Question about the connection between strength and power

**Blade Edge** · Posted On: 12/24/2008 11:22pm

According to this
No BS Martial Arts - View Single Post - How important is weightlifting for competitive MMA fighting?
and this
No BS Martial Arts - View Single Post - How important is weightlifting for competitive MMA fighting?
plyometric or "speed strength" training should follow "limit strength" training. In other words, train strength first then train power. From reading those posts, it seems like they're saying that training strength will increase your power, but why is that the case in a more technical sense?
Does it also mean that plyometric training shouldn't be done alongside strength training. So like clap pushups and jump tucks shouldn't follow bench presses and squats even if you do the exercises on different days.

**Emevas** · Posted On: 12/25/2008 8:47am

You can train power and strength on different days in the same routine. Look at Westside Barbell, with different ME days vs. DE days.

Don't try to overthink the connection between speed and power. Let me use a very easy example for you. Who do you think can move a 500lb deadlift faster: someone who deadlifts 800lbs, or someone who deadlifts 400lbs?

The stronger you are, the more weight you are able to move. The more weight you are able to move, the faster you are able to move lighter weights.

Granted, training power specifically will always develop power moreso than training strength (and vise versa), but strength will develop power.

**SunTzu** · Posted On: 12/25/2008 10:25am

High intensity work (85-90%+ of 1RM) recruits fast-twitch muscle fibers, which in turn results in being able to move more weight in a fixed, short period of time (1 second say). In other words, you can move say 50% of your 1RM in that period.
Now, if you train the attribute specifically via DE, you could increase that to say 70% of max in the same fixed period.
So with both you'll increase total amount of weight you can move in that short period, but with attribute-specific training you can "peak" the percentage of 1RM you'll be able to move in that fixed period.

Also, I believe plyometric training is slightly different than regular DE work such as dynamic squats or even olympic lifts. It uses the principal of storing elastic energy by stretching the muscle before contraction to increase the strength of the contraction, whereas in an olympic lift or dynamic box squat you are not using the prestretch.

Finally, there is a form of training that involves supersetting high-intensity ME type lifts with plyometric or DE counterparts (ie, bench press to medicine ball passes or squats to box jumps). It's called contrast training I believe (just read an article on it but don't have it with me) and I believe the gist is that it's more effective for well-conditioned athletes with a history of strength training. For those lacking a good base of strength, it doesn't offer much benefit versus a ME/DE split, and I think some studies showed a slight decrease in power production for these less-conditioned athletes.
Complex training, on the other hand, is where several sets of heavy lifts are performed, followed by sets of the DE exercise. This results in decreased power production due to fatigue, which is what I think people are warning against.