Strength and Power tend to be used interchangeably throughout the athletic world. The goal of this post is to clearly define both terms and determine the differences between them. Let’s start with strength…

By definition strength is “the maximal force that a muscle or muscle group can generate at a specified velocity”. The key words here are “maximal force” and “specified velocity”. Woman #1 that can squat a 700lb horse but takes over 5-6 seconds to perform the squat is a good example of strength vs power. It may take her twice as long to perform the lift, but she can lift twice as much. In a fist fight this person would be Kimbo Slice(may be too slow to hit you, but they only need to hit you once).

By definition power is “the time rate of doing work”. Paraphrased it is “how long does it take a force (your muscles) to move an object a certain distance”. Woman #2 that can squat a 300lb horse but does it in half the time as woman #1 is a good example of power vs strength. In a fist fight this person would be Bruce Lee (you’re going to get hit a lot).

Few sports rely solely on strength; in fact, most sports are only concerned with power. No matter how strong an offensive lineman is, he is going to end up in a downhill struggle every snap if the defensive lineman can exert force on him quicker.

When you train for your sport, especially in the weight room, make power your goal, not strength. Don’t sweat about the guy next to you benching slow and heavy while you are lifting what seems like day old muffins. When you continually strive to be efficient with your technique and focus on power, the strength will develop naturally and your sport performance will be better off because of it. Now go down to the local farm, find a few horses and #TrainBIG

Schaudt is out!