I've had this debate in my mind for some time. When strength training, do we as humans reach a point where trying to get stronger will lead to smaller gains while the risk of injury increases significantly? For example, I could do a strength program like PTTP or SS and take my deadlift to 500-550lbs. That's definitely impressive and I think we can all agree that a person that can lift +500lbs is strong. But would trying to reach +600lbs be advisable for someone who does not compete?
In other words, should we limit our strength in order to increase injury prevention? I realize that getting strong is a form of injury... but how strong is strong enough?
A great question I have thought about as well. The best way to think about this is opportunity cost, similar to the "cost of adaptation" article.
First, we are assuming a non-competitive athlete that has health goals. As Steve F. said, athletic goals may not be healthy. It is only anecdotal evidence but the few competitive football players and runners I know have not aged well.
Here is a summary of some good points from previous points and my own thoughts.
1. Once you meet a strength standard such as 2.0 bodyweight DL, then you can start cycling through good enough strength goals until you have achieved them. I am working on my PTTP bench now as it was a weak point and DL for maintenance. Glad the gym reopened where I am at after a two week shutdown. There are lots of standards to aim for. I think Steve F. and others have posted on challenging but reasonable goals in multiples of bodyweight or bodyweight reps. Half bodyweight press, half bodyweight 20 rep goblet squat. Pick a military pushup test Royal Marine one is really hard. Get within the leaderboard at the appropriate TSC level. etc.
2. Once you have met these standards, try to maintain them as long as possible as you age. As Charles Staley said, at a certain age, maintaining is gaining.
3. Rotate through these goals, so you can push them a bit further without adding much more time as Pavel M. said. If you concentrate on pullups for six weeks, you can make progress until the next time you focus on it. There is research evidence that more trainging helps you to come back to previous levels more quickly. As Bro Mo says, without some goal and focus to improve, training motivation may fail or some guys need that competitive aspect just to keep going.
4. Look at all the things going on in your lift and allot a fixed amount of time to work out and be satisfied with whatever progress you can make in that fixed time. In real life we have constraints in time. We are not olympic powerlifters who can workout twice a day and have tons of time to recover. In your deadlift example, going beyone 500 would take a significant amount of time at the cost of maintaining or gaining in other skills. If you choose that as your goal, do it within the alloted time for a year, but don't expect to keep all your other goals on track.
5. If you are concerned about injury, as well as easy strength, there is increasing reps rather than weight. Bro Mo gave a tip to me related to owning the weight. For example, start with a weight you can get a three rep technical max and work your way up to a ten rep technical max and then add weight. But don't even go close to total failure. I am five pounds short of my goal right now but once I get it I am going to go for reps rather than keep adding weight for two weeks.
6. Once strength standards have been achieved work on strength-endurance such as snatch test results, mobility and other modalities. Rucking etc. Come back to strength when you have established gains in those areas or you get bored or plateau. In short, moving fro plateau to plateau may be a way of looking at it. This may be more appropriate for more intermediate lifters like myself rather than very advanced lifters.
7. In short, ask yourself what else you could be doing with that time compared to the benefits?
Opportunity cost - Wikipedia
