Posted on March 08, 2017 by Jenny Cromack
Personally, the best thing about a power training session is that it is different from your normal training session. It’s a good opportunity to get funky with exercise selection and play around with new pieces of equipment. Power is a combination of strength (force) and speed (velocity) (Reid & Schneiker, 2008).
Power can be broken down into two categories:
Strength-speed and Speed-strength, the majority of the exercises in the following programme will be strength-speed power.
Here is a great power workout for you to try!
Power Workout (Duration: 45 minutes – 1 hour)
Full warm-up protocol – http://www.m8north.co.uk/blog/how-to-warm-up-correctly-2/
A1) Kettlebell swing with band 10 × 4
A2) Landmine power press 6 e/side × 4
B1) Pause Squat 5 × 4
B2) Barbell Split Jerk 5 × 4
B3) Dumbbell Press/Med Ball Catch and Throw 5 × 4
B4) Dumbbell Single arm row 6ea × 4
C1) Any trunk exercise (brace) 8 × 3
C2) Any trunk exercise (anti-rotational) 8 × 3
Rationale
First rules of Power training – High loads and low volume training.
For athlete’s power training, will usually be programmed at the end of their training cycle (linear periodisation). You will notice the highest rep range in the whole workout is 10 during the kettlebell swings. True power training would rarely go over 5 reps, my reasoning for putting slightly more reps at the start of the session almost an extension of the warm-up. I use these two exercises to ‘prime’ the body for the high weights to come throughout the session. Using a resistance band during the kettlebell swings is a great way to cue the powerful hip extension at the end of the range of movement.
The next 4 exercises can be completed as individual exercises, as all of them are extremely intense and fatiguing, but also can be completed as a regular super-set. A pause squat usually will be 10-20% lighter than your normal back squat load, a 2 second pause at the bottom of the squat before powering up with as much velocity as possible is the main coaching point for this. The Split Jerk is the last section out of the Olympic lift ‘The Clean and Jerk’. The lift requires explosive power of the lower extremity to get underneath the bar as quickly as possible. Moreover, finishing in a half lunge position will add stability to your single leg strength expediently. The final big power exercise is the dumbbell press followed immediately by the med ball throw. The combination of exercises is known as PAP, Post Activation Potentiation. Imagine you are trying to run with someone holding on to your shirt, as soon as your shirt is released you will run a lot quicker. That is the idea,the dumbbells initially act as a break and then you try and throw the med ball as high as possible with nothing holding you back.
To finish the workout, I still believe it is important to get a ‘pull’ exercise and some ‘trunk’ exercises in to make sure you are training safely.
Give it a go, it is really good fun!