Power exercises to increase your strength

Here is a list of 7 GREAT exercises for power. Always start your workouts with a warming up and focus on activating your fast-twitch muscle fibers by choosing a medium to heavy load and performing each repetition as quickly and as explosive as possible.

Introduction

If you want to train for power, you got to train for explosiveness. That means performing an exercise with a moderate to heavy load quickly and explosively.

Some exercises are naturally suited for explosive strength and can't be performed otherwise, such as jumping (and you'll find a lot of jumping in this article). Another example is sprinting, after all, Wikipedia says:

Although you can perform almost all exercises for power, if you're serious about your power training and want the best overall results, then performing specific exercises for power may yield better overall results for your strength goals than doing random isolation exercises in your power workouts.

Hence, you won't find random exercises in this list. Instead, I choose the best power exercises that contribute the most to increasing your power output.

Before we begin, let me first say a thing or two about warming up!

Always begin with warming up

Always!

The last thing you want is straining a muscle and taking a few weeks off or doing subpar workouts as long as you're still healing. Take it from me, the effects of not stretching vs. the time you save by skipping warming up are not worth it and may not, but will hinder your progress at some point in time.

A good warming-up doesn't have to be too complex or lengthy. Just 10 to 15 minutes is all it takes.

A good warming up should begin with a general cardio exercise for 3-5 minutes to get your heart rate up, more blood flowing through muscles, and your body temperature up. Just hop on the treadmill or rowing machine for 5 minutes.

After that, I suggest you do some static and dynamic stretching to loosen your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. Focus on the major joints and muscle groups, such as your overall hip mobility, your shoulders, and your back and leg muscles. There's no need or time to stretch each and every muscle and joint before each and every workout.

(Such an extensive stretching session is a workout by itself and has its place in your general training routine, so definitely do such a comprehensive stretching routine once or twice a week when possible).

In a future post, I'll describe my warming-up routine, but for now, my main point is to please never skip some warming up before you start your workout.

Well, enough chit-chat chat, and let's dive into the list of power exercises examples!

Exercises for power

As mentioned above, jumps are explosive exercises by nature (have you ever jumped in a non-explosive manner, or have you ever jumped 'slowly'?). Jumps mainly activate your leg muscles. Improving your leg muscles' power translates well to improve your overall power. As such, this list contains many jumps!

1. Power/push jerks

I love any exercise that involves pushing a weight above your head. Pushing (or 'jerking') a loaded barbell over your head is a real power move, and you'll often catch others watching you in surprise (in regular gyms, not a lot of people do these power exercises, so you'll surely catch people glimpsing (and 'miring') you).

Let's see how to do a power jerk.

How to

1. Starting Position: Stand tall, feet shoulder-width apart, and grab the barbell in a rack position. Make sure your elbows are pointing up.
2. Dip: Make a slight dip by bending your knees while keeping your torso upright. During the dip, your hips should make a small hinge.
3. Drive: From the bottom of the dip, rapidly extend your legs and forcefully drive your hips upward, generating power and momentum. Your leg drive should be explosive and quick, propelling the barbell upward.
4. Dip and Drive Continuation: As your upper body and the barbell begin to ascend, you need to quickly transition from the upward leg drive into another slight dip by dropping yourself slightly under the barbell. This dip is also known as the "rebend." It involves flexing your hips and knees to create a momentary downward movement.
5. Jerk: Simultaneously with the rebend, you have to push the barbell straight up and above your head by forcefully extending your arms. This explosive push with your arms, combined with the leg drive and the downward momentum from the dip, allows you to generate the necessary force to propel the barbell overhead.
   
   Your feet may get off the ground for half an inch or so, but make sure not to jump any higher (a common beginner mistake). Jumping too high is an inefficiency that can hinder your progress.
6. Overhead Position and Recovery: Once you've locked out your arms and stabilized the barbell overhead, you should have your elbows fully extended, the barbell directly above your shoulders, and your head slightly forward. From here, you recover by standing up tall and straight and bringing your feet back together into a shoulder-width stance.

2. Trap bar jumps

A trap bar is a hexagonally shaped barbell, so you can stand in the middle of the hexagon and load the trap bar on both sides with weight plates.

The trap bar was designed to train the trapezius muscles, hence the name. But there are many other exercises that can be done with the trap bar (more about that in a future article!).

One of the exercises I will discuss is the trap bar jumps.

