Muscular power: The Difference Between Amateur and Elite Athletes
Power output is a critical factor in athletic performance. In fact, studies have shown that for many sports, the difference between amateur and elite athletes is the amount of power that they are able to output (see references.)
However, this important quality is often misunderstood. This is partly due to the influx of terms used to describe power in different sports – terms such as ‘explosiveness’ and ‘ballistic’ are sometimes used interchangeably, and this creates confusion for anyone wishing to learn about power development. Secondly, there are many ways to develop an athlete’s power, and while there is considerable crossover between them, it’s also important to note an athlete’s power needs are sport-dependent. For example, the power expressed by a sprinter is different to that of a powerlifter. This is because the demands of the sport are different.
All of this means it can be tricky to effectively program for power development. To solve this issue, we first need to understand exactly what ‘power’ is and eliminate confusion around the other terms that are used to describe it.
What is muscular power?
At its most basic, power is represented by the equation force x velocity. In other words, it is the ability to produce force quickly. Once we know what power actually is, we can start to understand how to influence it.
Force x velocity can be visualised on a graph, and we can express the relationship between them as a curve, like this:
This gives us further clues to how to modulate our power. We can see that moving maximal loads (90-100% of 1RM) is expressing high amounts of force at low velocity. As we move down the curve, the load becomes lighter, while the velocity at which we move it increases. This allows us to plot different types of exercises onto the graph, based on how much they influence force or velocity.
For example, a 1RM deadlift sits right at the top, stimulating maximum strength. Strength-speed exercises are those which sit between peak strength and peak power, but they have a greater dependence on the strength element. The Olympic lifts are a good example of strength-speed exercises. The speed of the lift is an important component, but these athletes are working at intensities that are closer to their 1RMs, and so are depending on strength more than speed (hence, strength-speed.)
As we move down the curve, we can see how speed becomes a more dominant factor, while strength becomes secondary (hence speed-strength.) At the bottom of the curve, we can see maximum velocity. This is much more closely related to sprinting and bodyweight movements.
Critically, when we improve either aspect of the equation, our power increases. Therefore, the aim of strength and power training is to shift the curve to the right, as this would represent the athlete being able to move heavier loads at a higher velocity. Ultimately, they would be able to produce a larger amount of force in a shorter time. This translates to increased athleticism, ‘explosiveness’ and power:
How do we program for power?
When we understand how to train each aspect of the force-velocity curve, we can start to program effectively and provoke the adaptations that we want for our sport. This is the SAID principle in action; the body will adapt to the specific stresses placed on it.
Proper programming will always come down to analysing the sport and the athlete themselves – what are the underlying athletic qualities that will make them better at their sport? Where is the athlete falling short? Once we have answered these questions, we can then look at interventions to address this. There is no one size fits all approach, only principles to guide how we train.
Exercise selection
Critically, we want the exercises we choose for our planning to be sport-specific enough to be useful, but not so specific that we are trying to directly replicate the sport in the weight room. While it might seem counterintuitive, simply loading sport movements with bands or weight is not effective and can actually make an athlete worse at the sport.
For example, a boxer loading her punches using a cable machine might change the mechanics of the punch, affect the range of motion used, how her muscles trigger in sequence, and more. This leads to lower movement quality. Essentially, she can interfere with or even undo her sport-specific training by performing the loaded movement badly.
More general principles
A good training intervention for power will also address multiple aspects of force production. If we relate this back to the force velocity curve, this ensures that the curve stays even, moving out to the right, rather than becoming too skewed in one aspect of force production:
While some specialisation might be necessary based on the sport, overemphasising can be suboptimal – an athlete who only focuses on developing maximal force might struggle to move weight quickly, as they become adapted to moving heavier loads. Always remember, we want the athleticism we build in the weight room to transfer over to our actual sport. Beyond a certain point, returns for developing a particular aspect of strength or power start to diminish.
For example, the benefit to a combat athlete of going from being able to squat 1x bodyweight to 2x bodyweight is much larger than increasing the squat from 2x bodyweight to 3.5x. There is still an improvement, but to their opponents, the athlete will just feel ‘strong’.
Therefore, it’s important to consider the trade-off between the time and fatigue it takes to achieve a goal and consider where the athlete should best focus their effort. To continue the example above, the effort needed to increase the squat from 2-3.5x is immense, carries a risk of injury, and will cause a large amount of systemic fatigue. It might be better to then focus on improving the ability to express that force quickly, by working on more speed-strength and peak power-focused interventions.
Finally, power-based training is critical to improving athletic performance, but it becomes most effective after a strong base of absolute strength has been built. Increasing any aspect of the force velocity curve has an influence over the others, and so up to a certain point, increasing maximal strength will have a greater overall effect on power production than specific interventions for it. It is best to start focusing on strength-speed, velocity work, plyometrics etc. after building a base of strength. In my experience, power training should be implemented once the athlete is to squat at least 1.5x bodyweight, minumum.
Conclusion
Muscular power is one of the most misunderstood and often poorly programmed aspects of an athlete’s training. However, by taking the time to understand that power is force x velocity, we can simplify how we build this athletic quality. As always, the approach should be to carefully evaluate the needs of the sport and the athlete’s current capabilities and match them to the intervention. In the case of power development, reviewing against the force-velocity curve is a good way to do this. Increasing one aspect of power development influences the others, and so it is important to remember that building a solid base of strength can often be the most effective intervention for hobbyist or amateur athletes looking to increase their muscular power.
References:
Lorenz, D, et. Al, (2013) ‘What Performance Characteristics Determine Elite Versus Nonelite Athletes in the Same Sport?’ Sports Health. Vol. 5, no. 3. pp 542-547. Available here.
Stone, MH, et. Al (2004) ‘The importance of isometric maximum strength and peak rate-of-force development in sprint cycling’ J Strength Cond Res Vol. 18, no. 4. pp 878–884, 2004. Available here.