Thread: Can someone explain "Power" workouts to me?

Another resurrected dead Akira thread...all by the same asshole.

Another one?! Holy shit, I gotta just look around for a bit.

Originally Posted by MuscleM4n

sounds more like 'pansy' workout to me.....pathetic.

Musclm4n,

You definitely a neanderthal.

You need to read books that have more words that pictures.

Kenny Croxdale

P-funk,

You have a fairly good understanding of it. Let me add a little to it.

Originally Posted by P-funk

power in a basic form force x velocity.

Yes.

Power = Strength X Speed

Force = Strength (Your one repetition max).

Velocity = Speed.

Thus, Force X Velocity is:

Strength X Speed = Power

Originally Posted by P-funk

If you have 2 people and person (a) deadlifts 315lbs in 5sec whiler person (b) deadlifts 315lbs in 2 sec they both have similiar strength however person (B) is displaying a greater amount of power.

Good example.

Originally Posted by P-funk

As far as power training most power lifters will use 60-80% of their 1RM on a given exercise

48-62% = Greatest Power Output

Actually, the greatest power output obtain in the squat, bench press and deadlift are with loads of approximately 48-62% of your 1RM, one repetition max.

That means if your heaviest squat is 300 lbs, training with loads of approximately 145 -185 lbs will produce the greatest power output.

Originally Posted by P-funk

and try and impose maximum effort on the bar for 2-3 reps usually making up the volume of work by doing a high amount of sets 8-12 and keeping thier conditioning up by using a shorter rest interval, 30-45sec. So if you bench press 100lbs for a 1RM. Then you would train your speed (power) with 60lbs x 2 reps x 10 sets with 30sec. rest.

30 Second Rest Periods

30 second rest period is a good conditioning method. However, 30 seconds rest periods do not allow enough recovery for power training.

ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate)

ATP is the energy system used for power training. Only 50% of your ATP stores are resotred in 30 seconds.

That means when rest periods are 30% seconds are utilized, you power output is optimal. Thus, you power training isn't really power training.

For full power to be exploited in a movement, full restoration need to take place. For that to happen, your rest periods need to be closer to 3 minutes.

Originally Posted by P-funk

Olympic lifters are pretty much as powerful as it gets since everything has to happen in hundreths of a sec to make a successful lift.

Olympic Lifters The Poster Children For Power

Olmpic Lifters produce the highest power outputs in sports. Shot Putters are about the only other group of athlete with similar power output.

Originally Posted by P-funk

True power training however needs to have a release! In olympic lifting of powerlifting there is no release of the bar. You are still exercting maximum force and then having to decelerate the weight.

Gissurjon Post

As Gissurjon explains, Olympic Lifters produce "True power"...

Power = Going Ballistic

Ballistic means your body and/or an object must become airborne. That is exactly what happens in Olympic Lifting. Lifters become airborne, slightly leaving the ground.

Olympic Lifters Power Output Percentages

Due to the nature of the movement, the greatest power output with Olympic Lifters occurs with training loads that are around 80% of 1RM, one repetition maximum.

Originally Posted by P-funk

So for most athletic type training power training will be done with a medecine ball or with plyometrics since their is no deceleration of load, only acceleration. Typically the recommendation is to use a med. ball that is 10% of the athletes Body weight. So, a 200lb football player would do med. ball chest passes with a 20lb med. ball. Jump squats and other plyometrics are used to train hip power since once you leave the floor you are no longer accelerating and gravity takes its effect. Once you feet leave the floor you loose power.

Speed Training Percentages

Speed training utilizes very low training percentages/loads.

Speed training percentages for movements such as Jump Squats are 10-40% of your 1RM, one repetition maximum. The best power outputs usually occur with 30% of your 1RM.

Power Training Percentages

Power training percentages for squats, bench press and similar movements is 48-62% of your 1RM, one repetition maximum.

As noted above, the percentages for Olympic movement is much higher, around 80% of your 1RM.

