I can't jump at all, not even an inch off the floor, which is bizarre since my left leg still has massive power! Demand your competent? doctor give you EXACT PROTOCOLS to accomplish this!
I’m bounding across the gym, springing as far as I can with every great leap. Then I’m dashing up and down, sprinting as fast as I can. Why am I flinging myself around the room at 57, as if my life depends on it? Because, in a way, it does. I want to reduce my risk of a fall in my 80s.
Most of us know that we should strength train to ward off age-related muscle loss. Yet there is another physical ability that drains away with the years, and it’s even more critical than muscle strength in preventing falls and fractures in later life – power. Power requires strength but relates to how fast you can move.
It’s crucial because the faster you can right yourself if you trip over the cat, the less likely you are to fall flat and crack a hip. Jon Roberts, technical director at Evolution Longevity clubs, says: “Power’s all about speed of reaction.” He adds: “With falls, as you lose your balance – how quickly can you react to that loss of balance? That’s what prevents falls.”
Power is the reason why, in midlife, my fitness regime includes not just slow, controlled muscle-building exercises, like deadlifts, but also speedy, springy movements that require sudden bursts of force.
Related video: Fitness program helps folks stay strong after 50 (FOX 13 Tampa Bay)
“The difference between a strength exercise versus a power exercise is that for power, you’re using less weight, but using speed as your added resistance,” says Roberts.
Jumping in midlife could prevent a broken hip
I learnt the critical importance of power two years ago, at 55, when a private bone scan at Evolution revealed I had osteoporosis. Two years on, my power moves – part of three-times-weekly targeted strength training sessions with an Evolution PT – have significantly increased my bone density. “Power creates torsion on the bones,” says Jon Roberts. “Powerful movement puts a force on the bones which can help strengthen them.” But along with stronger bones, I can now sprint for the bus with a solid chance of staying upright if I trip. Sarcopenia makes headlines, yet evidence shows that motor power capacity reduces faster with age than muscle strength, and that this loss of power is more strongly associated with reduced function and age-related decline. Scientists are taking note, and the aptly named Dr Geoffrey Power, associate professor at the Neuromechanical Performance Research Laboratory at the University of Guelph in Canada, was a keynote speaker at the third international annual seminar on “powerpenia” in Brazil earlier this year. “It’s something that people should really be paying attention to,” he says. “We notice losses in power – loss of strength and slowed movements – occurring before we have the loss of muscle. It’s proposed as an earlier biomarker of impaired function in ageing.” Happily, there’s a lot you can do at home to boost your power and avoid frailty and falls in later life.
How to tell if your muscles are powerful enough
When I started training, I hadn’t done any fast, explosive movement such as sprinting, tennis or jumping for decades. I didn’t notice I was losing power because all my activities – swimming, yoga, slow runs – were careful and deliberate. But there can be subtle signs. Dr Power says that tripping more often can indicate declining power. Plus, “You can notice
gait speed slowing. Fear of falling starts to come into play. Really slowed movement is the strongest indicator that maybe muscles are not generating as much power as they used to.”
To gauge your power, try the jump test, says Jon Roberts. You’ll need some Post-it notes. “You stand, arm extended, and stick the Post-it on the wall.” Then, he says, “bend from the knees into a squat movement and jump as high as you can. Keep your arm fully extended and stick a new Post-it note at the highest point you can reach.”
Jump test: measure how high you can jump by comparing the height of two Post-it marks on a wall.
(Not possible at all, I can't jump!)
You’re measuring the height difference between the first and second mark, and, if someone can time you, reaction speed. “That relates to how powerful you are. That’s the ultimate test.” For men aged 50-59, a jump height of 33-39cm is in the “acceptable range”. For women aged 50-59, it’s 24-28cm. Whereas 50cm is considered “high power” in men aged 40 and over, and 40cm is “high power” in women of the same age.
Jumping 90cm or higher? You’re “elite” (or an NBA player).
Leg power doesn’t just prevent falls, it’s also good for your brain
Roberts cites a study, Kicking Back Cognitive Ageing, published in the journal Gerontology in 2016 by scientists at King’s College London. Over 10 years, they tracked 324 healthy female twins, aged 55 on average. At the start, each had her leg power measured via a single, explosive push against a pedal, “as if performing an emergency stop in a car”. Researchers found that women with more leg power when the study began showed less decline in memory and mental processing speed over the following 10 years. Roberts says: “Leg power was the most consistent predictor of how well the brain aged.”
What I do – and why
There’s one snag with power moves – you can’t just jump straight in and start doing them, or you risk injury. I didn’t attempt kettlebell swings or medicine ball throws until I’d become fitter and stronger. “You need to strengthen the muscles, the tendons, you need to have coordination and improve function,” says Dr Power. “Then individuals can do power-type training. This involves increasing movement speed, and starting to focus on the idea of explosive contractions – or ‘rate of force’ development.”
My training sessions include lunges, squats, lateral pulldowns and bench presses, progressively increasing the weights I work with. This has built stronger bones, increased my muscle mass and strength, and, as Dr Power notes, such work “ultimately increases power as well.”
But to turbocharge power, I do the following moves:
Five ways to test and build power
1. Visualise your power move
Just thinking about doing an exercise fast can improve function. It’s called “ballistic intent”. Tell yourself, “‘I’m going to do this squat, and in my head now, I’m planning that it’s going to be an explosive movement,’” says Dr Power. “That in and of itself can improve the rate of force development.”
2. Kettlebell swing
Kettlebell swing, using explosive hip power to drive the weight to chest height.
(If I get mine down to 5lbs. I can do this.)
Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Place the kettlebell on the floor a short distance in front of your feet. Hinge at your hips, with your knees bent and back flat. Brace your core and upper body. Grasp the kettlebell handle, lift it off the floor and use the power of your glutes to snap your hips forward until you’re upright, swinging the kettlebell to chest height. “This is a power exercise as it requires speed and acceleration to make the kettlebell move,” says Jon Roberts.
3. The 10m sprint
10m sprint: time yourself over 10m to assess your power and speed, with faster times indicating better power
(Can't run at all, spasticity prevents the left foot from being straight and has no free swinging lower leg!)
Mark out a 10m strip. Time yourself to sprint that 10m distance. For men over 50, an acceptable time is 1.85-2 seconds, and for women, 1.95-2.1 seconds. For men, sprinting 10m in 1.70-1.85 seconds is a marker of good power. For women, it’s 1.80-1.95 seconds. Keep practising to improve power.
4. Single-leg sit-to-stand
Single-leg sit-to-stand: test your leg strength and stability by rising from a chair on one leg.
(Impossible, can't keep the left leg raised when trying the right leg. And the left leg doesn't have enough power and control to do this.)
Sit on a chair that’s slightly higher than knee height. Place one foot on the floor, keep the other raised, place your hands on your hips, brace your core and go from sitting to standing. Do as many quality (non-shaky!) repetitions as you can before changing legs. Ten to 14 reps in 30 seconds is a good score.
5. Standing medicine ball throw
Standing medicine ball throw to build explosive upper-body power
(Absolutely impossible, my fucking failures of doctors and therapists never cured my spasticity so I could flatten my left hand)
Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Hold a 2kg medicine ball at your chest with your hands on each side of the ball. (Goal Attack vibes.) Throw the ball away from you, as far as you can, and have a partner mark its landing point. Normal power for women over 50 would be a distance of 3.5-4.5m. For men aged 50 and over, throwing a 3kg ball 6-9m indicates good athletic power. “The weight of the ball is important for the test protocol,” says Roberts. “However, regularly throwing a ball as far as you can in a chest throw position is good training.”
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