THE TRANSFER AND SHIFT OF STRENGTH AND POWER

As a former collegiate and professional athlete and now strength and conditioning coach, strength and power still remain to be the two most emphasized bio‐motor abilities.

When applying true principles of strength and power in our program design, we must ask ourselves are we addressing the utility of function?

Of all bio-motor abilities, what 2 vital bio-motor abilities are absent but absolutely necessary for rehab and training programs designed for special populations?

In the collegiate and high school weight room, the power clean is one of the most ‘stressed’ exercises for “power” training. The standard tactic used is to put as much weight on the bar and try to successfully lift it one to four times. Successfully lift it vs. the quality of the lift are two different things of course. Let’s break down the clean and determine its true strength and power principles so we may better understand the carryover to 3‐D function.

Determining Dimension:

· Is it 3-dimensional?

The power clean is a sagittal plane‐dominate movement. Most sporting/non sporting activities require at least 2-dimensional movement if not 3‐dimensional movement in all muscles and joints.

· Is it specific to desired activity?

The power clean is mostly a vertical load. Most sports have a lateral (horizontal) load vector.

· What is the neural input?

If the weight is too heavy, we may actually slow down the neural input which inhibits our power and strength transfer to activity.

· Are we taking advantage of the transfer zone?

The fact that most of our power is utilized at the zone in which a direction is reversed in a
motion needs to be considered (i.e. – plyometrics).

Above are a few key questions that we can use for any population or exercise we choose to work with.

Characteristically, strength and power is associated with athletes. Yet, the senior population requires just as much focus of these bio-motor abilities. This group gets injured frequently from the absence of strength and power (reactive). Consider the following scenario and proposed training / treatment approach:

Scenario: A 68‐year‐old woman has balance problems when walking. Through a few functional assessments, the practitioner finds abdominal muscles are weak and significantly lack the ability to move in all three planes of motion.

Strategy Set Up : Position client in a small stride position with the left leg forward in front of a wall for support and as a target. To create a load in the abdominals we want to reach with the left shoulder posterior (backward) at shoulder (height) towards the wall in a short range of motion at a moderate to fast speed.

Reasoning: This facilitates tri‐plane loading of the abdominals in the Transfer Zone of walking with an exercise that replicates the activity, while creating more power that will transform into better strength of the entire kinetic chain by using a short (safe) range and increased speed.

If our goal is to seek strength or power, our strategies and exercises need to be based on true principles of function.