and athleticism. 

 

Pure weightlifters can say "I can lift more than you in *particular lift* therefore I am stronger", but calisthenics experts may also say something like "yeah, well, can you do this *particular movement*?" 

Which one is more valid, if either? 

The strength should be applicable in real world scenarios, such as lifting a car out of a slippery ditch, or uprooting a man-sized tree, because what use is any other strength? 

 

In such a test, would you make it a circuit routine for who can do particular exercises? Would you include standard "exercises" or a new one for the sake of testing (such as, say, metal bending).

 

All I can think to include really is a deadlift (genuine test of total body strength), and... weighted pullups. 

 

Any ideas?

 

EDIT: What I had in mind was a method for discerning who out of two people is the stronger one. Arm wrestling should be in there somewhere.

[Jennifer Rodriguez]

Have you taken a look at Dave Werner's skill levels?   I think it's interesting info.

 

http://crossfitseattle.com/athletic-skill-levels/

[Alessandro Mainente]

The strongest athlete is the most complete.

"I'm strong as is strong my weakest point".

[Christian Nogueira]

Perform a maltese followed by a 1000 pound deadlift followed by sub 10 second 100 meter dash.

 

With no rest in between.

 

Since probably nobody can do that I think there's no answer .

[Murray Truelove]

Why not look at strongman competitions? Atlas stones and things like that.

[Connor Davies]

Are you talking about absolute strength or relative strength?  Because this is why weightlifters compete in weight classes....

[Mike Taylor]

Arm wrestling not such a good idea

They had it in Worlds Strongest Man once

Magnus Samuelson, who was previously an arm wrestler and knew what he was doing, used Nathan 'Megaman' Jones' strength against him and snapped his arm!

I still cringe to think of it!

[Connor Davies]

To quote wikipedia:

The record for the single handed deadlift is 330.0 kg (727.5 lb) by Hermann Görner in Leipzig 1920.^[8]

 

Now I've posted this here because I want you to focus on the date.  1920.  That means, in nearly a hundred years, no-ones been able to beat this guy.  Now that's strong.

 

I think the old timers had tests of strength right.  Their basic idea was to get really good at something, something that no-one else could do.  That way, you were indisputably the champion at whatever it was you were strong at.

 

So the best strength test isn't 'who can side lever better' or 'who's got the heaviest clean and press' but rather 'who can do this thing I just did.  Oh, nobody?  Just me then....'

[DiTi]

if you can hold a one arm victoian cross than you are probably stronger than superman

[Jan Reipert]

I would have liked to ask "What is the most complete strength test?" but obviously such a test would involve every movement known to man. 

 

But really, how can you determine who is the strongest?

 

As for the definition of strength, I'm not really to certain so it can be quite lenient in regards to this question; but one requisite is that there should be a combination of brute strength and athleticism. 

 

Pure weightlifters can say "I can lift more than you in *particular lift* therefore I am stronger", but calisthenics experts may also say something like "yeah, well, can you do this *particular movement*?" 

Which one is more valid, if either? 

The strength should be applicable in real world scenarios, such as lifting a car out of a slippery ditch, or uprooting a man-sized tree, because what use is any other strength? 

 

In such a test, would you make it a circuit routine for who can do particular exercises? Would you include standard "exercises" or a new one for the sake of testing (such as, say, metal bending).

 

All I can think to include really is a deadlift (genuine test of total body strength), and... weighted pullups. 

 

Any ideas?

 

EDIT: What I had in mind was a method for discerning who out of two people is the stronger one. Arm wrestling should be in there somewhere.

 

there can only be one answer: the mighty clean & jerk. you will need mobility, strength, explosiveness on your upper and lower body. i cant think of another (existing) exercise that even comes close.

[Connor Davies]

there can only be one answer: the mighty clean & jerk. you will need mobility, strength, explosiveness on your upper and lower body. i cant think of another (existing) exercise that even comes close.

The snatch? 

 

Honestly though, clean and jerks require years of training to really optimize force output.  So while they're a very good way of demonstrating strength, explosiveness ect they're not a very good way of testing it....

[Chris Hansen]

I don't think it's possible to say there's one "best" way to test strength, it's kind of context specific. I would think that anything requiring great force and large muscle groups could be considered. Picking something off the ground or carrying something heavy are pretty basic movements that can be tested.

[Klemen Bobnar]

Perform a maltese followed by a 1000 pound deadlift followed by sub 10 second 100 meter dash.

 

With no rest in between.

Now that's what I call circuit training!

[Seabird]

So there are really a couple of different types of strength, right? Fast and slow twitch muscle fibers. I'd reckon that the slow twitch kind may be more suited for humans because evolutionarily speaking, we're a medium to long range endurance predator, but a lot of people are fast twitch dominant. I think the ideal would be to have the work capacity of a gymnast plus a navy seal - medium range endurance with a gymnasts strength.