Originally Posted by P-funk

Another way that power training can be employed is through supersetting a strength exercise and a power exercises. Something like a maximum effort squat with a rep range of 2-5 reps followed immediatly by 12 BW jump squats. Or a max effort bench press of 2-5 reps followed immediatly by 12 med ball chest passes with a med ball 10% of athelets BW. The strength exercise is going to max the athlete out and recruit as many motor units as possible. When you then go to perform a power exercise, you are asking those motor units that have just been recruited to then fire at an extremly fast/high rate. The idea being to train the CNS to reponds quickly and apply maximu power as fast as possible.

Complex Training

Complex Training (as you described) is basically supersetting a strength movement with a speed or power movement to elicit a greater training effect.

Speed and Power Repetitions

However, 12 repetitions of body weight squats or medicine ball throws is counter productive as a means of increasing speed or power.

Speed and power are best developed when 1-5 repetitions are utilized.

When To Stop The Speed Or Power Set

A speed or power set need to be terminated the movement your speed and/or power drop.

Thus, if you planned on performing 5 Jump Squat but you power dropped at your 3rd rep, you need to stop.

Continueing to perform repetitions after your speed and/or power has dropped is counter productive. You end up turning your set into a strength-endurance program.

" Building Strength and Power With Complex Training" defines it in more detail. Kenny Complex Training

Kenny Croxdale

Originally Posted by AKIRA

I am being certified through NASM and one of the stages is power, naturally. Anyway, in the resistance training chapter, the power workouts listed are just, well, odd. They dont seem to be very "powerful."

Examples include, throwing a medicine ball against a wall as fast as you can and catching it, a body squat, but explosively shooting up into a jump (called a tuck jump), stepping up onto a stepper then leaping up into the air, then repeat, or putting a medicine ball overhead and then throwing it forward (called a soccer ball throw)

NASM

The NASM doesn't completely understand the meaning of power.

P-funk

P-funk provided you with some good information, which I added to, on what power is.

Power = Strength X Speed

Power is the combination of both.

Power Output Requires Moderate Loads

Power output occurs with moderate load of 48-62% of 1RM with movements like squats and bench press.

Body Weight Jump Squats

There is NOT enough resistance to catagorize these as a power movement.

Body weight jump squats fall more into catagory of Speed Training rather than Power Training.

Speed Training Percentages

Speed is developed with light loads, 10-40% of your 1RM, one repetition max. Traditionally, the greatest power outputs are with load that are 30% of 1RM.

NASM A Bit Clueless

Whoever wrote the power section of the NASM manual is a bit clueless.

Kenny Croxdale

Originally Posted by CowPimp

Muscle man, you can induce hypertrophy via power-based workouts. 8-12 repetitions with a 4-1-2 tempo and 60 second rest intervals with each body part done once per week is not the only way to gain mass.

[B][U]CowPimp,

Not A Power-Based Workout

Power is developed with sets of 1-5 repetitions, not 12 repetitions.

4-1-2 Tempo

Power movements are measured in milliseconds. Thus, 4-1-2 is not a power workout.

Kenny Croxdale

Plyo workouts are rough! When I was running the 100m,200, and 400m for USC (South Carolina) my individual workouts called for a lot of plyo work. The vast amount of plyo work was because my top end speed wasn't as great as other runners, so my explosion out of the blocks and into my drive phase had to be superior to theirs. And that is exactly what the workouts did for me. After a single season of incorporating plyo work in with my other training regimen, my 100m speed dropped from a 10.5 to a 10.2, which was great considering I was primarily a 400m athlete. Also, my vert went through the roof, and at 5'7'' I could dunk with extreme ease. Just saw the reference to plyometric work in this thread, and thought I'd shed some light on its effectiveness in my line of athleticism.

Kenny. You are smart.

Oh wait..you responded to a thread resurrected from the dead cuz someone wanted to make a post count.

Therefore, you are dumb.