Why "Absolute" Human Performance

The maxima of all maxima.

Sounds cool right? The maxima of ALL maxima.

Have you ever wondered why AHP is named what it’s named?

In 2017 when I knew I was going to open my own training facility I was obviously searching for the right name, but was kind of going around in circles.

I knew I wanted ‘Human Performance’ to be in the name for a variety of reasons (this is a different story for a different time), but I couldn’t figure out the first word.

Then one day I was reviewing, yet again, Supertraining, which is the text that is widely regarded as the bible of strength and conditioning. And I was explaining a particular concept to Sarah, and it hit me.

Absolute… Human Performance.

Zatsiorsky defined Absolute Strength as: the maxima of all maxima – the greatest force which can be produced by a given muscle group under involuntary muscle stimulation

Absolute Strength should not be confused with Maximal Strength: the ability of a group of muscles to produce a voluntary contraction in response to optimal motivation against an external load

Human beings are hardwired with protective mechanisms – safeguards to help aid in survival. We are predators, after all. An antelope will die of a heart attack because if it stops it’s getting eaten by the lion. Humans, on the other hand, will stop running to live another day.

A huge part of training to develop elite physical performance is developing the system to inhibit these safeguards from activating when not needed to.

Research has shown that in untrained populations involuntary conditions can increase strength output by up to 35% but by less than 10 percent in the trained athlete. So, essentially – training can drastically change the gap between a person’s absolute and maximum strength.

Ok, ok, I’m losing the plot a little here.

Why did this concept: the maximum.. of all maxima lead to the gym being named Absolute Human Performance.

I wanted to create a gym where we helped anyone who wanted to reach lofty goals. I wanted a gym where we had a staff who wanted to reach their greatest potential in order to serve driven athletes in their pursuit of excellence, no matter the field or arena they competed in.

I wanted to create an environment where everyone would be encouraged, pushed, and supported to become the best version of themselves.

The maximum of all maxima.