Power is a very desirable trait for most sports people and describes the ability to perform movements both strongly and quickly. In this article we’ll examine power training and provide you with a workout to get you started in your quest to develop more power…

Power is technically expressed as force divided by time – in other words it’s not just strength but strength at speed. Examples of power in sport include sprinting, kicking, throwing, jumping and tackling. Strength, whilst very important, makes only a relatively small contribution to power development so it’s worth spending time on this vital component.

When it comes to power training, correct exercise selection is vital as only certain movements lend themselves to the pursuit of power. For an exercise to be suitable for power training, it must allow you to accelerate the training implement you are using. The best power exercises are the ones that allow you to either leave the floor as in various jumping exercises or let go of the weight you are lifting so it sails off into space! Medicine ball exercises are particularly well suited to power training but there are also some barbell and dumbbell exercises that will improve your power such as the Olympic weight lifts (clean & jerk and the snatch) but these require specialist coaching and are beyond the scope of this short article.

Power training is similar to strength training in that it uses maximal efforts, relatively short sets and long rests. Power training is all about quality over quantity so if you feel that, during a power workout, you are beginning to slow down then it’s probably time to take a break or reduce the training load. Every rep you perform should be as powerful and fast as the previous one as, after all, we are training to speed you up and not learning to slow down!

Because power training involves maximal velocity movements, it’s absolutely vital that you warm up properly before exercising and only embark on a power training programme after having progressed through phases of muscular endurance and strength training – power training is the tip of our intensity pyramid. Performing power training before your body as attuned to the demands of this type of exercise may cause you injury.

To get you started with power training tomorrow we’ll provide you with a ready-made routine.

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As an ex-Royal Marine, I’m often asked “what is the best way to get in shape prior to joining the armed forces?” Whilst I can’t say I have the definitive answer, the programme that follows is how I’d go about it if I was going to join up again. The basic aim of the programme is to improve general muscular endurance, aerobic fitness and strength as well as developing some much needed mental toughness! In addition, this plan closely mimics the day-to-day demands placed on a recruit in training and will certainly ensure that the first few weeks of basic training aren’t too much of a shock to the system.

As with any new exercise routine, make sure you have the all clear from your Doctor before starting this plan which, even though it was originally developed for those preparing for a life in the military, is a great general workout plan for anyone looking to look better, feel better or lose weight.

Day one Bodyweight Circuit

1. 5 Burpees
2. 10 press ups
3. 15 Squats
4. 20 jump jacks or jump rope double unders

Perform as many laps as possible in 20 minutes. Only rest when you need to. Aim to get more work done each session! As you get fitter, try 25 minutes, then 30 etc.

Finisher – today is Chin up Day! Perform 5 sets of max rep chins. Make a note of the total performed

e.g. 7, 5, 4, 3, 3 = 22 reps. Next time aim to do more reps in the same number of sets.

Day two Run

Run away from home for 15 minutes – nice and slow and easy. Once you are 15 minutes from home turn around and run back they way you came aiming to run back in the shortest possible time. The aim is to get back in quicker and quicker times as you get fitter. This session is very similar to a typical military running fitness test.

Day three Strength

Total body strength is vital for load carries and general day to day military work so some weight training is essential. Focus on exercises like squats, deadlifts, chins, shoulder presses, bench presses and bent over/seated rows. You may need to join a gym for this, or invest in some weights but it’ll pay off hugely. Hire a trainer for a couple of sessions and get him/her to teach you these exercises. Stay away from machines, they won’t help much! Aim to do sets of 5-8 reps – anything much higher will not improve your strength as much.

Day four Rest day or some light swimming/jogging/stretching etc

Day five Ton up circuit

1. 100 reps press ups
2. 100 reps sit ups
3. 100 reps squats
4. 100 reps burpees
5. 100 reps crunches/sit ups

The aim is to do 100 reps of each exercise as fast as possible. You don’t have to do all the reps for each exercise in one go. Mix it up and knock off a few reps from each exercise e.g. 15 press ups, 20 sit ups, 10 burpees, 20 squats, 10 press ups etc. Make a note of your total time; try to do it faster next time.