How to:

1. Preloading: Stand inside the trap bar with your feet shoulder-width apart. Position yourself so that your midfoot is aligned with the center of the bar. Bend your knees and hinge at your hips to grip the handles firmly. Lift the bar up while keeping your chest up, shoulders pulled back, and your back straight until you're standing upright.
2. Starting position: Lower the bar by hinging your hips and bending your knees while at all times keeping your back straight. Once the plates are resting on the floor, do not let go of the trap bar, and do not lose tension in your legs and back. You are now in the starting position.
3. Explosive jump: From the starting position, jump up by extending your hips, knees, and ankles while driving your feet forcefully into the ground, all in one explosive motion. While airborne, keep your body straight and all your muscles (particularly your core) tight! Aim for a vertical body position.
4. Land softly: Land with a controlled and soft landing to minimize the impact on your joints. Land on the balls of your feet, allowing your heels to follow, and then bend through your knees. Maintain balance throughout the movement and, in one smooth motion, lower the bar back to the floor to return to the starting position (i.e., step 2).
5. Reset and repeat: Make sure you're starting position is in check, then repeat the jump. If you landed improperly (for example) and need to re-adjust your starting position, perform the preloading again (see step 1), then continue from there. Otherwise, repeat the jump from the starting position (step 2).

3. Seated barbell jumps

It would be best to have a sturdy bench or wooden plyo box to perform this exercise on. It's best not to use a soft plyo box because of stability issues.

How to:

1. Starting position: Hold a barbell on your upper back/trapezius muscle as if you're about to squat. Stand upright in front of the bench or plyo box.
   
   Sit down on the bench/plyo box by hinging at your hips, bending your knees, and keeping your back straight at all times. While seated, you are in the starting position.
2. Preliminary movement: You'll prepare to jump by making the correct movements in this step.
   
   First, lift your feet slightly off the ground (barely an inch will do) for a second or two.
   
   Then, place your feet back on the floor and transition into the jump by moving your upper body forward and off the bench/plyo box. Hence, the center of mass of your upper body with the barbell is straight above your feet. This is important. Otherwise, you'll not be stable and will jump too much forward or even to the back.
   
   You know the center of mass is above your feet and in the correct position once you find yourself in a half-squat position.
3. Explosive jump: From the half squat position, immediately transition into a jump by extending your knees and hips to jump straight up in one explosive movement.
   
   While you're airborne, maintain a straight posture.
4. Land softly: Land with a controlled and softly by landing on the balls of your feet first, followed by your heels, and then bending your knees, all in one smooth movement. Think of your feet and knees as a spring that minimizes the impact on your joints.
5. Transition into the starting position: Once landed, squat down until you're in the half-squat position and get seated on the bench/plyo box. At all times, make sure you hinge your hips and keep your back straight. You're back in the starting position once you sit on the bench/plyo box.
6. Repeat: Repeat the exercise from the starting position (see step 1).

4. Seated vertical jumps (body weight)

Seated vertical jumps are the same movement as the seated barbell jump. Still, instead of a barbell, you do this exercise without any load other than your body weight.

The most significant advantage of seated vertical jumps is that there is much more room for error and less risk of injury. As such, they're a great exercise to finish off a heavy workout (on the other hand, seated barbell jumps are much heavier due to the added weight and can be better done at the beginning of a workout as a distinct exercise by themselves).

How to:

1. Starting position: Sit upright on a bench or a plyo box.
2. Preliminary movement: Lift your feet slightly off the ground (barely an inch) for a second or two, then place your feet back on the floor and move your body off the bench/plyo box and into a half-squat position. Make sure to keep your back straight, and while getting into a squat position, your butt needs to be tucked out (i.e., hinge at your hips).
3. Explosive jump: From the half squat position, immediately jump straight up in the air and swing your arms above your head to create momentum to reach as high as possible. While airborne, maintain a vertically straight body and keep your arms pointing up.
4. Land softly: Land with a controlled and softly by landing on the balls of your feet first, followed by your heels, and then bending your knees, all in one smooth movement. Think of your feet and knees as a spring that minimizes the impact on your joints.
5. Getting back into the starting position: Transition into the starting position precisely as in step 4 in the seated barbell jumps (see above).
6. Repeat: Repeat the exercise from the starting position (see step 1).

5. Medicine ball jumps

Medicine ball jumps are another jumping variation that have you keep your balance by activating your muscles in a slightly different way due to the position in which you'll be holding the medicine ball.

How to:

1. Preliminary movement: With a medicine ball on the floor before you, squat down and grab the ball with both hands. While squatting down, bend your knees, tuck your butt to the back, and hinge at your hips. Keep a straight back straight during this movement (and during any squatting movement, in general).
2. Starting position: Then, while holding the ball with your hands, push yourself up with your legs, but don't stand fully upright.
   
   Instead, get in a half-squat position, which will be the starting position for this exercise. In the starting position, keep your butt tucked to the back, your hips hinged, and your back straight. Look forward (do not look down or hold your chin up).
3. Explosive jump: jump up as high as possible while holding the medicine ball in position, i.e., in front of you. Do not lift the medicine ball over your head. All motion and force generation are from your legs.
   
   While airborne, maintain a straight and vertical body posture while holding the medicine ball in front of your body.
4. Land softly: Return to the ground by landing softly on the balls of your feet, followed by your heels, and then bending at your knees. After the landing, transition slowly back into the half-squat position so you're in the starting position again.
5. Repeat: Repeat the exercise from step 2.

