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Power=Outstanding Athlete

Justin Burns
Oct 21, 2015
3 min read

Being an explosive athlete is the key to being a successful athlete, being strong or being fast are great but if you have the proper mix of both you are virtually untouchable. For the purpose of this article though we will not be calling athletes explosive, but rather powerful.

In science “power” is Velocity(speed) x Force (strength) and when these two intangibles meet at the proper levels that is where a powerful athlete is born. Ok so is this something that is a god given gift? Well, maybe and possibly but the more likely scenario is that these athletes are manufactured and created using the proper training methods.

How to build power

Extensive studies have found that using percentages of 30-40% of any given one rep max is the best way to build power in an athlete. However I believe that this percentage needs to be more specific to the type of movement the athlete is doing. There are a few movements I believe every athlete should have in their tool box in order to achieve the most from their training, but we will get to that later.

Now that we know the percentage range for power we need to understand the best repetition and set ranges as well as understand the concept of the repeated effort method.

Repeated Effort Method:

This method is quite simple and the name says it all, it is the method of repeating a certain load for multiple sets having the athlete do their best to maintain the same effort from the first till the last set. This method works best when trying to increase an athlete’s power because there generally are fewer reps per set which allows the athlete to focus on pure power output and not worry about fatigue.

A key component of the repeated effort method is to ensure the athlete is performing each set to a standard duration zone and to maintain it within reason throughout the given sets. So for example if an athlete is doing 30% for sets of 4 and on the first set they manage to do the set in 5.3 seconds. We would add one second to that number making it 6.3 second and that would be the cut off, meaning the athlete must stop the exercise if they are moving any slower than this.

The use of velocity trackers such as the Push Band are a better way at tracking this! The reason for making sure the athlete is staying inside the zone is to reassure they are training the proper target and being the most efficient in building power.

Waving the percentages:

If we are to use the given percentages of 30-40% as the best percentage to build power in an athlete than we need to use a three week wave starting at 30% on the first week, 35% on the second week, and 40% on the third week. Now that we know the percentages what is the best repetition and set scheme for each week? Well lets break it down by each week:

Week 1: 6 sets of 4 @ 30%

Week 2: 6 Sets of 3 @ 35%

Week 3: 5 sets of 3 @ 40%

Accommodating Resistance:

The use of bands and chains are something I have spoken about in the past and believe they provide a huge advantage to athletes looking to build power because the virtually eliminate all bar deceleration training the athlete to push past any and all added resistances in the hardest part of movements. When using these as an additive to this style of training I would not go any more than 10-20% resistance.

For example if an athlete has a 300lbs squat and are focusing on power in the first week they will have 90lbs in bar tension then 30lbs in band or chain, The following week it would be 105lbs bar weight and 45lbs of band or chain, and finally the third week would be 120lbs of bar weight and 60lbs of band or chain.

Top Three Exercises For Building Power:

Below Parallel Box Squat: