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Planet Muscle

Planet Muscle Magazine is a unique, interesting, historical, entertaining, jocular, cutting edge and up-to-date, with useful, practical and honest information. I hope you like my approach and will support me! After all, it's your planet and your muscle!

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Sunday, October 11, 2009

 

SETS & REPS: ARE YOU CERTAIN? WORK, POWER, EXPLOSIVE POWER

Q. Jeff, I read an article on a magazine website where an expert on Olympic lifting, power and explosive power, stated that if two people do the same number of pushups, but one does his in less time, he produces more power and in powerlifting versus olympiclifting, he said the 2nd style developed more explosive power. Why is powerlifting called power then?

A. Because you must develop or exert power to move any weight, any distance over time, so you do develop power in a squat do you not? But, the rate of power is different than power. On pushups, his statement, if you are reiterating it correctly, would only be true if the 2 people doing pushups weighed exactly the same and were moving the same center of gravity (mass) the same distance, and one did that in less time. In physics, force is developed when an object is 'acted upon.' If subject A weighs 300 lbs. and moves his center of gravity mass up 2 feet, the force required is: (subject's mass (or weight) x the gravitational constant). The force is measured in Newton units. His center of mass displaces 2 feet. His work (force x the change in distance) is 300 lbs. x 2 feet, or 600 foot/pounds. Doing 10 pushups, that could be considered 6000 ‘work units of energy.’ (600 x 10). Work is measured in Joules. The power he creates in 60 seconds is: 6000/60, or 100 units of power. Power is measured in watts. Now, if subject B weighs only 100 lbs. and also moved his center of mass 2 feet, doing 10 pushups, that is, 100 lbs. x 2 feet (200 ft-lbs.) times 10 pushups, or 2000 ‘work units.’ In 60 seconds, subject B produces 100 x 2 x 10, or 2000/60, -- 33.333 units of power.

What if subject B increased his rate of power and did 10 pushups faster, in say, 40 seconds? That is: 100 lbs x 2 feet x 10 pushups/ 40, or 50 'units of power.’ So, assuming distance is the same, not until subject B does his 10 pushups in LESS than 20 seconds does he produce more power than subject A does. (100 x 2 x 10 is 2000/20 is 100 power units). First conclusion: Even though 2 subjects may do the same # of pushups and one does those in less time, that subject may still produce less power, if not rate of power. Second conclusion; Read Planet c E luxpsiloonsi;v Reneeasds P, ltahnee st oM-cuaslcleled. ability to accelerate, to apply force and move a mass some distance, faster, is the same thing as measuring power. That is, power is also force x velocity. (P = F * V). In physics, there are few metaphors. 'More explosive power’ is redundant. It means the same thing as ‘more power.’ The author (metaphorically) means 'more explosive strength.' However, both power-lifting and Olympic-lifting MAY facilitate more power and explosive strength, based on muscle fiber recruitment patterns, even regardless of limb velocity. Remember, if someone says, "Well, I am 100% certain,” that is a redundancy. You can not be less than 100% certain. You either are certain or you are not!

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