6. Dumbbell jumps

Dumbbell jumps are an alternative to medicine ball jumps. Still, I prefer medicine ball jumps because, for some reason, I'm more stable doing those instead of dumbbell jumps.

That doesn't mean I don't do dumbbell jumps at all; I keep them in my repertoire and do them occasionally.

See below how to do them (they're basically done the same way you'd do medicine ball jumps but with dumbbells in your hands instead).

How to:

1. Preliminary movement: Stand upright and hold dumbbells to each side of your body. Squat down to a half-squat position. While squatting down, bend your knees, tuck your butt to the back, and hinge at your hips. Keep your back straight all the time.
   
   Also, while you're squatting down, the dumbbells in your hands naturally should align with your shoulders and your knees, so all three points (your shoulders, your knees, and the dumbbells) are vertically aligned.
2. Starting position: Once in the half-squat position, the dumbbells should be slightly lower than your knees. In the starting position, keep your butt tucked to the back, your hips hinged, and your back straight. Look forward (do not look down or hold your chin up), and keep your muscles flexed (i.e., don't "relax").
3. Explosive jump: From the starting position, jump up as high as possible by extending your knees and hinging from your hips to bring your hips to the front. While you're making this move, the dumbbells should return back to the sides of your body. All motion and force generation should come from your legs.
   
   As you jump up, you need to keep the dumbbells close to your body (and definitely don't swing your arms forward for momentum because you'll lose stability and control with the weights in your hands).
   
   While airborne, maintain a straight and vertical body posture while holding the dumbbells to your sides.
4. Land softly: Return to the ground again by landing softly on the balls of your feet, followed by your heels, and then bending at your knees. After the landing, transition slowly back into the half-squat position so you're in the starting position again.
5. Repeat: Repeat the exercise from the starting position (step 2).

7. Pendlay rows

In my workout program, I do Pendlay rows occasionally as an accessory exercise to finish my weightlifting training.

It's an explosive exercise that mainly targets your middle back muscles. The trick in this exercise is to keep your hips, knees, shoulders, and whole back locked. It helps to think of pendlay rows as strict barbell rows.

Here's details on how to do pendlay rows.

How to:

1. Setting up: With a (plate-loaded) barbell on the ground before you, bend over by hinging at your hips, tucking your butt to the back, and bending your knees slightly. You bend over until you can grab the barbell with extended arms.
   
   In other words, you'll be in a slightly over half-squat position. Still, your upper body is much more bent forward (to the point that it feels like your upper body is parallel to the floor).
2. Starting position: Grab the barbell firmly with your hands and your arms straight, keep your butt tucked to the back, your head facing directly to the floor, and your back straight.
   
   Keep your shoulders to the back and all your muscles under tension.
   
   This is your starting position, and it's crucial to have a perfect starting position for this exercise.
   
   Lock your body in this position.
3. Lift the barbell: From the starting position, and while the barbell is on the floor, pull the barbell to your chest in one explosive and quick movement. All force should be generated from your back muscles and not so much from your biceps.
   
   Keep all other body parts in position... so butt tucked out, back straight, shoulders to the back, head facing the floor, knees bent.
   
   Do not use momentum by 'dipping' your upper body down before the pull. Instead, pull with a very strict form and pull until the barbell touches slightly below your chest muscles. Let the barbell gently bounce against your chest.
4. Lowering the barbell: After the barbell bounces against your chest, return the barbell controlled but fast to the floor, almost as if you're dropping it (but don't let go of the barbell).
   
   It's totally okay to literally drop the barbell in a free-falling manner (without letting go) on the floor, as long as you're using bumper plates.
   
   The reason is that you want to concentrate on the concentric phase of the exercise (i.e., the part where you are exerting force to pull the barbell) and not so much on the eccentric phase (lowering the barbell). After all, we're trying to train for power here.
5. Put the barbell on the floor: once the barbell is on the floor, stay in your position (the starting position), and make yourself ready to do another pull by bracing yourself, making sure your posture is correct, and keeping your muscles flexed (you may pause for a second or 2 before making another pull). Then, repeat the exercise from your starting position (see step 2).

Conclusion

So there you have it, my list of exercises for power. As you see, a lot of jumping is involved.

As jumping primarily targets your legs, having strong legs is related to more overall power and strength. The list in this article is not definitive, though.

As mentioned previously, you can do any exercise explosively and use it to train for power. If you want to focus more on your legs, check out leg exercises for explosive strength for, you guessed it, your legs. In this article, to target your fast-twitch muscle fibers, I write the following critical note:

Hence, training for power means you must deliberately train for explosiveness, i.e., do the concentric phases of an exercise quickly and with lots of force.

So, what are your favorite exercises when you're focussing on strength? Feel free to contact me and let me know!