Programming Power for Athletes
Here is one of my favorite single-leg, frontal plane power movements. It is very simple but can be very demanding and rewarding if you want it to be. This exercise is great because it has no external (spinal) loading, and it challenges your balance. Very easy to progress and regress this exercise! Note: must make sure your knee tracks properly before progressing to a bigger jump.
See this Instagram video by @calder_05 * 27 likes
Give it a shot!
Coach Alex
So, here is a quick run down on how I like to program power. I will not get into too much detail about the periodisation of power exercises (I’ll save that for another day). BUT, I do want to address the multiple variations of power that get ignored!
Most of the power exercises chosen for athletes are all done in the sagittal plane. Meaning that, exercises are only done forward/backward and up/down. For example, I see many athletes training for power by only using olympic lifts (cleans and snatches). Meanwhile, the other 2 planes of motion are being completely ignored from a power aspect. Almost every sport requires multi-plane movement abilities. Think about soccer, for example, when defending a player who tries to run beside you, you must powerfully lunge sideways at the ball. Another example would be changing directions quickly (for any sport). These movements have a great demand for side to side movements. How can you excel at that when you’re only training power in a forward/backward and up/down motion?…