POWER!

So I try to keep my posts the right amount of technical because really, nobody wants to wade through a bunch of jargon.  Today I’m going to talk about power, though, so I need to clarify the difference between power and strength.  Strength is how much we can lift.  Power is how much we can lift fast.

Because of the speed component, we don’t really try to do much with power when we first start working out.  We want to be sure that our form is ready to deal with speed.  However, power is pretty fun as an element in our workouts.  Here are a few ways to incorporate power into what we’re already doing.

 

1.     Plyometrics.  Plyo- is a fancy way to say “with jumping.”  When we trade our step ups for box jumps, we’re going plyo.  Side lunges become side hops.  We get a boost to our cardio and we learn to deal with some impact when we do plyometrics.

2.     Ballistic Exercise.  The goal with ballistic exercises is to move or launch the weight as fast as possible.  When we do medicine ball slams, we’re working ballistically because we have to move that ball fast and hard enough to bounce back to us!  Kettlebell swings also have some ballistic qualities.

3.     Dynamic Exercise.   When we do dynamic exercises, we do a slow prep and then an explosive movement.  For example, we lower slowly into a squat and then explode up.  Things like golf swings are another example of this kind of work—the slow backswing and then the powerful stroke.

 

A few notes:  Form is super important.  We have to know that we are using proper alignment because otherwise we’re basically saying: I feel like getting hurt today.  Also, when we work on power, we don’t want to use the very heaviest weights.  Going with about 60% of the heaviest we can do is the best option.

 

Try it!