"Power" Training: Basics Exercises & How to Build Athletic Power
Basic introduction to building power for action and increasing your ability to produce HIGH levels of force QUICKLY
Contents:
Power Explained
Force-Velocity Curve & Where “Power” is Formed
Most Effective Training Methods for “Power” Production
How to Program These into a Routine
Closing Thoughts
Power Explained
I have spoken plenty of times about how power is simply “force applied at speed”. The formal equation used is P = F x V.
What this means in terms of athleticism is that your ability to produce power is reliant on your ability to both produce force and produce speed/velocity. This boils down to a simple conclusion when it comes to improving your hitting, throwing, driving ability in action - if you get stronger OR faster power will increase (as long as the other factor is maintained). For this reason, I covered the basics of strength training & speed training on substack first. (see here & here + much more if you search through the posts) This is because by training those you will automatically make great strides in “power” production by producing more force + more speed. However, as you advance your physical abilities and want to seize every ounce of potential you have - you may also benefit greatly from training forms that lie somewhere in between strength and speed training. This post will cover what I recommend using to maximize your ability to produce high forces at high speed so you can become an explosive, powerful specimen and throw opponents into the ceiling. (A joke, for legal reasons)
Force-velocity curve
It is important that we quickly cover something called the “force-velocity curve”.
I cover some of this here:
This curve represents the relationship between how *fast* you are moving and how much *force* you are producing. As you increase the weight that you are attempting to move the force you produce will increase but the velocity you’re moving at will decrease. Along this line is a spectrum of loads & relative speeds you can be moving at.
In the center is raw power - as this is simply the relationship between speed and force multiplied together.
I believe that, generally speaking, the primary training methods that you should incorporate are the two general ends of the spectrum first (I.e Maximum strength and basic speed) . By increasing maximum force and maximum velocity, the center of the curve will naturally be pushed forward. (Meaning your ability to produce “power” will automatically be higher because you are both STRONGER and FASTER) To increase this effect further you need to move weights that are heavy enough to produce high forces but light enough to move quickly as this will further develop your power production ability.
NOTE: There are slightly different models of the force-velocity curve, depending on who you speak to and their focus, however these charts illustrate the concept well enough:
Your maximum strength and plyometrics/speed work push the “tail ends” of the spectrum forward. To complement this & further develop your athleticism & power you should add some work in the *middle* of this curve.
THAT is what “power” specific work is. To specifically train to move heavy things FAST. Which is what you are doing when you tackle, throw, or hit/move someone or something.
Now that the boring technical concepts are covered let’s go over how to train this and use it in a training program.
Power Training Methods
These are the most effective exercise methods and choices to load the body and execute movement to develop hard-hitting power, as well as rep schemes & how to implement these into your training program.