Arthur Jones has stated on more than one occasion that single lifts do nothing to build strength. In his words, they build skill. This is a strange argument being that many professional weightlifters do singles regularly. What did Jones mean by this? If you get stronger in a single lift then you are stronger correct? I always thought that there was an endurance factor to beng stronger in doing say, 10 repetitions of an exercise and then increasing the weight at a later date and doing 10 repetitions. You are stronger sure but you can do more reps and that requires endurance I would guess. It seems like singles would be better for measuring strength. Did I misunderstand Jones?
Is there any context available for this, like the document in which it was stated?
It seems confusing and strange. Like, I could say that ānuts and bolts are useless to me, because Iām a welder. I do my part and let mechanics and assemblers worry about what kind of fasteners to useā.
Then someone else says āThis guy said nuts and bolts are uselessā, which is factually correct but lacks context and application information, which is important when evaluating the validity.of a statement.
Why do you find this strange? Do professional weightlifters (lets pretend any of us actually know what āprofessional weightliftersā do) not have to get skilled at setting a 1RM on their lifts? If your entire sport depended on setting a 1RM on the clean and jerk and snatch, would you not want to practice that skill?
Honestly, the idea that max attempts donāt build real strength is such a standard view, i donāt think iāve come across a single strength coach that would disagree. This isnāt an Arthur Jones thing, this is an āevery successful strength coachā thing.
I believe Jones was referring to the time factor involved in doing a maximum lift. A maximum lift requires only a few seconds to perform. And a few seconds doing a lift is not very effective in building strength. Jones thought you needed at least 30 seconds of repetitions to involve the most muscle fibers effectively.
I found it strange that Jones would say that 1RMās do nothing for your strength when competitive weightlifters do 1RM maximums in their workouts, not just competitions. Thatās what I meant.
Do they? I donāt know much about Olympic weightlifting, but iāve not heard of any successful strength athlete who regularly works up to a 1RM.
Even lifters that do circa-max training a la Westside or more traditional peaking programs, the purpose isnāt to build strength, but to get more skilled at using the strength thatās already been built. Strength is a skill that needs to be practised.
Iāve heard it said that a lot of powerlifters will vary their rep ranges via mesocycles for months on end leading up to a competition - without testing their 1RM. The goal being to āpeakā on competition day so a new 1RM can be reached when it matters most.
Iām no strength trainer, but I can positively tell you that youāll see dudes ego lifting their 1RM every week and almost never see their weights climbā¦ This is a result of being overtaxed from the 1RM, usually in combination with a lack of willingness to perform more reps at lower weight.
The operative issue here is, as almost every anecdotal tale will tell, that training 1 rep maxes doesnāt do shit for muscle growth, or strength improvement.
In 2020 I did a lot of squats at home. I worked hard and got my squat from 140x5 to 140x23. With this in mind I hit the gym (when they reopened) and tried to squat āheavyā again.
I maxed out at 160x3.
What this means - I had the āstrengthā to do more than 160x3. But not the skill to brace and bend as it were.
IE my body was physically able to squat heavier but I lacked the coordination, balance and technique to make it happen. This is where heavy singles would have come in. To take my āable bodyā and making better at doing something.
Okay, good. So it is not just Jones that is saying this. This is not unique and it seems most strength trainers realize this. However, I wonder if heavy singles help add to strength if they are in addition to sets with higher reps of 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.
IMO, singles train CNS to recruit a greater percentage of muscle for the first rep.
Training 1RMax is not advisable. If you miss a lift often, or even some, you might be ālearning how to missā. That is the last kind of training a competitor wants.
I think you misunderstood Jones because I just spent far too long trying to track down anything he said about 1RMs, strength-building, and skillsā¦ and I found nothing of the sort.
As was asked several times, what, exactly, did he say and where did he say it?
What I could find on the topic was this from Nautilus Bulletin #1.
Kinda odd Jones would say the 1RMs should be tested every few weeks if they āonly build skillā and donāt contribute to strength, no?
Not to step on Pwnās toes, but a 1RM and a heavy single are certainly not interchangeable terminology. All 1RMs are heavy singles, but not all heavy singles are 1RMs. Treating them as synonymous is a mistake.
I did a similar thing with deadlifts years ago. I was regularly repping out 145-155kg into double digits, got my e1RM into the 200s. I decided one day to work up to a new PR, got to 170kg as the ālast warm upā and it was stapled to the floor. It was a pretty humbling experience.
Hereās a video of Jones talking about it at 1:18. It is in the context of discussing explosive training but he mentions how training to develop the skills of a competitive weightlifter will do nothing for your strength (he also adds that it will destroy your joints). Anyway, there is another video on youtube of Jones discussing this topic but I cannot find it currently.
