Why You Should Train for Power
What Does Training for Power Mean?
Most people have a basic understanding of strength training and cardio-based exercise. These two areas tend to get most of the attention, but power-based training is just as important, if not more so, due to its significant effects on the body.
Strength and cardio levels are relatively easy to maintain once a solid foundation is set. Power output, however, is different. It can decline quickly, with research showing that just 7-10 days of inactivity can lead to a measurable reduction in power levels. Furthermore, without proper training, power naturally declines as we age - starting as early as our 30s.
In simple terms, power output reflects how much energy you can express or absorb and how quickly you can do it. Activities like plyometric exercises, sprints, medball throws, and fast-paced weight lifting are tools that can help you develop power.
Three Main Phases of Power Movements
Each of these activities has three key phases: eccentric, isometric, and concentric, each of which we can target in our training.
● Eccentric Phase (Absorbing): This phase involves the loading and landing action of a movement, like the descent in a jump or the catching of a medball. Practicing landing mechanics or catching a medball teaches the body to absorb force safely and effectively, building joint stability and muscle control.
● Isometric Phase (Holding): This short, transitional period occurs between loading and action (the moment just before jumping). Position holds or pushing against an immovable object, like a rack or wall, can strengthen this phase by increasing stability and motor unit recruitment.
● Concentric Phase (Expressing): The concentric phase is often the most understood and fun part - it’s where you jump, throw, press, or slam, pushing yourself to express maximum force. Training this phase challenges the nervous system and helps you improve speed and power.
By honing each of these phases, you can build a more capable, injury-resilient body that functions better overall.
Physiological Benefits of Power Training
When you consistently train to improve power, your body reaps numerous rewards. The most obvious is that you’re being physically active, which is far better than being sedentary.
Looking deeper, we can see the cardiovascular and muscular benefits that power training offers. The impact on heart health is significant: during these intense, explosive movements, the heart works harder to pump blood through the body, leading to a stronger heart muscle and more efficient blood flow with each beat.
Lifting weights with a high intent to move the weight quickly, drives the nervous system to adapt. Each muscle is innervated with motor units that aid in contracting the muscle. With consistent power training, the body adapts to recruit more motor units, which aids in producing stronger muscle contractions and enhancing overall strength.
By focusing on the different movement phases, you can safely apply stress to the muscles without requiring heavy weights. For instance:
● Eccentric: A slow descent (5-10 seconds) puts stress on the muscle, building strength without excessive load.
● Isometric: Holding a position demands stability and proprioception, which helps activate high levels of motor units.
These activities place a high stimulus on the body and improve the amount of force the body can express and absorb. You can expect improvement in muscle mass and muscle retention over time as well as gains in bone density levels, coordination and balance, metabolic health, and injury resilience.
General Guidelines for Power Training
While there is a lot of nuance to power training protocols, there are some general best practices you can follow if you're interested in developing this facet of fitness.
Progress Slowly with Plyometric Training:
It’s tempting to jump into intense moves like max-effort broad jumps or medball throws. However, the joints undergo high compression forces upon landing, which can strain unprepared tendons and ligaments resulting in injury. Start with lower-impact exercises:
These exercises minimize joint impact, allowing for safe adaptation and building a stronger ankle, knee, and hip complex.
Warm Up Properly:
Getting the body moving and the blood pumping is an often neglected and overlooked aspect of a workout, but it is essential. A solid warm-up can be split into:
Movement Prep:
Focused on areas you’ll be using, with movements like deep squat holds, T-spine rotations, Spiderman stretches, and cobras.
Dynamic Movement:
More active movements, such as leg swings, high knees, butt kicks, shuffles, and light sprints.
Warming up primes your body for high-intensity exercises, reducing the risk of mechanical breakdown or injury.
Do Power Exercises Early in the Workout:
Power exercises require high energy and focus, so tackle them when you’re fresh and not in a fatigued state. You can either dedicate time to jump variations right after your warm-up or pair jumps with a lift as a part of your first exercise block.
Performing a complex lift, like a squat or deadlift, primes the muscle for greater output due to the increased motor unit recruitment and elasticity of the muscle. This is called post-activation potentiation, and it's why pairing a jump after a lift is a good rule of thumb.
I’ve built these principles into my workout app, ReadyCoach. Each workout starts with a thorough warm-up and incorporates a range of plyometric exercises designed to help you build power safely and progressively.
With a built-in difficulty scale, ReadyCoach adapts as your fitness improves, allowing you to increase intensity at your own pace. If you’re ready to implement power training into your routine, I’d recommend giving ReadyCoach a try.
A Case for Incorporating Sprints
Sprints are an essential component of power training, combining explosive speed with metabolic conditioning in a way that promotes both immediate and long-term health benefits. This high-intensity, low-equipment exercise strengthens the cardiovascular system, enhances muscle coordination, and improves energy efficiency - all critical elements for overall performance.
Regular sprinting also stimulates the production of fast-twitch muscle fibers, which naturally decline with age, helping to preserve muscle power and agility over time.
All the general guidelines apply to sprints as well. If you are new to sprinting, the body will need time to adapt to the intensity of an all out sprint.
Finding a hill and starting with uphill sprints is a great way to introduce the movement to your body. The angle will reinforce good movement patterns as well as reducing impact on the joints.
Starting short, also known as acceleration work, is a great approach to incorporate in the early days. 5-10 yard bursts require similar body angles as uphill sprints and also challenge the nervous system and heart.
1 to 2 sessions a week for a few months will have a profound impact on your physiology and overall health.
Conclusion
Beyond all of these physical benefits, power training has a significant impact on metabolic health, including improved insulin sensitivity and fat utilization. These effects contribute to a healthier metabolic profile, which plays a central role in promoting longevity and quality of life.
By incorporating consistent power training into your routine, you’ll build a foundation for sustained physical vitality and resilience that can serve you well into later years.
