Is Explosive Strength Training the REAL Fountain of Youth?

Author

Lance Einerson
June 21, 2022

Welcome to Vitality on Tap!

A newsletter for the people who know that turning 30 was just the start.

People who want just enough science to know why they're doing what they're doing and simple effective practices to improve their lives. Today we're talking about explosive strength and aging. 5 min 15 sec read

What is explosive strength and why do you need it?

Photo by Jelmer Assink on Unsplash

If you lose your explosive strength, what do you lose?

You lose independence.

Explosive strength or power is more closely related to independence than raw strength.

How does that work?

Explosive strength is your ability to use your strength dynamically.

Here's a simple example; it requires a certain amount of strength to get up off the floor, but you can go as slow as you want and still get up without any issues.

What if you're walking with bags of groceries in each hand because nobody has time for two trips to the car, and you stumble?

You have to react quickly if you want to stay on your feet.

You have to adjust your center of gravity and get your feet back under you very quickly, or you're going down.

That's explosive strength.

Explosive strength isn't just about catching yourself when you stumble. It's necessary any time you need or want to move your body quickly.

Sprinting, jumping, throwing, tossing a bag of dog food over your shoulder, and packing it up the stairs to your apartment ALL require explosive strength.

How do you lose it?

Photo by Brecht Deboosere on Unsplash

The rule that governs our bodies is, "use it or lose it."

If you stop moving your body quickly, you'll lose the ability to produce power.

But what actually happens to your body?

It starts in the nervous system. Your nerves are incredibly expensive for your body to maintain. So if you're not using the nerves your body uses to talk to your muscles, they essentially get downgraded.

That matters because if you want to be able to do big, fast, powerful movements like sprinting, you need large, powerful connections to those muscles, which are called large alpha motor neurons. If you don't use them, you're left with smaller, slower neurons that aren't capable of kicking your muscles into powerful movements.

You'll also lose some myelination of the neurons as you age. You can think of myeline as the insulation around your nerves. If you have lots of it, the nerve messages can travel quickly. If you don't have enough, it requires more effort to get the message to the muscle, and it moves more slowly.

The final thing that happens is you lose type II muscle fibers. These are the muscle fibers that are responsible for explosive movements. To visualize this, just think of the difference between elite basketball players and elite long-distance runners.

Do their bodies look different?

Yes.

The runners are very light and slender, while the basketball players have more muscle mass. If you asked the runners to jump as high as possible, they would be able to manage a few inches, no exaggeration, while there are many players in the NBA with a vertical jump of over 40 inches.

Why?

Basketball is a very powerful sport and they've developed their type II muscle fibers.

What does this have to do with you?

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Remember the inescapable rule we mentioned earlier?

"Use it or lose it."

If you're not using those muscles and nerves built for explosive power, you'll lose them and unfortunately explosive strength deteriorates much quicker than raw strength.

Let me ask you this. What do you think of when you think of aging poorly?

I would bet my right leg that it involves some form of losing your independence.

When you lose your explosive strength, you lose your independence.

What's at stake here isn't your ability to dunk like Lebron. It's your physical freedom. If you're in your 30s, it might be the ability to enjoy a pick-up basketball game in the park or wrestle with your young kids on the floor. If you're in your 50s, maybe it's the ability to go on that hike you've been dreaming of in the Swiss Alps. If you're in your 70s, it's the ability to jog up the stairs in your home without even thinking about using the handrail.

What can you do about it?

No one looks forward to the second half of their life and says, "Man, I hope that when I hit 40, I have to make nothing but compromises, and I have to stop doing the things I love."

We all want independence, and investing your time into training explosive strength will give you just that. It doesn't matter if you're 25 or 85; if you implement explosive training, YOU WILL BENEFIT from it.

In a 12-week study that trained women aged 60-89, they found that not only was it safe to train with weights at 75-80% of their one-rep max, but these women were able to adapt.

When I say adapt, that means their nervous system and their muscles have changed. They were essentially turning back the clock, reducing their likelihood of falls, decreasing their chances of disability, and making themselves more resilient in the event of injury.

What if you're not a woman ages 60-89?

Does this apply?

YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!

If women of that age get that much benefit from training explosive strength literally, EVERYONE will benefit from it.

You need to train explosively!

What should you do?

Progressive resistance training is the most effective strategy to combat age-related loss of muscle function. Resistance training increases muscle mass and improves strength and power which particularly preserves the type II muscle fibers we talked about earlier.

Your strength training program should consist of the following in order to build/preserve explosive strength as you age.

3 days/week of resistance training.

2 high-intensity days where loads are 70% of your 1 rep max or higher and one 1 low-intensity day where loads are 50% of your 1 rep max or lower.

The 2 high-intensity days should be power-oriented, meaning you are moving the weight or your body as explosively as possible. For example, if you're back squatting, you would move slow and controlled on the eccentric portion (down) and then come back up as quickly as possible on the concentric portion (up).

You can do MUCH more than this. Think of these more like a minimum effective dose if you want to get at least some degree of all of the benefits of explosive strength training.

Sprinting, jumping, lifting weights, these things are ALL your friends. They preserve your neuromuscular connection which means you'll preserve muscle mass and function.

There's plenty you can do outside of the gym as well. One of the best things you can do is maintain physically demanding hobbies.

Get out there, stay active, and preserve your body.

Sample program

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A simple sample program could look something like this:

Monday (High intensity 70% or more of 1 rep max)Backsquat 3x5Deadlift 3x5Front rack reverse lunge 3x5 (each side)Slamball 3x10 (weight is lower for movements like this typically 20# or less)

Wednesday (Low intensity 50% or less of 1 rep max)Floor press 3x8-10Ring rows 3x8-10Walking lunges 3x8-10 (each side)Romanian deadlift 3x8-10

Friday (High intensity 70% or more of 1 rep max)Weighted dips 3x5Shoulder press 3x5Bent over row 3x5Rotational med ball toss 3x10 (weight is lower for movements like this typically 20# or less)Sprint 3x5 40 meter sprint (rest 45 sec between sprints and 2 minutes between sets)*Remember on all of these movements are being performed explosively. Control the weight on the way down and explode on the way up.

A simple program like this coupled with aerobic training is your ticket to long-term health and independence. In fact, doing both decreases your likelihood of all-cause mortality by 40%.

Summary

Explosive strength is non-negotiable if you want the second half of your life to be as enjoyable as the first half.

  • Explosive strength is necessary for physical independence

  • Power deteriorates sooner and faster than strength

  • Your nervous system and type II muscle fibers will deteriorate if you don't use them

  • Use it or lose it

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with someone you think might benefit from it as well, and as always if you have any questions or suggestions please don't hesitate to reach out.

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