Ok, the heading here is a little bit of a pun.  Because the answer to the riddle is this – Train Power.

Power training involves moving a weight that is 60-75% of your 1RM as quickly as possible, preferably ballistically (i.e., you release the weight and project it away from you at the end of the movement).

Let me give you a few examples of ways to incorporate power training into your current program and reap the results.  There are basically three things you can do – plyometrics, ballistic training, and speed training.

Plyometrics, or “shock training” as Siff/Verkoshansky call it, involves lengthening a muscle and immediately contracting it.  This is usually associated with things like the depth jump – you jump off a box (muscle lengthens) and you immediately leap up or forward (shortens).  Plyometric training is intense, takes a lot of skill, and demands a lot of tensile strength in the tissues involved.  That is, you have to be fairly well-trained to do real plyometrics.  Instead of splitting hairs, do what feels comfortable to you.  Two ways to incorporate plyometric-type training are

1. Any kind of jumping.  Jump more.  Go for height, distance, both, whatever you want.  Jumping itself will give you enough benefit to make a difference in your leg strength.

2. Push-offs, or explosive pushups.  You can start doing these even if you can’t do a full pushup.  Simply put your hands on a stable object (table, chair, etc. – THAT IS STABLE), lower yourself in the pushup position, then push yourself entirely off the object.  Continually lower the object, till you’re doing these on the ground.

Ballistic training involves throwing things.  You can use sandbags, dumbbells, medicine balls, whatever you have that’s roughly in the weight range that you need.  Take the object and throw it as far as you can!  For instance, if you want to increase your chest pushing strength (or up your bench max) and your current bench max is around 185, take a 50 pound medicine ball (or a 100 pound sandbag) and do a “chest pass” with it.  Throw it as far as you absolutely can.  For squats/leg strength, you’d do the same thing.  Do the squat and literally jump into the ground, projecting the weight off of you (and away from you) as you rise.

Speed training is like a combination of plyometric and ballistic training.  You need to be careful here, because it’s relatively easy to pull/strain something with speed training.  With speed training, you pick a weight about 60% of your 1RM and move it for your 3-6 reps as quickly as you absolutely can (while still being safe).  For instance, with the 185 pound bencher, take two 50 pound dumbbells and press them as fast as you can.  For squats, you’d load a bar with about 110 (if your max was 185) and move the weight as fast as possible.

No mention of power is complete without discussing the Olympic lifts.  They are the ultimate expression of power.  However, they need to be performed with technical precision (if not perfection) in order to be safe.  If you have a good Olympic coach around you, get some instruction in the Snatch and Clean and Jerk/Press.  You can use O-lifts in place of any major lift on any given day.

Of course, any and all of these should be performed after a substantial warmup.  These movements demand a lot of your tissues and your metabolism.  I’d incorporate power training into a workout by adding it to the beginning of the workout, right after the warmup.  Do 3 sets of 3-6 reps, working up to 6 sets of 3-6 reps.  Start with a weight that allows you to feel resistance yet still move it as quickly as possible.  I’d only do one power exercise per workout.

GOOD LUCK!