What does it mean to love the Lord your God with all your strength?
by Manfred Tschan, George Fox professor
Like many families in Switzerland, we owned neither a car nor a TV. Video games and Facebook were decades away. What was a kid supposed to do? We played outside. We climbed trees and rocks, we skied and sledded, we walked to go places, and we raced for fun. We also played sports, long before we were old enough to join a club or have a coach.
I was a scrawny kid, but I was pretty strong. For my gymnastics routines I always preferred stringing together a bunch of strength moves. One reason was that I could. The other reason was, well, let's just say that Swiss boys didn't compare themselves in terms of how smooth and elegant they were.
My dad was not too impressed with me. He kept reminding me that no matter how strong I was, an ox would always be stronger. He suggested that I pay attention to my studies, so that I could at least be smarter than the ox.
Given my affinity for playing, it is not really surprising that I decided to study physical education and sports. I learned that anybody can improve his or her strength. And I have come to believe that good stewardship of all God's gifts, spiritual, intellectual, or physical, is an expression of our reverence and of our love for God.
Following are some principles for improving your physical strength. I leave it to your own thoughts and meditations to see the connections to your Christian disciplines.
Specificity: You will not get stronger from going for a nice walk. You have to do something that requires strength in order to gain strength.
Individuality: Every person has a different potential for strength. If two of you do the exact same training, each of you will progress differently.
Reversibility: If you don't use it, you'll lose it. Most of the gains you have made will be reversed, if you do nothing to maintain them.
Overload: You have to work hard enough to stress your body, if you want your training to have an effect. Staying in your comfort zone will not make you stronger.
Frequency: To gain strength you need to work out three times a week. To maintain strength, twice a week is enough.
Duration: You can get a complete body workout in 30 to 45 minutes, not including the shower. It's so worth it!
Functional Strength vs. Body Building: Body builders often train every day, alternating upper and lower body workouts. They isolate individual muscles and work on them. They basically spend hours to look good. This is totally unnecessary for gaining functional strength.
Motor Units vs. Hypertrophy: The initial increase in strength is attributable to the recruitment of motor units. The body makes sure that more muscle fibers share the workload, before individual muscle fibers start increasing in size.
Final Verdict: You can't love God with all your strength if you are just sitting there. Be strong! Play hard!