Having examined the many benefits of strength and speed training for brain and body health, it is time for us to turn to the topic of power. Those of you who have worked with me directly or have followed along more indirectly may also have noticed that last month Powerx2 celebrated its first anniversary. So, this is another great reason to look more closely at power and, as always, to gather some practical evidence-based tips and tricks for everyday life along the way. By the end of this blog series, you should be all switched on and confidently sing along to the good old Snap classic “I’ve got the power”. I am excited!
If you let your mind go back to high school physics, you might remember that power is calculated as work over time, or the rate at which work is done. So, in physical or mental performance terms, in order to increase power, you need to be able to transform energy for climbing a hill or solving a thinking task (= ‘strength’) – and you want to be able to do this quickly (= ’speed’).
Let’s turn to physical performance here. Think about the forces that act on your body when you move. When we perform a seemingly simple task like climbing a hill or a set of stairs, the forces that go through our knees are nearly three-fold. When we take this into the (athletic) performance context, the forces increase even more. For example, the forces on the knee at a moderate running pace are almost four-fold. Now think of forces on the shoulder of a tennis player or a cricket bowler!
As part of performance-based training and rehab programmes, the ability to transform energy quickly (speak, to produce power) is often addressed by using plyometric exercises. Here, you train your body to achieve more work in a shorter amount of time by going through three phases. The first phase is that of applying a pre-stretch to the muscle (group), also termed eccentric phase. The second very brief phase is that of amortisation (the in-between phase) and this leads into the final phase, the concentric phase. The concentric phase brings about the force that is assisted by the stored energy from the eccentric phase (read, post-activation potentiation) and includes the explosive shortening of the muscle (group).
If you have been reading the last few blog posts in the tempo series, you might recognise some of the terms above, yay! If not, and this is all a bit too theoretical for you, then think of the following example: Your 3-year old toddler/nephew/niece/grandchild is running towards you. You know what is coming, they will want you to scoop them up and lift them into the air. Just before they get to you, you bend your knees, stretch your arms out and brace for impact. You scoop them up and quickly stand up lifting them, giggling with the rush of being lifted and seeing you.
Over the next few weeks, we will unpack this more and look at practical examples of how to work on physical (and mental) power and why there is huge benefit to it, even if you are not an Olympic triathlete, sprinter, weekend warrior or auntie to a toddler. We will also turn to thinking power and how to improve that for everyday life. So, if this sounds interesting, stay tuned.
If you are keen to learn more about how you can develop power for your physical and mental activity, follow me or subscribe to the blogpost. To work with me one-on-one to apply some of these principles to your own life and movement, message me for a free call. I look forward to hearing from you.
References (for the extra keen)
Davies et al. (2015)
D’Lima et al. (2012)