It was a Tuesday, and it was the worst day of Paul’s life. When you hear why, you might think that Paul’s led a cushy life. Maybe it won’t seem like such a big deal. But remember, we all create our own special hells and relegate ourselves to them. You see, that Tuesday was the first day in Paul’s life that he felt his body fail him. He no longer had the power to do whatever he wanted.
On that Tuesday, Paul was 47 years old. If you looked at him, you’d likely note that he looked younger than 47. He was lean; he was handsome; he looked to be in good shape. And he was if you compared him to much of the population. Paul was a runner – specifically, a trail runner. He’d run every kind of trail race, from five milers to ultramarathons. There were no big-time sponsorships pouring in, but he was pretty good. More importantly, he loved running. That’s why that Tuesday was so painful for him.
Paul was running up one of his favorite mountain trails. The trail is boulder strewn and has big gaps between rocks. Throughout his life, Paul nimbly ran the trail, hopping and jumping from boulder to boulder without trouble. He was never a powerful guy, but he had enough juice to get from rock to rock. But he also never trained power, and that was ultimately his downfall. Paul attempted one to jump one of the usual gaps on the trail and landed short. His foot caught between two rocks, but the rest of his body carried forward with momentum. His leg snapped just above the ankle.
Luckily, the trail was busy, and help was close behind. Paul made it safely down off of the mountain, and his ankle healed. But he was never the same. His confidence was gone, and he stopped pushing himself on the trail. Run times got slower and slower. Eventually, by the time he was 52, Paul quit running. It was a complex and painful decision, one that was sponsored by the worst day of his life five years before. It didn’t have to be that way.
Had Paul trained for power he would have maintained his body and his abilities throughout middle age. I can’t guarantee that he would have cleared that gap, but he sure would have had a better chance at it. And had he, his leg, along with his confidence, would have remained intact. He might still be running today.
I don’t love stories like Paul’s, but they’re illustrative and help us change our own behavior to create more positive outcomes. In this case, why you need to test and train power. Your body and the quality of your life depend on it.
Power: What it is, Why it Declines, and Why You Need it
Power is essentially how quickly you can access and utilize your strength – how quickly and intensely you can contract your muscles. Now, this has to do a little with muscle mass. You need some muscles to contract. But it has more to do with the nervous system and how efficiently it works. The faster you can train nervous impulses to travel from your brain and spinal cord to your peripheral nerves and back again, the more efficient your nervous system. The issue is, this changes with age.
Our nervous system degenerates with age and, more importantly, disuse. Power, then, is the first physical ability to go. Not strength. Not aerobic capacity, but power. That’s why Paul (who’s fictional, by the way) was still aerobically fit but wasn’t able to generate the necessary power to hop the boulder gap. That’s why Paul neglecting power training led to the worst day of his life. You may not love train running, but there’s something else physical that you love. And without the requisite power, you’ll likely lose it before you should.
Hopefully the past couple of paragraphs have convinced you to train power. But you’re likely wondering how much power training to do. Well, that’s why we test power.
Power Testing and Power Training
How to Test Your Power Output
The best thing about power training is that it’s so simple. All you have to do is jump.
At Beyond Strength, we test power using the standing broad jump. You stand on two feet, then jump as far forward as possible on two feet, and then land on two feet. That’s it.
If you can broad jump your height, you’re doing okay. Now, there’s definitely room for improvement, but you’re not in a big deficit.
If you can’t broad jump your height, your power output is severely lacking. You need to more consistently train power. It might also be the case that you need to cut back on some activities that are draining your power – running might be one of those things. It could also be that you need to improve your strength, mobility, and your body composition. All of those things factor into power output.
We test power (and a boatload of other things) every 13 weeks. That gives us enough training time to create lasting change.
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Let’s talk a little bit about how to train power.
How to Train Power
Like testing power, training power is also simple. Mostly, you need to do things fast and with full recovery between sets. Our power training includes: jumps, throws, hops, kettlebell ballistics, and plyometrics (upper-body and lower-body).
Don’t gloss over “full recovery between sets.” Remember from the last section that power is mostly a neurological phenomenon. That means not rushing from set to set or exercise to exercise. While it feels like your muscles are doing the work, and that’s certainly true, your nervous system is the drive behind your muscles. It’ll feel like you’re totally recovered soon after the set, and your muscles likely are. But your nervous system is not. It takes longer to recover than your muscles will. So, you need to take a couple to a few minutes between sets of power exercises.
How about choosing exercises? Well, unless you’re getting guidance from a coach (which you could if you click HERE), keep it simple. Pick a couple of jumping exercises and a couple of medicine ball throws and split them up, doing one of each a couple of days per week. Do a few sets of 3 to 5 reps of each exercise. Then change exercises every month or so. Now, this won’t get you the certainty or the progress that guidance from a coach will get you, but it’s a start.
As you train power, continue to train strength and mobility. Without access to good joint range of motion, you won’t have access to all of your potential power. And, remember, strength is the foundation of power. Power is strength quickly applied.
Again, if you’ve never trained power before, don’t over-complicate it. Start with simple jumps and throws. And if you want certainty, hit us up.
Don’t End up Like Paul
Power perpetuates our ability to do the things we love – now and for the rest of our lives. Just because you’re not yet 47 doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be training power. You sure as shootin’ should. Pick a couple of jumping exercises. Pick a couple of medicine ball throws, and train power a couple of times per week. While you’re at it, keep up with your strength and mobility training. You’ll be better prepared to do the things you love now and as you age.
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