 Finisher – today is Chin up Day! Perform 5 sets of max rep chins. Make a note of the total performed

e.g. 7, 5, 4, 3, 3 = 22 reps. Next time aim to do more reps in the same number of sets.

Day six Running intervals

Jog for 2 minutes. Sprint for 1 minute. Repeat 10 times to total 30 minutes. Aim to run further during each minute sprint as you get fitter. Intervals are best done on grass or a running track.

Day seven Strength

Hit the weights again using different but similar exercises e.g. if you squatted last time, today do deadlifts.

Day eight Rest day or some light swimming/jogging/stretching etc

Day nine – repeat day one

Day ten – repeat day two

Day eleven – repeat day three Etc

Make sure every workout is preceded with a 5 – 10 minute warm up of walking/jogging/rope skipping and a few stretches. Finish every workout (except the ton up circuit) with a couple of sets of twisting sit ups, crunches, leg lifts and prone back extensions. Cool down at the end of each session with a 5 minute walk/jog/rope skip and a few stretches.

In addition to the plan detailed above, wherever you can, get out and walk – preferably carrying kit in a rucksack as this is a major part of military life! Gradually increase the distances covered and the loads carried making sure that you walk at a good pace (around 4mph+) and stay well hydrated whilst you walk by carrying plenty of water.

Patrick Dale.

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After your warm up, work through the following 4 exercises as a descending pyramid to exercise all your major muscles, burn lots of calories and improve your muscular endurance!

Don’t worry if you can’t do the prescribed reps in one go – break the sets down into more manageable chunks as necessary but only move onto the next exercise when you have done all the required reps. Keep rests to a minimum and go for your best time to complete the whole workout which totals 150 reps for each exercise.

50 Press ups (on knees or toes as appropriate)
50 Squats
50 sit ups/crunches
50 lunges (25 each leg)

40 Press ups (on knees or toes as appropriate)
40 Squats
40 sit ups/crunches
40 lunges (20 each leg)

30 Press ups (on knees or toes as appropriate)
30 Squats
30 sit ups/crunches
30 lunges (15 each leg)

20 Press ups (on knees or toes as appropriate)
20 Squats
20 sit ups/crunches
20 lunges (10 each leg)

10 Press ups (on knees or toes as appropriate)
10 Squats
10 sit ups/crunches
10 lunges (5 each leg)

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Let’s face it – even with the best will in the world, life just gets in the way of our healthiest intensions…we aim to exercise regularly but sometimes we just can’t make it to the gym. It seems a shame for our best efforts to be hindered or halted just because of our busy lifestyles.

An important fact that is often forgotten is that when it comes to exercise, the body is pretty dumb! It has no idea you are running on a motorized treadmill, doing squats in a state-of-the art gym or working your abs on the latest machine designed to give you that “summer six pack”! All your body knows is degrees of exertion. So long as we find ways to exert ourselves sufficiently, our bodies will respond by getting fitter and stronger no matter what the stimulus might be.

My intention in this article is to give you an excellent “break out in case of emergency” (hence the name of this particular workout) workout to use when you just can’t get to the gym. It’s both low tech and deceptively simple, but will get the job done with a minimum of equipment, time and fuss!

The Emergency workout came in to being because of my necessity to exercise while deployed on an HMS ship in the Irish Sea while I was in the Marines. I had no access to a gym, no real space to speak of but I knew it was essential for me to at least try and maintain a decent level of fitness, despite the lack of an ideal training venue. I enjoyed the resulting work out so much that it is now a regular part of my training and often allows me to exercise when time or location is against me. For this workout you need a stop watch with 2 timers, although a single countdown timer will be fine, a mat or other soft surface on which to lay, a skipping rope or aerobic step and about a 10 foot by 10 foot space…

I want you to set your timer for 2 minute and 1 minute intervals (assuming you have a timer equipped with this function). Check out www.gymboss.com for an excellent product designed to do just that. The Timex Ironman range of watches also has a dual timing facility. If you only have a single timer, set it for 1 minute repeating intervals and make sure you keep a mental note to perform 2 minutes followed by 1 minute rounds.

