Physical abilities: how they connect

Physical abilities aren’t six separate boxes you can choose between. They intertwine all the time, and the clearest way to see it is through one simple exercise. In this article we use the squat to look at how strength, speed, endurance, coordination, balance and flexibility actually support one another.

What physical abilities are and why they go together

Textbooks divide physical abilities into six: strength, speed, endurance, coordination, balance and flexibility. On paper they look like separate drawers. In reality, none of them works alone. Every movement you make — whether a heavy squat or carrying a chair in from the kitchen — puts several abilities to work at once.

A simple truth: a person is a whole. If one component struggles, the entire performance suffers. That’s exactly why it’s worth looking at them in relation to each other rather than one by one. Below we take the squat and go through all six — it’s the clearest example of the whole set going to work at once.

How physical abilities come together in the squat

Strength

Strength is a muscle’s ability to overcome resistance through contraction. Without strength nothing moves — the bone levers stay put and the barbell doesn’t leave the floor. Strength is needed most to start a squat at all and to stand back up. But strength alone isn’t enough: if another component is missing, the whole lift gets stuck.

Speed

Speed and strength go hand in hand. A fast muscle is strong, and a strong muscle contracts quickly. The more quickly a muscle can contract, the more force it produces. It’s no coincidence that powerlifters train not only the load but also barbell acceleration patterns. Heavy squatting demands speed precisely to get through the sticking point.

Endurance

Endurance is the ability to perform sustained work without quality dropping off. One 10-rep set at 75% of your personal record is easy. But 4 × 10, or a longer 20-rep set with the same weight, already demands solid endurance. Endurance also protects your technique: when you’re gasping for air and your legs are shaking, coordination is the first thing to go and the barbell starts wandering on the way up or down.

Coordination

Coordination means the synchronized work of body parts in time and space. In practice, we talk about it as technique. The more joints and muscles an exercise involves, the more complex it is in terms of coordination. The squat is a classic example — when do you start pushing your hips back, when do you bend your knees, where do you leave your torso, how far do you let your knees travel past your toes? All of these decisions have to be made in a split second and in the right order.

Balance

Balance is the ability to keep your center of gravity stable, or to restore it quickly when it shifts. Balance in turn relies on coordination, speed and strength. In a squat the center of gravity is constantly moving — your body has to track it every centimeter of the way, otherwise you fall backward or forward. The stronger and faster the muscle, the more quickly a disturbed position can be brought back to center.

Flexibility

To squat deep and with good form, the hip, knee and ankle joints must move through a sufficient range of motion. Tendons and ligaments must stretch. Skeletal structure sets the limits, but stretching can always improve your range. Poor flexibility is one of the most common reasons someone can’t get below parallel — and it limits the result considerably before strength runs out.

How to build physical abilities into your training plan

When you train the basic exercises — squat, press, row — several abilities are already working in parallel. A separate endurance session isn’t always needed: longer sets (20–50 reps) give your lungs and legs their own dose. Separate stretching work is worth doing when range of motion is the main bottleneck in your technique.

A practical tip: honestly watch a video of your squat from the side. Where does your technique break down first? If you’re gasping and the barbell sinks — endurance. If your knees cave inward — coordination and strength. If you can’t get deep — flexibility. The weakest link tells you what to emphasize next. That’s far more honest feedback than blindly following a random program.

Different sports weigh the abilities differently — a sprinter needs speed and strength, a marathon runner needs endurance, a gymnast needs flexibility and balance. But in every sport all six abilities are in play to a greater or lesser degree. A person is a whole, and the body functions only when all its parts do their job.

FAQ

Should a beginner develop all six abilities at once?

Yes — but not with separate workouts. A solid basic-exercise program already covers strength, speed, coordination and balance. You can add flexibility and endurance work separately if needed, when one of them is holding back your progress.

Which ability most often limits the squat?

For more experienced athletes, the bottleneck is usually flexibility or technique, i.e. coordination. For beginners, strength and endurance are what need to catch up first. In the longer term, the focus always shifts onward.

Does endurance training ruin strength?

Definitely not in moderate amounts. Squatting long sets develops endurance in parallel with strength. Problems only arise when there’s too much volume and too little time for recovery.

Author: Janar Rückenberg

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