Divide Your Strength and Power Training

Here’s some food for thought:  Researchers in Greece suggest that athletes shouldn’t mix power and strength training.

If your goal is to jump higher, throw harder, or sprint faster, the Greek study found that individuals who performed separate power workouts gained more explosiveness — a key element of athleticism — than those who combined their power and strength training.

The study suggested the following — once or twice a week, perform 3 sets of 8 explosive repetitions of these exercises:

• Barbell Squat*
• Bench Press*
• Jump Squat
• Broad Jump

* Use 30% of your 1-rep max (1RM)

To offer a different perspective (but well supported by exercise science and human performance research), at our facility we have helped athletes achieve impressive gains in explosive power by combining strength and power training, using contrast training (a set of heavy lifts, followed immediately with an explosive exercise using the same movement pattern, such as squats followed by jump squats or bench presses followed by explosive push-ups).

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?