[ForzaCavaliere]

Thanks for the replies everyone! 

 

A lot of the replies were geared towards having a nice mix of exercises, emphasising different things like strength and endurance. 

 

I asked this thread with the idea of an informal competition with friends in mind. Taking everything everyone said into account, I think that such a competition should be unbiased towards any competitors, so each competitor takes turns choosing which exercise/event should be in the competition (such that neither competitor has an overwhelming advantage based solely on exercise type) and then have some sort of point system to calculate the winner. It should be made as a circuit system as well, or time based at least.

 

Thank you for the responses everyone!

[Connor Davies]

I asked this thread with the idea of an informal competition with friends in mind.

In that case, another thing you have to take into consideration is ease of testing.  There's a reason that military physical fitness tests consist of pushups and a 1.5 mile run.  Pushups you can do anywhere, and the run has everyone spaced out enough that you can get a sense of individual variances in speed without having to spend hours waiting.

 

A better test (as far as running in concerned) IMO would be a 400m sprint, but it would be too hard to get a good sense of everyone's individual time ie they'd all arrive within seconds of each other.

[Brian Li]

A better test (as far as running in concerned) IMO would be a 400m sprint, but it would be too hard to get a good sense of everyone's individual time ie they'd all arrive within seconds of each other.

A second is still a pretty large gap in the 400m sprint. They can use laser timing or fully automatic timing (FAT) like in actual track meets.

[Karl-Erik Karlsen]

Pointless discussion. It depends on why you are measuring, i.e. what is your field/discipline/sport/task. Assuming you are not just training for training's sake, but to actually accomplish something.
But the deadlift IS a good whole-body measure of strength.

[Karl-Erik Karlsen]

If you make a circuit like you concluded, you can get some interesting perspectives though. But ONE test, no - I don't think so.

[Connor Davies]

A second is still a pretty large gap in the 400m sprint. They can use laser timing or fully automatic timing (FAT) like in actual track meets.

Oh yeah, no obviously.  But when you're testing a group of 100+ squaddies, it can be pretty difficult telling them apart with a 1 second gap....  The longer distance allows enough space between athletes to say "okay, person a just made time x, person b just made time y, ect"

[Timothy Aiken]

Perform a maltese followed by a 1000 pound deadlift followed by sub 10 second 100 meter dash.

 

With no rest in between.

 

Since probably nobody can do that I think there's no answer .

Hungarian

[Carmen Schult]

Hungarian

 an hungarian gymnast can do it or what do you mean?

[Daniel Burnham]

Personally I like overhead press and Jump height.

But I agree it is pointless. There are way to many variables in training and body type to try and come up with a set of exercises that determine who is stronger.

[fiti987]

Perform this exercises:  Bech Press, Overhead press, weighted pull ups, weighted dips, power clean,bent press, back squat, deadlift, headstand push-ups, weighted pistol squat

 

Bench press: -Bar touches the chest

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

 

Overhead press:-Zero leg drive

-Pressing must be started below the chin

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

 

Weighted pull-ups:-can use any grip( netural, chin up,pull-up,rings)

-starting from deadhang, at the top the chin must past the bar(or the level of hands)

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

-the pulled weight is your weight+added weight

 

 

Weighted dips:-parabell bars

-starting from locked elbows, you must go down at least until your arms form 90^o

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

- the dipped weight is your weight+added weight

 

Power clean:-you must pick up the weight from the floor to your shoulder with just 1 move, you can use any technice until you use only one move

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

 

Bent press:- one armed overhead press,you can use any technice until you don t use your legs

-search for it on youtube if you don t know what it is

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

 

Back squat:-you must go lower than your legs parabell to the ground

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

 

Deadlift:-any technice, without straps

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

 

Headstand push-ups:.-head must touch the floor

-who did the most reps win

 

Weighted pistol:-you must go down until your hamstring almost touches your calve

-Who lifted the most percentage of his bodyweight win

 

 

-There is 3 try in every lift( as in weightlifting)

-The first gets 1 point, the 2nd 2 and so on

-who has the less ponts win

-if two person has the same percentage in one lift the heavier wins( if they are the same heavy both get 1 point)

-if two person has the same poits in the end the heavier wins( if they are the same heavy they are the same strong or they can add a timed final for example rope climbing or most push-ups in 1 minute)

 

 

-Here is the best strenght test

[Matthew Proulx]

Too many variables to set a standard that actually works without the standard being low for some and high for others because of so many varying body types. But I believe for maximal strength tests, the one arm chinup, hand stand pushups or 1x BW overhead press, and 2x BW squat are good tests.