How to gain strength and power...

Although its popularity has declined in recent years, many bodybuilders in the 1940's and 1950's (before the rampant use of anabolic drugs) included strength and power training in their programs.

Some believe that training for strength and power gives your body a hard, dense appearance. "If you don't do power moves," says former Mr. Olympia Franco Columbo, "it shows immediately on stage. There is a soft look that shows itself clearly."

Strength is the ability to generate force, while maximal strength is the maximal force generated in a given action (such as the bench press). In the early 1970's, researchers showed that 100 days of isometric exercise led to a 90% increase in muscle strength. However, there was only a 25% increase in muscle size. In other words, it's possible to get stronger without getting bigger.

Power, on the other hand, refers to the work done per unit of time. Peak power is the highest instantaneous power value found over a given range of motion.

One major stimulus for the development of strength and power is a conscious effort to produce fast, explosive movements in the concentric (lifting) phase of the movement, regardless of the external resistance and speed of movement. So, moving a lighter weight quickly, or trying to move a heavy weight quickly, will both contribute to gains in strength and power.

Research conducted at Australia's Ballarat University College looked at the impact of repetition speed on measures of strength, muscular power, and muscle growth [2].

Eighteen male beginners aged between 19 and 23 were assigned to one of two groups, and trained with the barbell squat exercise (knee angle to 90 degrees) for roughly seven weeks. Both groups followed the same training guidelines.

Subjects in the fast group were instructed to "always lower the weight in a slow and controlled manner and, upon reaching the bottom position, explode upward as fast as possible in an attempt to accelerate the bar." Slow group subjects were asked to "always lower and raise the bar in a slow and controlled manner so that acceleration is minimized."

Although gains in maximal strength and muscle size were very similar in both groups, the fast group improved more (69%) than the slow group (24%) in maximum rate of force development. This is a measure of the ability to produce maximal force in minimal time. High rates of force development are necessary for success in "explosive" activities such as sprinting, and throwing.

The main problem with this study is that all the subjects were beginners. But a similar study, this time using well-trained subjects, shows greater strength gains with acceleration training [1]. A group of 40 collegiate American football players was assigned to one of two groups. Both groups trained in the same way, except that one group attempted to accelerate all repetitions with the upper-body weight-training exercises. Group two made no attempt to maximize acceleration.

On average, maximal strength in the bench press increased more in the fast group (21.7 pounds, or 9.9 kilograms) compared with the normal group (11 pounds, or 5 kilograms).

Related Articles

• Belly Fat and How to Beat It
• How to Fight Fat and Win (Members Only)
• The Maximum Muscle Plan (Members Only)
• The Myth about Muscle and Your Metabolic Rate

Reference
1. Jones, K., Hunter, G., Fleisig, G., Escamilla, R., & Lemak, L. (1999). The effects of compensatory acceleration on upper-body strength and power in collegiate football players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 13, 99-105
2. Young, W.B., & Bilby, G.E. (1993). The effect of voluntary effort to influence speed of contraction on strength, muscular power, and hypertrophy development. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 7, 172-178