Producing Power with The Powerhouse Boys

The Powerhouse Boys - Tom and Beau - smashing fast and explosive consecutive chin-ups!

I was recently monkeying around with my cousins kids (above video) doing pull ups, push ups and exchanging favourite wrestling techniques (they call it fu-jitsu!). They were going set after set on the pull up bar, using everything they had to get themselves up there before sharply dropping down until arms and shoulders were fully extended. Besides being supple and flexible, these kids were extremely powerful!

Now, they are very young (7 and 9 i believe) and indeed their bodies have been through much less of the weight-bearing, connective-tissue-damaging, and all round inflexibility-causing activities that most adults have. However, if they were to train like this regularly throughout their lives into adulthood, would they be able to perform with such physical attributes 20 years from now?

I suppose on paper you would think yes. There is the ancient Greek story of Milo of Croton. Born in 6th century BC, an incredibly powerful wrestler winning 6 olympic titles. He was renowned for his feats of strength, like being able to lift a bull and carry it on his shoulders. To do this, he started at childhood, lifting and carrying the newborn calf and repeating the feat daily as the beast grew to maturity. He did this until the bull was four years old, at which point he slaughtered it, roasted it, and ate it in one day. 

Milo of Croton

If we look at it like Milo did, and had Tom and Beau smash out explosive chin ups and push ups every other day, then they too would most likely posses superior power well into their adult years. After all, the concept is basically the same - progressive resistance training will necessitate progressive physiological adaptation. Whether its a growing bull that you are using as resistance, or your own increasing bodyweight, both methods boil down to one thing: making your body routinely do the same movement with an ever increasing resistance.

What exactly is 'power' in a fitness context?

We are all familiar with the concepts of strength, power and endurance. These are all vastly different physical attributes, yet they are very interconnected. I might be able to lift 100kg in a single 'dead-lift', though what if i needed to lift it 20 times in succession? Conversely, what if i needed to blast it up from the floor and hoist it up onto my chest as in a 'clean'? 

Boiled down - Strength is how much force one can produce to move a resistance. Power is how quickly one can exert that force, and endurance is how many consecutive times one can exert force. Look at 100m sprinters, and then look at Ultra-marathon runners. They are both extremely well developed athletes in their respective sports, though how their muscles work is vastly different. Sprinters require masses of fast-twitch (type 2A) muscle fibres that will exert force extremely quick (but will also fatigue quick), and Ultra-marathon runners require a larger proportion of slow-twitch (type 1B) fibres which will allow them to exert a small amount of force over a long period of time (thus being very fatigue-resistant).

Sprint athlete - a lot of type 2A there

Endurance athlete - mostly type 1B

How does power affect me as an adult?

As adults it is very common for a reasonable level of strength to be maintained especially for those who have worked physical jobs throughout their lives. Strength is lasting, though power is not. If you think of most hard working men and women in their 60's and 70's, they are usually pretty strong individuals. Im pretty sure that if i gave my father (a pretty strong dude) a 70kg barbell, and told him to lift it up onto his shoulders and walk it across the lawn, he could do it without too much trouble. Now if that barbell was 50kg, but this time i told him to load it onto his shoulders, squat deep, and blast upwards, throwing it as far in front of himself as possible, he probably wouldn't go so well. Great strength yes, though lacking in the ability to produce power.

So whats doing?

As we age our type 2A fibres are converted into type 1B fibres (from fast twitch to slow twitch). This conversion is basically what ageing is, and you don't want it to happen! If you look at most people in their late adulthood and how they move you can start to understand what strength without power looks like.

Im not saying that we can all retain maximal amounts of power well into our late adulthood, nor am i discounting the effect that carrying the weight of adult life on your shoulders can have on an individual, however i do think it is something we should all be aware of. I have crossed paths with many teenagers and young adults who were totally incapable of producing power - this is bad. Typically they didn't play sport as a child/teenager and have ended up leading quite a sedentary lifestyle - really bad. Those who played regular sport like football, rugby, netball, judo, are very much at an advantage because most of those games (and many others) necessitate the production of power. 

We should all be aiming to maintain at least a minimal amount of power by ensuring that it is part of our regular training program. 

End bit:

Are my little cousins-kids going to grow up to be as powerful as Milo of Croton? Well, they probably aren't eating 12kg's of red meat per day as Milo was said to have - though they are possibly eating a lot of Milo? I'm sure they will become strong and powerful teenagers nonetheless.

Extra bit:

How to train some basic power…

Like the outdoors? Jump, throw, or run as fast as you can! Try jump squats, clap push ups, or explosive pull ups on a bar/tree branch. These powerful movements will build fast-acting and explosive muscle fibres. 

Prefer the gym? Make one of your weekly workouts a power workout - load up with something heavy and blast through the movement as quickly (and safely) as is humanly possible! Try explosive squats, clap push ups, or fast/explosive chin ups. Take longer rest periods, and always have a spotter around if you're doing something potentially self-damaging. 

Enjoy peeps.