Good morning and happy Wednesday. Can’t come up with a quippy intro this time, and really trying to avoid talking about this lovely weather we’re having.

If you’re a teacher or professor, what’s your opening line on the first day of class?? Let me know!

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You’ve got the POWER! 💥 

We’ve talked ad nauseam in this newsletter about the importance of muscle and strength—not just in daily life, but also in aging well. Both are obviously vital, but we haven’t talked as much about power, which may actually be the most important component of all. 

You see, muscle mass, muscle strength, and muscle power are all different but related aspects of muscular health. And it turns out that power declines fastest with age and inactivity; strength follows; and mass declines the slowest. 

• Muscle mass refers to the actual volume and weight of muscle tissue on your body.

• Muscle strength is the muscles’ ability to produce force against resistance (i.e. moving heavy weight = high strength).

• Muscle power is a component of both force (strength) and speed. It’s how fast and strong you can move at the same time. 

Muscle size and strength are both essential to daily life. Both improve your life today and the way you will function as you age. 

But muscle power, moving weight quickly—explosively—is one of muscle’s greatest abilities. Unfortunately, it’s also at the greatest risk of deterioration over time. 

How to train for power

In the most brief way I can explain, here’s how to train for each of the three components of muscle:

1. Muscle mass: Volume and intensity matter most. Reaching a number of sets per week (10–20) that approach an intensity of near or to failure.

2. Muscle strength: Trained at a heavy weight (over 80% of 1-rep max) at a low number of reps (generally 1–5).

3. Muscle power: Most often trained with lower weights (40–60% of 1-rep max) also at a low number of reps (1–5) but at a high, explosive speed.

   • Because power is composed of both strength and speed, training either alone will improve power. Training both will also improve it.

   • Think of it like this: 2 x 3 = 6. Increasing the 2 or the 3 to a higher number will increase the outcome.

Why is muscle power most important as we age? Think about the essential functions of daily movement: getting out of bed, getting on and off the toilet, taking the stairs, quickly catching an item that falls, rebalancing yourself after tripping, opening heavy doors, etc.

None of these are exactly an expression of maximum strength, though they do take a degree of it. None of them are also an expression of max speed, but they all do require some level of speed to execute. That’s why the combination of the two is necessary to preserve with age. If either of the numbers in the equation drops to near zero, so does the result of the equation.

That’s also why power declines fastest as we age, as seen in the screenshot a few paragraphs up. If either variable (strength or speed) declines, power does. If both do, power exponentially drops.

We also tend to fall prey to the “use it or lose it” principle as we age. How often do you see people in their 5th, 6th decade and beyond move at top-speed or top strength? Rarely, if ever, probably. 

The declines typically start around the 4th to 5th decades of life (30s to 40s). The good new is, these “natural” declines (which only happen if you do nothing to interfere) are actually largely preventable! Proper exercise training can significantly attenuate the declines. They eventually will drop, but far later and to a far lesser extent compared to if you had been sedentary the entire time. 

The good thing about power training is that it doesn’t take tons of time investment. Hitting the protocol outlined above once or twice per week for just a few exercises can produce plenty of benefits.

• But you do have to be specific; lifelong cardiovascular training doesn’t seem to prevent much of the decline in type II muscle fibers (the fast and strong ones) with aging. 

We recently witnessed some of the most powerful athletes in the world at the Olympics. Those who jump, run, throw, cut, and bound with ease and explosiveness are now walking around with precious metals around their necks.

You don’t need to pole vault the height of two basketball goals to be powerful, thankfully. Start slowly but surely incorporating power training into your exercise routine, and it will directly translate to the ease with which you move through daily life. And the more you prioritize keeping up power today, the more reserves future you will be grateful they have decades from now. 

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Once a week, move explosively, even if that’s just standing up quickly off your bed or chair.

Level 2: Work your way into training power at least once a week in the gym—particularly for your lower body (like squats or jumps), but for upper body some, too!

Level 3: Prioritize power with the 3-5 protocol outlined by Drs. Galpin & Huberman above. You’ll be bouncing off the walls in no time!

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✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Consume: How accurate are the calorie labels on the foods we eat?

Hope you have a lovely rest of your week. I’ll catch y’all next time!

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).