You can always learn more

Today was interesting, I've been reading up on a little more advanced program design. Primarily focused on how the body should be balanced in terms of muscular strength. For example, your biceps and triceps should have a 1:1 strength ratio. So if you curl 45 pounds, you should be able to do tricep extensions with 45 pounds.

The theory behind it is you body will only let you get so far off balanced before it just will not allow you to get any stronger. While obviously there are going to be genetic anomalies where the body will allow for a greater off balance of strength, focusing on the balance will allow you to gain strength in areas where you may have previously hit a platou.

I don't normally do curls in my workout but I gave it a shot. Using a one rep max calculator I can determine where these muscles actually fall into place. My 1 rep max for curls was 56 pounds, my 1 rep max for tricep extensions was about 25 pounds.....

Obviously 56 and 25 aren't even close. I don't know if I'll ever be at a 1:1 ratio in that department but I believe it builds a better and stronger body if the two muscle groups are closer in strength. My hope is that as I focus on developing my triceps more, that it will allow my biceps to increase in strength as well.

You know I'm wondering if a weak tricep is contributing to my issues with my grip strength? Very likely.

No, I'm not going to sit and just do tricep extensions with the dumbbell to make it stronger, I feel that there are other exercises that will better help me for Ninja Warrior.

I'm curious to see what my tricep extension with a cable strength is and curl strength with a cable. I'll take a little test with it tomorrow perhaps.


For the shoulder, the pull to push ratio should be 3:2. Now I can do pull ups with weight attached to my body, my 1 rep max is around 275, my STANDING overhead press is 118..... Not even close. My overhead press should be 183. I'm not entirely sure how I want to go about improving this ratio, but I really feel if I start to close that gap my pull up strength will improve.