Less Popular elements to Incorporate into your program: A series
Part 1: Power Training
What is Power?
Power is Work over Time, basically the production of force as a unit of time. So the quicker you are able to move a heavier object the more powerful you are!
Without getting too scientific there are three types of muscle fibers in your skeletal muscles, but the ones we are concerned of when it comes to power are the type II fibers (fast twitch). They are the ones that produce the biggest and most forceful contractions. But the downside to these forceful contractions is that they fatigue the quickest, which means the might be only able to produce the desired output for up to ~120 seconds.
So why is Power Important with regards to weight training?
At an earlier age, we might incorporate power to our training to become a better athlete at the sport we play by enhancing explosive power, speed, and agility. Also just like other muscles cells, with stress (exercise) on the fast twitch muscles fibers it causes them to grow and become stronger and more powerful, and as a 19 year old who doesn’t want bigger muscles. But let’s take the jock out of the equation for now, and view it from the general population crowd and why they should incorporate some power training into their program. First off, as we age, our muscles fibers decrease in size. The decrease across all 3 fibers are not even however, with the greatest loss of size coming from those fast twitch fibers. So along with power training to keep our muscles from atrophying too rapidly, power training also improve our nervous system output to our muscles, which aids us in muscles coordination that will help us with preventing falls and other injuries.
So how do we add some elements into our training?
The main form of power training that most people think of is plyometrics training. A few examples of plyometrics could be box jumps, broad jumps, plyometric (clapping) push ups and many other exercises that involve maximal force over a short duration generally with body weight. Another main form of power could be olympics lifting, like the power clean or snatch. These lifts are extremely technical so for the general population may be too complex to incorporate them properly and safely. But if you are under the guidance of a coach, or confident in your technique they are an excellent exercise for power development.
So here are a few simple guidelines you can follow.
Think of moving the weight as fast as you can. It could be pretty much with any exercise. You might not be the fastest, but you moving the weight as fast as “you” can will cause your fast twitch fibers to fire!
Pick a weight somewhere around a 50% 1RM, and move that as fast as you can. This way the weight will not cause your form to be compromised and you can focus on the speed of the movement.
Give yourself adequate recovery-As mentioned above these fibers fatigue quickly and require adequate recovery in order to perform a repedible effort. So between sets think of 2-3 minutes of rest!
If you have any questions on how to incorporate some power into your training dont hesitate to send us a message!
