Updated March 08, 2014.

Getting strong is one thing, but getting powerful requires another element in your training. Power is the combination of strength and speed over time. Power requires explosive actions, and it need not be related to overt lifting. The cyclist who can accelerate up a steep hill better than competitors in the Tour de France demonstrates superior power.

Building Power With Weight Training

Power training is important for sports where sudden bursts of activity are required -- sprinting, jumping, accelerating, changing direction, moving solid objects quickly and so on.

You can probably see how football, basketball, cricket, track and field athletics, golf and baseball are all relevant in this context. Yet in a basic sense, power can be a component of just about any movement that you undertake in which you want to move a force rapidly.

Weight Training for Power Development

Ultimately, training for power requires that you do exercises in which the speed of the exercise movement is high, includes a load, but not necessarily a maximum load, and is performed while you are comparatively rested. This is not bodybuilding; you don't need to fatigue those muscles, in fact, you want them ready to move that weight very rapidly.

In the gym, choose lighter weights than pure strength training, push them hard and fast, and rest a little longer between sets.

In the field, runners might use plyometric exercises like bounds and jumps and marches and footballers might use special tackling machinery and equipment.

The Olympic Lift Derivatives in Power Training

Following is a description of derivatives of the Olympic lifts.

 These whole-body, compound exercises work the upper and lower body and should be performed with explosive intent. 

The clean. In a standard clean, you lift the bar from the floor to the upper chest/shoulders while dipping under the bar with a squat to full depth (ATG). In the full clean and jerk or press, the bar is then thrust overhead from the shoulder position.

The hang clean. With the hang clean you start with the bar at the thighs, instead of the floor, as if you've just completed a deadlift, then you do the full ATG squat and lift bar to shoulders.

The power clean. In the power clean, you start with bar on the floor but you only squat half way or higher and you don't go ATG before lifting the weight to shoulders.

The hang power clean. Some trainers make no distinction between hang cleans and hang power cleans but technically this is not correct, and it is important. In the hang power clean, you start with the bar at the thighs, you don't squat ATG, and the bend at the knees may only be at right angles or even higher, then the rest of the lift to shoulders is the same.

It's worth noting that the 'power' versions -- in which you don't do a full squat -- are really only possible with a lighter (for you) weight. As the bar gets heavier, you are more likely to need to squat lower to get under the bar before the push up to the shoulders.

Push press. The push press is the last phase of the clean and press in which the bar is thrust overhead. In a push press, you have the weight at the shoulders and you press it up overhead with the help of a little dip with the legs and hips. It's similar to the standard military or overhead press except you use the legs and hips to help the push.

High pull. The high pull simulates the first part of the clean or clean and jerk except you don't steady the weight at the shoulders. It's not like an upright row at all because in this power context you want to do it with speed, and the grip is much wider. You can do this from the hang position as well.

Romanian deadlift (hanging deadlift). You start in the upright position with the weight at the thighs, bend to the floor keeping the back straight and without setting the bar down on each repetition. Make the lift to standing at fast speed.

A Simple Power Program

The exercises above form the basis of a sample program. You can try various combinations of the above exercises once you get used to this form of training. If you've not done any weight training previously you should start by reading up on the fundamentals and introducing weights gradually before attempting these exercises.

Follow these guidelines in power weight training.

• You need to be able to thrust the weight into position with explosive speed. Yet, the weight needs to be heavy enough to challenge you over a short series of repetitions.
• You should rest between sets until fully recovered. That means about 3 to 5 minutes. Power needs to be expressed when the phosphocreatine energy system is fully reconstituted.
• Similarly, if at any time between repetitions you feel lacking in strength, take a 30-second break.
• Try 3 sets of 6 reps to start.

Remember, this is not a bodybuilding program so you are not aiming for a pump or lactic acid build up in the muscles, although by the end of the workout you inevitably will get some. You want each lift to be as explosive as is appropriate. 

You can use dumbbells instead of barbells for the upper body work for some exercises. Adjust the loads, sets and reps until you get something that works for you. An experienced trainer can show you the best form for these lifts. Get powerful!