Methods of Developing Power With Special Reference to Football Players

Power-generating capacity should be a primary training outcome for football athletes. The ability to be explosive and use high levels of strength seems to differentiate between athletes and teams. Developing training interventions that can improve both strength- and power-generating capacity would therefore be considered a paramount endeavor when attempting to optimize the physiological and performance adaptations necessary for competitive success. Too often, strength and conditioning coaches forget that the foundation of powergenerating capacity is in fact high levels of muscular strength. When the development of strength is minimized or excluded from the training plan, the ability to express high-power outputs is compromised. In addition, a failure to use sequenced and integrated training programs decreases the possibility of successfully increasing strength- and power-generating capacity, thus decreasing the potential for competitive success. Therefore, this brief review attempts to explain how strength- and powergenerating capacity can be enhanced to increase the potential for developing the physiological and performance foundation necessary for competitive success with the football athlete