Power, Straining, When To Cash It In
The formula for power is: power = work/time. That translates to a person bench pressing 500 pounds in 5 seconds has a power rating of 100 vs a 500 pound bench press in 1 second which would have a power rating of 500. That is a very simplified version and can get very complicated if you’re calculating machinery, electricity etc. My point being is; power lifters are applying maximum force (force = mass x acceleration) to their primary training movements to get the most power regardless of weight used.
One type of training is the dynamic method. Which is applying maximum force as fast as possible to a sub-maximal weight. For instance, a 500 pound bencher using fifty percent of his max would still be applying 500 pounds of force to 250 pounds with absolute speed being the focus. This is just one method of training and there are plenty of success stories as well as others that it didn’t work for.
To be a successful powerlifter a lifter needs to learn to strain. If you find yourself at a powerlifting meet with some of the “ranked” lifters, pay attention to their face (redness, veins) and their limbs shaking. A great example of this is Stan Efferding (one of my favorites) when he broke the 275 raw total in 2013. There is great video footage of all three lifts. His “straining” is very evident. Any Worlds Strongest Man footage will show the same thing.
There’s plenty of footage of hard to look at injuries. I’m of the opinion that…that’s one of the things that separates the upper tier lifters from others. They will strain until the weight goes up, there body collapses or worst case, something breaks/tears in their body.
I’ve said all that to say this: in my opinion there IS a time to cash it in. Strength, speed, power, etc. is all relative. One person’s max strength may be another’s out of shape strength. I’m very sure Bill “Kaz” (another favorite) still trains but doesn’t use any where near the load he used to…although his training loads today are probably still out of reach for most. Myself, counting months to my 60th birthday, I believe I’m taking the road to cashing it in. My “straining” days are over. I will shutdown a lift if something doesn’t feel right. I will kind of push the envelope and develop some new (age appropriate) pr’s but all the old pr’s are just that…OLD… ancient history. I don’t have anymore “aw crap I shouldn’t have attempted that” stuff left.
I purposefully left out the OLY lifters and bodybuilders. Both sports are great (they got some crazy strong and yoked dudes)and I do follow them BUT my knowledge is very limited and would be from a spectator point of view.
The formula for power is: power = work/time. That translates to a person bench pressing 500 pounds in 5 seconds has a power rating of 100 vs a 500 pound bench press in 1 second which would have a power rating of 500. That is a very simplified version and can get very complicated if you’re calculating machinery, electricity etc. My point being is; power lifters are applying maximum force (force = mass x acceleration) to their primary training movements to get the most power regardless of weight used.
One type of training is the dynamic method. Which is applying maximum force as fast as possible to a sub-maximal weight. For instance, a 500 pound bencher using fifty percent of his max would still be applying 500 pounds of force to 250 pounds with absolute speed being the focus. This is just one method of training and there are plenty of success stories as well as others that it didn’t work for.
To be a successful powerlifter a lifter needs to learn to strain. If you find yourself at a powerlifting meet with some of the “ranked” lifters, pay attention to their face (redness, veins) and their limbs shaking. A great example of this is Stan Efferding (one of my favorites) when he broke the 275 raw total in 2013. There is great video footage of all three lifts. His “straining” is very evident. Any Worlds Strongest Man footage will show the same thing.
There’s plenty of footage of hard to look at injuries. I’m of the opinion that…that’s one of the things that separates the upper tier lifters from others. They will strain until the weight goes up, there body collapses or worst case, something breaks/tears in their body.
I’ve said all that to say this: in my opinion there IS a time to cash it in. Strength, speed, power, etc. is all relative. One person’s max strength may be another’s out of shape strength. I’m very sure Bill “Kaz” (another favorite) still trains but doesn’t use any where near the load he used to…although his training loads today are probably still out of reach for most. Myself, counting months to my 60th birthday, I believe I’m taking the road to cashing it in. My “straining” days are over. I will shutdown a lift if something doesn’t feel right. I will kind of push the envelope and develop some new (age appropriate) pr’s but all the old pr’s are just that…OLD… ancient history. I don’t have anymore “aw crap I shouldn’t have attempted that” stuff left.
I purposefully left out the OLY lifters and bodybuilders. Both sports are great (they got some crazy strong and yoked dudes)and I do follow them BUT my knowledge is very limited and would be from a spectator point of view.
. I wear a brace and have limited leg workout now. (With brace, machines only) I still will go do max lifts. But it’s at about 75-80% of my old days.