During every 2 minute segment, you are going to perform either skipping or alternating leg step ups and during every 1 minute segment, you are going to perform a bodyweight conditioning exercise from the list I will provide you with later.

You continue with this 2 minute/1 minute pattern for as long as you feel capable. 5 “laps” would be equal to 15 minutes, 7 laps would equal 21 minutes and 10 laps would equal 30 minutes of cardio work combined with exercises to condition your major muscle groups. The real beauty of this workout is you can make it as hard or as easy as you need by choosing exercises that suit your current level of ability. Here are 2 examples to demonstrate what I mean.

1) Less intense version

• 2 minutes step ups
• 1 minute bent leg sit ups
• 2 minutes step ups plus arm curl arms
• 1 minute of press ups on knees
• 2 minutes step ups plus shoulder press arms
• 1 minute of shallow lunges (don’t go too deep!)
• 2 minutes of step ups plus chest press arms
• 1 minute of sky diver back extensions
• 2 minutes of step ups plus curl and press arms
• 1 minute of ab crunches.

 2) More intense version

•  2 minutes skipping
• 1 minute of squats
• 2 minutes of skipping – performing a crossover every 10^th turn
• 1 minute of full press ups
• 2 minutes of skipping – double under every 10^th turn
• 1 minute of reverse lunges – arms overhead
• 2 minutes of skipping – cross over every 5^th turn
• 1 minute of burpees
• 2 minutes of skipping – double under every 5^th turn
• 1 minute of V sits
• 2 minutes of skipping – knees up
• 1 minute of mountain climbers
• 2 minutes of skipping – alternate double unders and cross overs every 5^th turn.

As you can see, the Emergency approach is quite flexible and can be adapted to cater for different levels of fitness and conditioning.

An excellent modification of the Emergency workout is to use only 1 minute intervals for both the aerobic component and the conditioning exercise. Treat the aerobic component as a race and attempt to perform as many rope turns or step ups as possible which will leave you nicely out of breath for the conditioning exercise. This combination adds a real intensity to the exercise programme.

You can use any of your favourite exercises with this style of training but remember to choose the ones that you are best suited to your current fitness level and goals. I suggest you try to rotate the type of exercise you are performing throughout the workout and therefore avoid over loading any one part of the body. Personally, I try to order my exercises lower/core/upper so that no matter how hard I find a particular exercise, I know I won’t be repeating anything similar for few minutes. Mentally, this allows me to really attack the current exercise and adds another intensity level to the session.

So, that’s my Emergency workout, one of my personal favourite training methods – and now you have no excuses for missing an exercise session! Enjoy.

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Core training is part of virtually every exercisers routine but, when it comes to sport, are you being as specific as possible with your midsection work? In this article I want to challenge your core in a more activity-specific way which represents the often random demands of sport.

Pretty much every athlete and exerciser knows that core training is essential for sports performance, injury prevention and also appearance. The midsection is literally the tie that binds our upper body to our lower body and allows the transference of energy from one limb to another. A weak core means that energy can get “lost” as the spine collapses and forces generated are diverted away from where they are needed. The thing is, whilst most people know that core training is very important, they do it in such a way that it isn’t specific to their sporting activity.

In exercise, the SAID principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands) states that your training results directly reflect your training efforts: lift heavy = get stronger, lift fast = get quicker etc so why is it most core work is done at the end of a workout, laying down, with controlled breathing and with relatively low intensity? This scenario is a long way from the unpredictable and highly demanding world of sport…

Imagine a rugby player – when do they need to be able to demonstrate core strength? Is it whilst lying on the floor, barely out of breath or is it towards the end of a game, absolutely exhausted and putting in a big tackle or scoring a try? A boxer or MMA participant needs to demonstrate core strength even when their breathing pattern isn’t controlled (maybe because of fatigue or perhaps because of a “gut punch”) to keep themselves protected and to provide a strong platform from which to strike. In sports, you never really know when and from where your next core challenge will come from – will it come from the side, the front, behind? To succeed in sport, it’s important to develop the ability to react to a variety of core stresses whilst being in a state of fatigue. 

