Understanding Explosive Power: The Key to Athletic Performance

[Music] there is just something undeniably aesthetically pleasing about watching

athletes who can generate immense force in the blink of an eye A Perfect Blend of strength and speed that snap or

twitch if you will also known as explosive power production the terms strength and power

are often used interchange ably but they refer to different concepts simply put strength is the ability to exert maximum

Force regardless of the time it takes while power on the other hand is the ability to exert Force within a limited

time frame combining strength and [Music] speed which begs the question what is

the difference between explosive power and just power the equation of power force multiplied by velocity shows that

power can come from different com combinations of force and speed theoretically this means that you could

produce the same hypothetical amount of Power by relying more on Force more on speed or an equal balance of

both for example when it comes to high force and low velocity we can think of strong men or powerlifters who must live

massive amounts of weights and consequently the velocity will be relatively slow despite having a high

power output when we think of low force and high velocity what comes to mind are sprinters or Jumpers the only resistance

in this case is the gravity and their own body weight and therefore they will display very high speed and still a high

amount of power and then we have medium force and medium velocity relatively speaking examples of these athletes are

tracking field throwers Olympic weightlifters basically athletes who use a perfect balance of force and

speed essentially just being powerful doesn't necessarily mean that you are explosive take a boxer like George for

he was incredibly powerful but not super explosive then there is Mike Tyson who was incredibly powerful but also

explosive because he produced his power from a heavy Reliance on speed or what we would call rate of force development

and that is probably the quality you are looking for and perhaps why you clicked on this video it is a synonym for

explosive power and like most other athletic morphological and even cognitive traits

it is heavily influenced by genetics some people simply seem to hit the genetic lottery for explosiveness

discussing all of the genetic factors is beyond the scope of this work but let's go through the key ones first of all we

all have different kinds of muscle fiber type compositions our muscles contain both fast twitch and slow twitch muscle

fibers each with distinct roles for explosive power production fast witch muscle fibers are obviously desirable

sad L we cannot change our muscle fiber mix substantially and then we have

neuromuscular efficiency the brain and the nervous system play an equally critical role by firing muscle groups in

Rapid coordinated manners genetics set a baseline for how we can develop these Pathways but as we will go into later

with specific training the speed and the efficiency of those neural signals that connect the brain and muscle can be

fine-tuned to support greater explosiveness and of course we have tendon stiffness

tendons store and release elastic energy like Springs the stiffer the tendon is the higher to stored elastic energy and

some AES will have a genetic head start on this department finally a detail that is often ignored is leverage bone

structure joint angles limb length all of the physical mechanics that impact how efficiently force is produced this

is almost entirely genetic which means that some people are just stru L built for Superior power Productions in

certain contexts and angles with that being said there is no reason to get discouraged while genetics

might give some people a head start targeted Trading still allows everyone to push their explosive potential just

as you wouldn't drop out of University because a classmate is better at math there is no reason to give up explosive

power training just because others might have a natural Edge a genetic ceiling does not mean a genetic hindrance we

simply need to focus on the improvable factors which is the main topic of this video when people hear the term a power

development they often mythologize it thinking it's something highly complex but really it's not that complicated it

simply means displaying strength quickly to achieve this you need both strength and speed and what is the best most time

tested way to develop strength quite simply compound strength exercises both bilateral and unilateral with an even

balance of all major movement patterns these include pushing pulling squatting and deadlifting mainly if you have the

time and the energy depending on your sport you can also include unilateral variations however this isn't mandatory

especially if you're a fan of the par R [Music] principle the next step is to have some

form of progressive overloading plan this is a fundamental principle of biology and nature in general we adopted

a stressors that we experience both physically and mentally if you consistently expose your body to the

same stressors it's not going to change the same principle applies to strength to get stronger you need to lift

progressively heavier weights at a pace that challenges you without leading to overtraining there are countless of ways

to implement this in a training program but we certainly can't cover them all in one video generally however you can opt

for a few comprehensive and longer sessions or more frequent shorter ones each approach has its pros and cons

depending on factors like time availability and personal preference but if properly sequenced they can both be

equally effective and then we have the ever debated question of the optimal rep range per set we have all seen all of

these different rep range charts on the internet that attempts to oversimplify a complex topic but there isn't a

universally applicable rep range for strength hypertrophy or anything else for that matter it is way too contextual

as a rule of Tom it is not the rep range alone that determines strength gains but rather the rep range combined with the

appropriate intensity finally it is essential that you do strength training or any form of of power training for

that matter in a nonf fatigued state power by definition requires High outputs in a short time and you cannot

achieve that if you are fatigued the importance of this cannot be overstated so rest as long as you need between sets

to ensure that you're in a non- fatigued state [Music]

