Any Star Wars geeks out there?  I'll cop to it, though it doesn't take a huge Yoda-quoting Jedi-freak to remember that the first Star Wars movie--the one that came out in 1977--is actually called "Episode IV."  George Lucas, a crazy, 32-year-old optimist, decided to call it that, hoping that his movie--which, at first, no studio would touch with a ten-parsec Bantha prod--would be so popular he'd have to make at least three more of them. 

(Props on your positive-visualization-effectiveness, there, George.  Imagine if he'd called it "Episode XII").

Anyway, I remember that when I saw "Episode IV" crawl up the screen way back when, part of me went, "Whoa!  What have I missed?"  I had assumed the movie to be a thing unto itself--whole, intact, complete--only to learn that it was in fact a piece of something much larger, a tiny, colorful corner of a larger canvas whose wonders I could only imagine.

I had an interesting talk with Mike Robertson a couple of weeks ago which placed strength training in a similar context for me.  We were talking about training methods (or I should say, he was talking while I was furiously scribbling notes, saying "Uh-huh" a lot, and making mental notes of words and concepts I'd have to look up), and he was saying that at his facility in Indianapolis, they use a multi-pronged approach, which includes foam rolling, dynamic stretching, activation drills, strength training, and static stretching. 

Note how "strength training" is just one of these five elements?  And how, listed out like that, they all take on more or less equal weight?

Robertson was talking about injury rehab at the time, but I'd say that a solid general-fitness training program of any kind should include all these elements, probably with energy systems work added for additional conditioning. 

I would also underscore the fact that Robertson includes strength training in a list of rehabilitation methods.  Meaning that, performed as part of a complete training program, strength training should improve your posture, lower your risk of injury, make your body work better with less pain.  

If it's doing the opposite--causing you more pain, making movement harder or more awkward, making you slump--you're doing it wrong, folks.  

This is not to say that we should give up on the lifting of heavy weights and start doing everything on Bosu balls (those poor things must be the most mocked fitness gadgets in history...for the record, I actually think they are useful and effective in certain contexts).  Ten years ago or so, when "functional training" first started gaining traction, the message seemed to be that we had to throw out heavy lifting baby with the reckless training bathwater.  

Now, it seems, some trainers have managed to marry to take the best elements of the Meathead philosophy with the best pieces of the functional training movement and found a happy medium, wherein it's possible to be both healthy and strong. 

But again, to get there, you need those six elements:  foam rolling, dynamic stretching, activation drills, strength training, static stretching, and energy systems work.  I'd say everyone needs all these things--not just injured folks.  Include all the elements and you can be reasonably sure your body is getting healthier, stronger, more athletic, more balanced.  Cut corners on the supporting drills and, over time, you're very likely to hurt yourself.

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If you can't get enough of fitness info on the web, check this site, which is loaded with links to good articles, past and present, by smart people.  I take only slight umbrage in the description of Male Pattern Fitness as "Lighthearted musings on nutrition and fitness."   What, not "A Shining Comet of Brilliance in the Fitness-Writing Firmament"??

Well, at least somebody thinks I'm a hard-core expert.