What is power?
Power is quite simply speed x strength. This is how quickly you can apply the largest force to something in the shortest amount of time. So, if we improve your strength or speed, or better still both, power increases.
Why is it important?
This could be useful in applying a force to something else, like kicking a ball further in a sporting context, or it could be how fast & strong you are in the ability to recover from a trip or stumble, preventing an inevitable fall in day-to-day life.
Power is necessary to include within any training program, from a sporting performance perspective to improving general health and wellbeing, as well as the last part of any rehab protocol from a specific injury.
By training with a high intensity (relative to the individuals’ ability) and at speed we will be recruiting and placing a demand on our type 2 muscle fibers. We have type 1 fibers that can produce lower amounts of force for a long period of time without tiring and then we have type 2 fibers which produce large amounts of force, rapidly but tire quickly. If we only ever do relatively low intensities of strength training at slow speeds, we won’t recruit these type 2 fibers and therefore muscles aren’t adequately stimulated with a reduction in muscle mass, strength and contractile speed. So, we can either increase our strength by lifting heavier, increase our speed when lifting the same weight or combine the two, lifting a heavier weight faster. By doing both, we recruit more of our muscle and get more of a training response from all of the muscle and a greater anaerobic metabolic response.
Plyometrics are a category of power exercises that you may have heard of and are specifically looking at developing the muscle function around our reflex stretch shortening cycle, using elastic recoil in the proceeding concentric muscle contraction. These are normally the easiest and most effective place to start for most as its not increasing load but more increasing speed and starts with simple body weight exercises. More experienced individuals may want to then increase the weight/ resistance when doing these more than their own body weight.
Ideas of what to include
Any exercise can be made into a power specific exercise by increasing the speed that you perform it at, but to be the most effective in increasing power it must be at a high enough intensity(weight). Note of warning is as speed increases so does momentum and our control of the body/weight/limb can easily overload our muscles potentially leading to fatigue & injury. So small increments are encouraged and start cautiously, less is more.
The following are a just examples, not an exhausted list of exercises:
Body weight:
Skipping (2 feet, alternating feet, double unders)
Jumping (broad jump, box jump, vertical jump, Lunge jump, rotational jump e.g. 90degree jump)
Bounding (Lateral skaters, high skip whilst moving, striding)
Hopping (single leg forward, backward, sideways, zig zag hops)
Sprinting (resisted e.g. sled push & unresisted)
Throwing (any type with a weighted medicine or slam ball – over head, slams to floor, rotation throws etc)
Battle ropes
Clap press ups
Weighted:
Swings (any variations of this)
Clean and press (Barbell, single arm Dumbbell, Kettle bell)
Snatch (Barbell, single arm Dumbbell, Kettle bell)
Changing the tempo of any traditional lift from a normal 2-1-2 (2s down, 1s pause, 2s up) to an explosive down and up with no pause.
If you are including power training for the first time, then start off with low reps high relative intensity (compared to what you are used to) and lots of rest.
85% 1RM (rep max) 3-5 reps 1-3 sets and at least 1 minute rest but 2-3 mins rest is ok. Try to add it in to your training nearer to the start of your session when you are not fatigued.
Keep track of total volume your doing, sets, reps weight etc so you can progress safely.
These exercises really challenge not just the muscles but also the nervous system so make sure you have adequate recovery between sets & between sessions.
Overall, don’t be afraid of power training or including dynamic powerful movements & exercises into your training, they are so beneficial to improving your overall health, rehab from injury and sporting performance if you tailor them to your goals & needs.
If you want any more information about how to incorporate power exercises into your training, then get in touch for a free consultation or book in for a personal training session whether it be for remedial / rehab or sports performance purposes.