What’s a power exercise?

Question:  What’s a power exercise?  Is it an Olympic lift?  Is a squat or bench press a power exercise?

Answer:  Because power = Force x Distance/Time (AKA force x velocity), as long as dynamic movement takes place (distance), any exercise generates power.  Some forms of exercise are inherently more power generating than others.  For instance, Olympic weightlifting movements are considered some of the most powerful exercises because of the speed of execution combined with the loads utilized.

A squat or bench press can be made more powerful by reducing the load to somewhere between 55-70% of the one repetition maximum and executing the movement explosively.

Medicine ball throws and jumps are also effective at improving power.

The key is to select the appropriate exercise at the appropriate load to transfer the training to the sporting event.

For instance, speed (low force, high velocity) and maximal strength (high force, lower velocity) represent the opposite ends of the strength curve, so there is typically a limited amount of transfer from maximal strength training to speed-oriented activities.  In other words, if you can throw a baseball at 100 miles an hour, that doesn’t mean you’ll also have the shoulder strength equivalent to that of a world record powerlifter.

Bill