[Music] [Music] in the 1960s Soviet scientist Yuri veros

shansi developed what we now call P metric while observing Elite performers he noticed that they could generate more

Force by making making use of the stored elastic energy within their musculature and tendons which led him to explore the

concept of the stretch shortening cycle the stretch shortening Cycle Works by a quick transition between Ecentric

and concentric contraction veros shansi discovered that keeping a ground contact Times short or the phase between these

will increase utilization of elastic energy and therefore higher power output and to enhance this phenomenon he

developed a train method originally known as the shock method which we call petrics today and it became a staple in

the sovet strength and conditioning Arsenal there are many different petric exercises in different movement patterns

from simpler ones to more intermediate to more advanced perhaps the most characteristic of veros shansi studies

is the depth jump which involves standing on a height jumping down and using all of that generated elastic

energy to jump up [Music] again now what if I could use only one

universally applicable plyometric exercise while I'm not particularly fond of this question as it oversimplifies a

complex topic I believe it fits well in this context you might be thinking about exercises like the depth jump the hurdle

jump or perhaps even the standing broad jump while these are excellent Alternatives that I would undoubtedly

include for most athletes they are not quite what I have in mind the most accessible and universally effective

pliometric exercise offering substantial benefits is actually sprinting although some authors might categorize it

separately sprinting is in fact a petric movement if petric is defined as explosive movements generally focus on

the lower body where muscles generate maximum Force quickly using a rapid stretch reflex followed by powerful

contraction then sprinting fits that perfectly now whether you choose to incorporate sprinting depth jumps broad

jumps or any other variation the key will be quality over quantity once again I don't like giving set rep ranges but

probably depending on the exercise this will correspond to anywhere between 3 to 10 repetitions and 20 to 200 M Sprints I

would say trust your gut if you don't feel like you are exerting as much power as you can Within These repetitions

probably do higher reps if you feel like you are actually exerting tons of power and you are noticeably neuronally

fatigued then stay on the lower rep range and likewise rest enough so that you are in a non fatigued state

[Music] and by all means we cannot talk about explosive power training without

mentioning the Olympic weightlifting variations Olympic weightlifters are some of the most powerful explosive and

Twitchy athletes on the planet Studies have shown that during the second poll the power generation part that is they

have produced unfathomable amounts of wattage in terms of power characteristic for the Olympic cffs are the lift off

from the ground the second pull which is the most powerful part where you generate the most power and you have the

speed under the bar a very neglected benefit of implementing these and the catching phase of absorbing weights

which has been theorized to improve your resiliency although these are excellent benefits of implementing the Olympic

lifts it is not actually the greatest benefit in my opinion the greatest benefit of implementing these exercises

is that they incentivize higher power output a very underrated advantage to finish an Olympic lift by definition you

have to generate tons of power to catch it in the front R position in the first place if you do not generate tons of

power you will miss the lift you'll fail it so it incentivizes high power output as opposed to this if you were to

perform a squat jump or a trap bar jump you simply lift the weight and jump with it you don't have the same kind of

incentive to produce maximum amounts of power because you don't have to catch [Music]

it the main caveat here however is that they are difficult to master and especially so if you don't have proper

Guidance the most obvious solution is quite simply to get proper guidance work under a coach that can teach you the

technique the second point is that you can focus on the simpler variations that give you the highest bang for the buck

you don't need to be performing full snatches full cleans or squat jerks and things of that nature a power clean is

enough and if that is too difficult you can downgrade it into a block power clean a hang power clean or in very

severe cases a clean pole regarding the optimal number of sets and Reps and even the intensity

there is no easy answer but generally Olympic lifts are more suitable for intensities above 55% of one repetition

maximum because we want to work on high velocity strength if you stay below that petrics is a better alternative because

then you deviate into maximal velocity training as for the repetitions and sets the pilippines chart is often employed

it is far from perfect but it is the closest we have come to having a general model to follow that explains the

relationship between the optimal numbers of reps per set this was developed by Soviet weightlifting coaches that

analyze countless of athletes and lifts to determine the optimal range now you don't have to follow a rigid and

generalized template like this basically Common Sense would indicate the higher the intensity the lower the volume and

vice versa ballistic training describes exercises that are of projectile or

flight nature as the name suggests which means that they go beyond the Trad bench presses or back squats that stop

at the end instead you would throw them or jump with them for example in a standard back squat as we can see in the

graph right here as we would expect the velocity would be highest from the start and then when the athlete has to break

at the end it would naturally flatten out and decline but in a ballistic variation also the velocity would be

highest at the start but it would continue for way longer because you don't stop at the end you jump with the

weight so both the veloc and the bar displacement would go beyond so with that in mind some scientific

