Become FASTER, Increase EXPLOSIVENESS!
Everyone talks about speed and power being key factors to give you an edge on the field. You hear game announcers talking about them interchangeably. There are some questions that may arise for each: what are they? Why are they important? How do you train to get better at each? But firstly, let's define what the difference is.
Speed vs Power
The difference between speed and power is that speed refers to how quickly something can be done, while power measures the amount of work being done in a given amount of time. Speed is usually measured in terms of distance traveled or how long something takes to complete, while power is typically measured in terms of energy output or watts. So, if you're looking at two different machines with similar performance results, the one with more powerful output will be faster than the one with less powerful output.
What Does This Mean for Athletes?
When talking about athleticism, speed is usually associated with how quickly a person can cover a certain distance or complete an activity. Power, on the other hand, measures how much work someone can do in a given amount of time; for example, how much weight they can lift or their vertical jump height. So if you're looking at two athletes competing in the same event and one is faster than the other, it's likely because that one athlete has more power than their competitor or the other one has more speed than the powerful athlete. They each have a unique edge over each other.
The SPEED Advantage
Speed gives you a huge edge over slower opponent. Remember, speed involves distance covered over the shortest amount of time. Think about an outfielder closing ground on a fly ball, or a wide receiver dusting the defender. Speed is used to close or widen distance. Speed can be seen on the soccer field when an athlete reaches the apex of his or her run.
Examples of SPEED ADVANTAGE movements in sport
100m dash
Stealing a base
Sprinting towards a loose ball
A defender closing in on an offensive player
A player on offence creating separation from a defensive player
We will elaborate more on on why we need to distinguish speed from power later in this article. We will also discuss why and how that makes YOU a better athlete by being able to distinguish speed and power in your training.
The POWER Advantage
The advantage that power gives you is unique. It has an aspect of speed but there is more of a strength component to it. When we measure power, there also a is a force component to it. Force is mass multiplied by acceleration. Therefore, power involves acceleration. The faster you can accelerate, the more powerful you are.
Examples of POWER ADVANTAGE movements in sport
A wide receivers jumping high to catch a ball
An outfielder charging into a crow-hop throw
Soccer players kicking the ball hard
Hitting a homerun over the fence
A basketball player performing a slam dunk
A solid drive over 230 yards in golf
Olympic snatches as well as clean and jerks
As you can see, these movements are much different than running fast. They're more technical and they last an instant before the full movement is done. In most cases, you can blink and you'll miss it.
Differences in Training for Speed vs Power
In our programming, we have SPEED and POWER in different, but adjacent phases in our offseason itinerary. The POWER Phase comes first. The SPEED Phase the follows. Our philosophy is to develop power first, then practice speed later. These phases are both in the later phases of the offseason, immediately before the season starts. We train our athletes in the Power Phase before the Speed Phase because the highly technical components should be learned safely first. As they progress and become better at the technical movements, then we perform them faster and for longer durations.
Training for POWER
The exercises involved for training for power either have a strength component to it or they are paired with strength exercises. There is also a component of starting agility as well.
Here are some real world examples that have worked for our athletes that you can try for yourself:
Example 1:
A1 - Dumbbell Bench Press (3x5 reps)
A2 - Plyometric Pushups with a Clap (3x3 reps)
Examples 2:
A1 - Reverse Lunge (4x6 reps)
A2 - Single Leg Box Jumps (4x3 reps)
Example 3:
A1 - Lat Pulldowns with Wide Grip (5x3 reps)
A2 - Cable Rows with Underhand Grip (5x6)
A3 - Heavy Slam Ball Slams (5x5)
Example 4
A1 - Trap Bar Deadlifts (6x3)
A2 - Vertical Jumps (6x6)
B1 - Weighted Dead Bugs (3x12)
B2 - Weighted High Knees (3x10)
As you can see, each of these exercises have a strength movement either separate from or assimilated into a power movement. Not only that, but these movements impact similar muscle movements paired together to prime the nervous system to be efficient in strength and explosiveness within the same movement pattern. This is the crucial part because all of these need to be earned previously from the stability or hypertrophy phase to be able to safely perform those movements without overtraining.
Training for SPEED
The exercises involved in training for speed have a power component with an endurance component, separate endurance exercises, or a combination of speed, endurance and agility.
Here are some real world examples that have worked for our athletes that you can try for yourself:
Example 1:
A1 - Sled Sprints (4 x 20m)
A2 - Sprints (4 x 20m)
Examples 2:
A1 - High Knees on the Spot (5 x 20)
A2 - 70% Shuttle Runs (5 x 60m)
Example 3:
A1 - Dumbbell Push Presses ()
A2 - Heavy Slam Ball Overhead Push Tosses ()
A3 - Single Arm Med Ball Push Toss Against Wall ()
Example 4
A1 - Lateral Slider Lunges (3x10)
A2 - Skater Jumps (3x30)
B1 - Alternating Hamstring Curls (3x16)
B2 - Running Butt-Kicks (3x15m)
As you can see, the rep ranges are higher than the power phase and the units for some sets cover a distance in meters. This requires more endurance and previous mastery of highly technical movements. This is how you transition athletes from elite performance in the gym to elite performance on the field.
Putting it ALL Together!
Being able to distinguish speed and power movements are an effective way for athletes to optimize their training to improve each of the movements. You can put yourself ahead of the competition just by teaching your body to understand the muscle memory involved in performing each movement and then seamlessly blending them together to develop elite level movement patterns. If you're interested in learning more about how to periodize an offseason program for yourself and the method that has worked for a countless number of our athletes, you can click this link. If you want to cut down all the research time, you can click here and we will reach out to you and help you become better.
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