decline faster than strength<\/a>. After the age of 40 people typically lose about 1-2% of muscle mass each year. Alarmingly, muscle power can decline earlier and much more rapidly. The encouraging news is that power can be trained.<\/p>\nYou build muscle by moving heavy weights a few times a week and increasing the load as it becomes manageable. The tension that the exercise places on the muscle fibres triggers a remodelling process that leaves the muscles better able to handle the stress next time.<\/p>\n
Power is built differently. Instead of lifting heavy weights you move lighter weights, or your own body weight, but as quickly as possible. This could mean plyometric exercises such as box jumps. It could also include weighted movements such as throwing and catching a medicine ball, weighted jumps, snatches (where you grab a dumbbell from the ground and pull it towards the ceiling) and kettle bell swings. Weight-wise, you want something at about a six-out-of-10 difficulty level.<\/p>\n
For older or less mobile people, power training can start with very simple movements. Try wall push-offs: lean diagonally with your hands against a wall, arms bent, and push yourself away at speed.<\/p>\n
Perkin adds that, although everyone can benefit from training power, it may be especially valuable for older adults who have already experienced a significant decline in muscle mass. When muscle loss reaches the point of immobility, rebuilding it becomes very difficult. But improving the nervous system\u2019s ability to activate the muscle that remains is still possible. \u201cGrowing muscle when you\u2019re old is hard. There are physiological limits,\u201d he says. \u201cBut for most older adults the capacity to improve neural function is still quite good. Within three or four weeks you can start to see improvements in key markers.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re thinking of stepping into your power, Perkin, alongside Alex Dinsdale, senior lecturer in sport and exercise biomechanics at Leeds Beckett University, and Leigh Breen, a leading expert in the field of skeletal muscle physiology and metabolism from the University of Leicester, share their tips.<\/p>\n
Find your benchmark<\/p>\n
A good way to test whether you could benefit from power training is if you can hold a squat but can\u2019t squat jump more than a couple of inches off the ground, says Perkin. But jumps are also useful for measuring progress for those who have already built some power. Dinsdale says that when he works with athletes they regularly test power by incorporating jumps into sessions and measuring the heights or distances achieved. This may include static jumps on to boxes or broad jumps where you jump forward from a standing start.<\/p>\n
For older or less active adults, the sit-to-stand test is useful. Sit in a chair with no armrests, cross your arms over your chest with your hands on your shoulders and keep your feet flat on the floor. How many times can you move from sitting to standing in 30 seconds? Over-65s should aim for at least 11 repetitions.<\/p>\n
Perkin recommends using the same exercise to improve your power by doing three sets of 12 to 15 sit-to-stands while wearing a weighted vest.<\/p>\n
Illustration: Cat Sims\/The GuardianTrain with a goal in mind<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the main goal should be good general health and longevity,\u201d says Breen. \u201cBut beyond that, everybody has something specific they want to achieve.\u201d It\u2019s useful to keep that end goal in mind as a motivator, as you\u2019re less likely to see visible results than you are with strength training. It doesn\u2019t have to involve training for a marathon or doing a Hyrox competition. It could simply mean restoring a functional ability that has been lost, such as being able to throw the bin bags into the outside bin or chasing the grandchildren around. \u201cI think it\u2019s always important to keep the purpose in mind when we undertake a training regime,\u201d says Breen.<\/p>\n
Get the timing right<\/p>\n
All our experts say power training should come after you\u2019ve warmed up, but early in your workout. It\u2019s harder to develop neuromuscular speed when your muscles are fatigued; and it\u2019s easier to injure yourself doing rapid movements when you\u2019re exhausted.<\/p>\n
Keep sessions short, adds Dinsdale. The focus is on how quickly you can move something, which means working at your maximum possible speed. You can only sustain that for short bursts. If you\u2019re using weights, choose a light or moderate load and move it five or six times. Do three sets of three exercises, resting between them. You\u2019ll want two to five minutes between sets so your systems can recover fully.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need a separate session<\/p>\n
Doing a couple of power exercises a few times a week is more effective than doing many of them once a week. A simple approach is to add a 10-minute power block to the beginning of any regular strength workout. That could be three rounds of 10 kettlebell swings (which help with the posterior power chain), medicine ball throws and slams (to improve upper body speed) and weighted squat jumps (lower body).<\/p>\n
Runs can also be tweaked to include power work. \u201cYou could do short periods of sprinting, maybe five or 10 strides as quickly as you can,\u201d says Perkin. \u201cOr stop briefly and do a few vertical jumps.\u201dFor those who aren\u2019t confident with weights or jumping, Breen recommends doing medicine ball throws while seated (they\u2019re still effective).<\/p>\n
Take it steady<\/p>\n
On first trying power training, it\u2019s tempting to reach for heavier weights than necessary, says Dinsdale. Instead start lighter. \u201cUse about 50 to 60% of whatever your maximum is for that movement [your maximum is the weight you can only lift once], and then build up,\u201d he says. He adds that there\u2019s very little benefit to going very heavy with these kinds of exercises if your focus is building mind-muscle connection.<\/p>\n
Because you\u2019re moving quickly, safety matters. As well as lighter weights, it\u2019s important to focus on maintaining good form. If you\u2019re unsure, Dinsdale recommends working with a trainer or taking gym classes while you build confidence.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be fooled by the name of workouts<\/p>\n
Confusingly, powerlifting \u2013 lifting heavy weights without a time limit \u2013 doesn\u2019t actually train power. Olympic weightlifting \u2013 with moves like the clean-and-jerk, where a barbell must be moved quickly off the floor and then into the air \u2013 does. For most people, power walking doesn\u2019t train power either.<\/p>\n
Use power to break through a plateau<\/p>\n
Power training can also help people who feel stuck in their strength training. \u201cWhen you lift weights you can reach a plateau where it becomes difficult to increase muscle size further,\u201d says Perkin.<\/p>\n
Adding lighter power work for a few weeks can sometimes unlock further gains. It forces your body to adapt by increasing the efficiency of the neuromuscular system. This enhances your ability to move heavy weights when you go back to them. \u201cThen you have the opportunity to grow more muscle again. There\u2019s a crossover effect,\u201d adds Perkin.<\/p>\n
Try a sport<\/p>\n
If gyms feel intimidating and you\u2019re right at the start of a power journey, playing sport can be another way to develop a beginner level of power. Activities such as tennis, padel, football or netball involve short bursts of acceleration that engage the mind-muscle connection, with the added social benefits. Contact sports, such as rugby and boxing, require explosive power too. The most important thing is finding a varied routine you enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chasing after your dog, catching yourself before you fall, jumping over a big puddle. These activities all have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[589,163,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-385166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}