Works they suggest that some sports they move beyond the traditional ranges of motion as evident in back squats or

standard bench presses and they have to continue because they are ballistic in nature so they encourage the use of

ballistic training that being said every tool has its appropriate place and purpose I would certainly not use

ballistic training for maximal strength training say above intensities of 70% of one rep repetition maximum in that case

it would be too dangerous in my view so standard compound strength exercises are more preferable but if we are working

with high velocity strength or maximum velocity the area between those two then ballistic training and Olympic lifts and

things of this nature are more appropriate and for absolute maximum velocity you could use petrics and

sprinting and even medicine ball throws there is an appropriate tool for every purpose

now regardless of the power Training Method that you implement there is one universal and unbreakable law that you

must follow if you want to develop power and that is quality over quantity five quality reps are better than 10 poor

repetitions and with quality in this case I am referring to the intensity you must condense all of your energy and

intensity and mental effort into one small moment and finish the repetition this is known as motor unit recruitment

a signal is sent from the central nervous system it travels through the spinal cord into the musculature the

stronger this signal is the more power you will produce and this is a skill by a large margin and it is improvable some

people have a head start in this due to genetics as we talked about before but after years of training of maximal int

tend training it can be improved to a substantial extent so quite literally explosive power training to a large

extent is training your brain it is training your brain so that you can produce powerful actions at will if you

are not engaging your repetitions of power training with high mental intent you are just exercising you are just

performing cardio and you're not training for power now biologically and psychologically speaking it is a human

principle that we prefer the path of least resistance the principle of least effort that is we want the shortcut we

don't like exerting a lot of effort regardless of which area we're talking about sports studies School anything on

a general basis which begs the question how can we force ourself to put maximal effort into each repetition of a power

clean of a plyometric exercise or a deadlift for example and the answer to that is

incentives put a benchmark a goal something that shows you how much effort you exert if you set a hurdle for

example at a specific height you have to finish the exercise otherwise you will fail and this will hurt your ego so you

have an incentive to exert a lot of effort compared to if you had not done so but there is actually one method that

I believe is superior to all of these to give you an extreme example when strongman Eddie Hall broke the

deadlift world record he imagined his child trapped under the weight fantasy is a powerful weapon and I believe we

can all agree that the mind isn't always good at distinguishing between fantasy and reality so by using your fantasy you

can create a sense of urgency similar to what Sonu would call the death ground strategy of burning all of your Bridges

so that you are forced to fight like never before the topic of programming is a giant area

with multiple entry points and we cannot discuss all of them in one video but once again use every Training Method for

its intended purpose we have maximum strength training High Velocity strength training and maximum velocity training

but how are they integrated first of all you have to ask yourself these very important questions

what is your sport and what are the demands of your sport what are your greatest needs from an athletic

standpoint and what is your competency in the different modalities of training and what is your availability of time

for strength and explosive power training and what season do you find yourself in all of these will affect the

way you program your power training once you have determined that there are two main ways of implementing power training

number one train the different attributes such as strength High Velocity strength and maximum velocity

in separate sessions this can be very time consuming but there is probably higher quality reps and recover ability

and number two is to combine them in the same session instead of separating them in their own sessions and this is very

time-saving and very practical and it's very suitable for athletes that use explosive powert training as a

supplement to their own sport I would recommend this approach for the vast majority of athletes so if you choose to

combine all of it in the same session you have two alternative number one you start with the velocity

demanding exercises and then you transition into the maximum strength training exercises or number two you

combine them into Super sets which would either be characterized as post potentiation activation or even French

contrast for example you begin with a squat and immediately after finishing your first set of the squat you go over

to a depth jump or any other power Training Method either you do this immediately or you rest a little bit in

between then it will be characterized as French contrast and this is a very time-saving and efficient method for

busy athletes and of course we cannot talk about power development without

mentioning periodization now people are often terrified by this term but it's actually very simple it is taking a

grand objective such as peaking for the national championships which would be characterized as the macro cycle now we

have that let's say there is one year leading up to that then we would put smaller sub goals within this broad goal

which would be characterized as the misoc cycles and that could be maximum strength one period and then High

Velocity strength another period and maximum velocity another period now keep in mind that this is rarely approached

in an extremist way just because you are in a maximal strength cycle it doesn't mean that you neglect velocity training

or High Velocity training for example it simply means that you prioritize maximum strength over the forer a misoc cycle

could range between multiple weeks to one month to multiple months and this explains why we use the misoc cycle some

people argue that just using a training month is more simple but some goals they might take longer than a month and then

we have the smaller pieces Within These misile Cycles which explain the training weeks for example and what we discuss

here are the rep ranges the set ranges and things of this nature and this would be called micro cycles and under the you

have your individual training days exactly what you're going to do each day [Music]