Welcome, friends and lifters, to part two in my series on Strength Training Umbrellas. I use the term umbrellas to define broad categories, or general goals, that strength trainers tend to fall under. These umbrellas can help you make decisions about both overload and modality.
A couple of big points to remember, though. First, you will probably fall under different umbrellas at different times, especially as it pertains to exercise across the lifespan and training for competitive seasons. The umbrella categories represent basic similarities in training goals, however people who fall under the same umbrella may have vastly different routines. As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. And lastly, one umbrella isn’t better than any other. Goals are unique to each of us as individuals, so it’s important to move your body in the way that feels right for you.
So, now that the incidentals are out of the way… Umbrella category number two is power. And I know that when you clicked over here today, you were really thinking to yourself, “Wow, I could really use a physics lesson.” Huh, no? Well, I’ll try to keep it simple, but to understand power, we need a little science to help us.
Power is very simply the amount of work done per unit of time. For my visual learners and math nerds out there, it looks like this:
For something to be “powerful,” one of two criteria must be met. First, more work can be done. It should make intuitive sense that if someone is carrying 3 bags of groceries up a flight of stairs that requires more power than carrying one bag. The second criteria, is that the same amount of work can be done but faster. In my grocery bag example, the person can walk with one bag of groceries up the flight of stairs. Or the person could choose to run with the bag up the stairs. When the person runs, they complete the task with the same amount of weight (one bag of groceries), but they do it (in theory) faster, thus with more power.
This translates to strength training in a lot of ways. The first and most obvious ways are for athletes. Pretend you have ESPN on in the background. The talking heads are always using words like agility, balance, coordination, reaction time. While there are other sport specific things involved with those skills, each of them has roots in power. To create the movements associated with those skills, you have to be able to do a lot of work or you have to be able to work quickly.
A sports example would be American football. We think of both the linemen and the running backs as powerful… but in different ways. The linemen have to push around another guy (or two) without giving ground. That’s a lot of work. And power. A running back, on the other hand, needs to be able to get from point A to point B quickly (and hopefully with the ball). While doing so, they usually need to dodge around a bunch of other players. So they have to do a smaller amount of work, but they have to do it quickly. And powerfully. Both of these athletes will train under the power umbrella, but the type of exercises they do and their overload might look quite different.
Even if you aren’t an athlete (and by that I mean you aren’t getting paid or sponsored to move your body or compete), training with power in mind can be important. If you are the weekend warrior type who loves hiking or rock climbing or canoeing/kayaking, training for power with allow you to get to places off the beaten track that maybe you aren’t able to access at present.
If you are approaching mid life, adding some power type training to your routine can help mitigate muscle loss. The human body is meant for intense activity, at least some of the time. By asking your body to do these things occasionally, you are keeping your machine well oiled.
The idea of work done faster is a backbone of high intensity interval training, too. And I don’t think I need to expand on the potential benefits there. HIIT and workouts like it are so popular because our bodies feel good when we ask them to do powerful things.
So, how do you train with power in mind? Power training is unique in that it involves coordinating large parts of the body. Under other umbrellas, it is easier to isolate muscle groups. We’ve all seen the guy in the gym who only lifts chest, back, and arms and doesn’t have the lower body to match. Well, you’ll never see someone look that way if one of their goals is power.
To have power, you have to strength train every part of your system, and often together. So while the crew who is looking to just put on size will spend hours bench pressing; team power will bench press a bit, do some push up variations, and then go throw a medicine ball at a wall for awhile. In short, to train with power in mind, pick those exercises that allow your body to move how it is designed to move. Who’s in for tire flips?
The second thing you need to ask yourself is if you want to be able to do more work or if you want to be faster. These are slightly mutually exclusive. Again, going back to my football example, depending on the play, running backs are sometimes called to block. Now typically they are blocking a safety, but the point is that they still have to be able to do that work. But the lineman run is silly looking for a reason. They don’t train for that type of power (i.e. speed). It is so rare that linemen need to do work quickly that it isn’t part of their training and so when they have to, they look a bit funny.
If you are looking to be able to do more work, you’ll have to lift heavier. No need to bench press a bulldozer, but weight that is difficult after 6 or 8 repetitions. You’ll be doing multiple sets (4-6 is the norm), so between set rest is important. You’ll need to be able to do that work (lift the weight) again.
Rest in between sessions is also important. Again, you are doing exercises that require large portions of your body. Soreness is telling you to take it easy another day. A lot of people will do an upper/lower split here with four total lifting sessions. Here’s the catch, all of the four sessions aren’t power specific. Some people will do two full power sessions and then two regular sessions where they are folding in those isolation exercises (i.e. bicep curls). Others will do split sessions and do a bit of power and a bit of isolation each time. Play around to figure out what will work best for your body and schedule.
If you are looking to be able to work fast, you will be lifting lighter loads but you’ll be doing them with tempo and less rest. Usually in this neighborhood, you’ll be looking to do 4-6 sets of 8-10 reps and, again, quickly. An important point to mention: quickly doesn’t mean you are flinging things around without control. You want to have enough weight that you need to pay attention to form, but not so much that you are really struggling before the last rep. Quickly means with a one up, one down count. Four sessions a week is common here too, but more of the sessions are power focused. Why? Well, you aren’t trying to put on a ton muscle to help you do more work. You are trying to do the same amount of work, just more efficiently. The result is usually less delayed onset muscle soreness and sometimes, lifters here will actually report that they feel very energized post workout.
Even if power isn’t a goal of yours, adding a few power based moves into your lifting repertoire can be beneficial. I am a huge fan of adding body weight speed squats or negative push ups into my regularly scheduled strength work.
We all need our physical bodies to be able to do work, so we should, at least occasionally, give them the power challenge they deserve. Do you train for power? How do you add power exercises to your strength training? Tell us in the comments!