Traditional core training does not reflect the demands of sport but with a little imagination, a workout randomiser (also known as a dice!) and a selection of cardio options you can create workouts that are varied, unpredictable and sports specific…

The workout

For each of the die faces, allocate a core exercise. Make sure each exercise is significantly different from the others by using the template below. Slot your favourite exercises into the template but remember to rotate exercises regularly.

1)      Flexion – focus on lifting shoulders e.g. Swiss ball crunches

2)      Flexion – focus on lifting the hips e.g. hanging leg raises

3)      Lateral flexion – e.g. dumbbell side bends

4)      Rotation – e.g. cable wood chops

5)      Bracing – e.g. planks

6)      Extension – e.g. dorsal raises

Next, select some cardio options e.g. treadmill, rower, jump rope or bodyweight exercises like burpees, thrusters or jumping jacks. It doesn’t really matter what cardio option you select so long as you can get up to speed quickly and it gets you sufficiently out of breath.

Perform 1 minute of hard cardio (and I mean hard – get the lactic acid flowing and the heart and lungs pumping) before throwing your dice and immediately performing a set of the corresponding core exercise. Do as many reps as appropriate but remember to use a variety of rep ranges and loads to develop strength and endurance. High rep counts in excess of 25-30 are not time-efficient so try to keep your reps lower than this. Like every other muscle in your body, your core muscles need to be challenged so make sure the exercises you have chosen are sufficiently demanding and intense.

Perform 5-6 sets of this core and cardio pairing throwing the dice each time to randomise the core exercises. Allow 1 minute recovery after each core exercise and don’t worry if you manage to throw the same number a couple of times as this is part of the random nature of sports.

There are times where in will be necessary to perform your core work in a more traditional way, especially when trying to learn new exercises or improve core-specific performance but this is a great method for shaking up your workouts and making them more specific to the random way sports place demands on your body.

Get rolling that dice and enjoy a whole new way of working your core!

 

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Today’s workout is inspired by boxers and boxing, it’ll challenge both muscular endurance and aerobic fitness…just like boxing, but without the risk of getting hit in the head! Mind you might want to lie down after doing it!

The workout is circuit-based and uses 6 exercises – you do each for 30sec to total a 3 minute ’round’. Rest for 1 min before repeating the workout for as many rounds as you can e.g. 3-5

Feel free to make your own exercise substitutions if you wish, but try to avoid putting similar exercises back-to-back, as this will probably just slow you down.

Warm up and cool down of course… seconds out, round 1!

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One of the more unlikely tools in our fitness equipment armoury is the sledgehammer. Surprisingly manual-labour tool doubles as a superb total body muscular endurance exercise, a great power developer, a very effective weight management method and a way to increase both aerobic and anaerobic endurance. In terms of cost, effectiveness and versatility, sledgehammer training makes a great addition to almost any training programme.

 

Let’s look at the reasons why sledgehammer training is so good…

 1) Swinging a sledgehammer is a full body activity. Swinging the sledge uses just about every muscle group…the muscles of the forearms are used in gripping, the latisimus dorsi muscles of the back are used in the downward phase of a strike whereas the deltoid muscles around the shoulders are used in the return to the overhead position. The core including the rectus abdominus and obliques work very hard in the downward phase of sledgehammer swings along side the hip flexors. And even the legs get involved as they have to keep you anchored to the floor. You’d be hard pressed to find a muscle group not involved in swinging the sledge!

2) Multiple fitness components can be trained with a sledgehammer. By using a variety of rep and set schemes (discussed later) it is possible to target power, muscular endurance, cardiovascular fitness and anaerobic conditioning. Regardless of your goal, sledgehammer training will probably make a fine addition to your current training routine.

