Muscular strength is defined as what?

• A. Endurance of muscles over time
• B. The amount of force your body can exert
• C. Flexibility of joints
• D. The speed of movement

Answer: (B)

Muscular strength is the maximum amount of force a muscle or muscle group can produce in a single effort. This is why lifting a heavy weight for one repetition demonstrates strength—the heavier the weight you can lift in one attempt, the greater your muscular strength. It’s different from muscular endurance, which is how long you can sustain repeated contractions or hold a position; it’s also distinct from flexibility, which is the range of motion at a joint, and from speed, which is how quickly you can move. A common way to measure it is by a one-repetition maximum test, which assesses the peak force you can generate in a single maximal effort.