3) Sledgehammer training is very cost effective. Many of you will have a sledgehammer in your basement or garage but even if you have to go and buy one especially for exercise they are very reasonably priced and easy to get hold of. My hammer came from a regular DIY store and cost $35 or about £16.00 and it’s very unlikely it will ever wear out. As a striking surface I like to use and old SUV tire I picked up for free from a local tire dealer. Most tire dealers are only too happy for you to take away an old tire as they have to pay to have them collected.

4) Training with a sledgehammer is fun! You get to hit something as hard as you can, as often as you like with no legal ramifications! It’s a great way to work off the frustrations of the day leaving you calm and relaxed after your workout. It’s very therapeutic!

5) The techniques are very easy to learn. Swinging the sledgehammer is a natural movement which is quickly mastered. It’s a very instant workout which, although simple, can be as demanding as you make it.

6) Sledgehammer training is great for fat loss.

Any sledgehammer training will burn plenty of calories but probably the best way to get the most of your hammer workout is to utilise intervals. Interval training is probably the most efficient and effective method for fat loss available and out performs steady state cardio almost every time in calorie expenditure tests. Because of EPOC (what we used to call Oxygen Debt) your body will not only burn lots of energy during a sledgehammer workout but also continue burning energy at an elevated rate long after your workout has finished. It’s like getting two workouts for the price of one! Combined with a calorie controlled diet, sledgehammer intervals are a superb way to shed a few pounds while toning and strengthening the whole body.

Equipment

Clearly, you’ll need a sledgehammer. You can pick one up from a regular DIY store for a very fair price. In terms of what weight to buy I suggest from 6lbs for lighter exercisers and those looking to swing at a higher cadence to 15lbs for bigger exercisers or for those looking for a slower cadence. I am an experienced and fairly advanced exerciser and I mainly use a 10lb hammer and have only recently started using a 14lb hammer and I have never found my lighter hammer to provide an easy workout.

For striking surfaces you have a couple of choices. As previously mentioned, an old tire is a great target. A tire will absorb some of the shock of the impact, thus reducing noise, impact on the hands/wrists as well as making the hammer bounce slightly to aid in setting a good rhythm. This is my preferred striking surface and the one you will see in the video accompanying this article. Alternatively you may choose to use your hammer outside where you may have access to a sand pit, an area of soil, an old log stump or something similar. There is nothing wrong with any of these surfaces so long as they have a “bit of give” which will reduce the shock you’ll feel when you use the hammer. I have used my hammer on a deserted beach which and that worked fine except I ended up with a light dusting of sand all over my sweaty head!

Which ever surface you choose for your sledgehammer training, always ensure you have plenty of space around you and clearance above your head and that the surface you are hitting has some “give” to it. Hard surfaces like concrete or cement are not recommended.

If you are using your hammer for high reps, I also suggest a pair of robust gloves. I use basic work gloves which I bought for about $10 to avoid any blisters however if I’m doing sets of 20 strikes or less I often don’t use my gloves and have had no ill effects.

Swinging Techniques

Swinging the hammer isn’t technically demanding but it does require some coordination. It’s important to have sound technique before going crazy with your hammer otherwise there is a possibility of serious self-inflicted injury. There are a few “schools of thought” when it comes to hammer swinging – all of which work well and it’s really a matter of personal preference as to which one you select. In the accompanying video you’ll see the following swinging techniques…left hand lead, right hand lead, alternating hands and “no choke” where both hands are kept near the end of the hammer handle. In addition you’ll also see me stood on the ground and also on top of the tire which provides a unique challenge for more advanced exercisers…

In part 2 of this article we’ll look at ways of organising your sledgehammer workouts…

 

Part two of this article coming later this week…

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Obi Obadike and Natalie Muntean – cover models 20-2

Obi was also profiled in the issue and contributes to ultra-FIT. Look out for features and great workouts from Obi and Natalie.

In the video Obi shoots with fellow top model Lyzabeth Lopez

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The sun salutation s a great way to warm up the body.

This article appeared in issue 19-6.

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