Strong, Steady, Straight and POWERFUL!
Strong, Steady, Straight and POWERFUL!
By Tona Wilson, Ph.D
For decades, the fitness formula for active aging was a steady regimen of, “cardiovascular exercise and strength training most days of the week”. The focus was primarily on heart health and bone preservation. Though both are absolutely vital, modern sports science has revealed a critical missing link in how our bodies can stay strong, steady, and straight. This third pillar is Muscular Power.
For those (of us) over 50, have you noticed that although your endurance may still be decent and your strength is still sufficient, you might be getting a bit slower in your ability to react to a trip or a topple? Maybe getting out of a low chair or deep couch is getting a bit harder and requires a lot more whole-body effort? This isn’t just a feeling of “getting older”, it’s actually the biological result of a specific type of muscle loss that cardio and typical strength training can’t address. As we approach the second half of our chronological lives, we must divide the strength-training focus beyond just being “strong”, to also being powerful.
The Science of the “Slowing” Muscle
Our skeletal muscle is composed of different fiber types designed for different movement requirements. Each of us are born with different ratios of these muscle fiber types, which make us more or less talented in whatever coordination and movement that talent entails. Some people are sprinters, whereas others are marathoners, while others are “middle distancers”.
Perhaps you’ve heard the terms “fast-twitch” and “slow-twitch” in the gym or even on social media posts. Slow-twitch muscles are our “endurance”, or long cardio fibers. Also called, “Type I” fibers, they use oxygen for fuel and allow you to walk, jog, swim, hike, and maintain posture for hours without tiring.
Fast-twitch, or Type II fibers, come in two forms: One for strength, the other for power. Type IIa fibers are utilized in activities that last from 30 seconds to 3 minutes such as a weightlifting set, a 400-meter sprint, or interval training. With consistent strength and interval cardio training, older adults can still increase and maintain these fibers even though age-related sarcopenia will naturally decrease their efficiency.
Type IIb, also called Type IIx because of their “explosive” nature, are the most powerful fibers in the body but are the least efficient. They provide the highest force at the fastest contraction speed but can fatigue within 15 seconds. These are our 1-rep max weightlifting fibers, our 40-yd dash fibers, our “suddenly having to catch ourselves from a fall”, or “catching a heavy box above our head before it drops” fibers.
Use it or Lose it!
As we age, we naturally lose each of these muscle fibers due to age-related sarcopenia. We lose them faster if we are sedentary or if we don’t use each fiber type specifically and intentionally. Worse, we lose our strength and power fibers at a much faster rate. This explains why my 90-year-old mom can walk down the street and back, balance on one foot indefinitely, touch her toes with her nose, but can’t get out of a chair without using her arms and most of her body, or even hold a quart-bottle of milk. We keep the Type-I fibers longer into our lifetime. We lose our Type-IIa noticeably in our 50’s, and we lose our Type-IIx as early as age 35.
An interesting phenomenon occurs that explains why we keep our endurance and lose our strength and power as we age. The Type-II fibers atrophy at two to three times the rate as the Type-I endurance fibers and are actually recruited and converted into Type-I fibers when not used regularly. This is called “Motor Unit Remodeling”, and if we’re not using those fast-twitch fibers, we’re losing them. And research is telling us that they are gone forever once lost.
As the neurons that control our fast-twitch fibers become idle, the neighboring slow-twitch motor unit sends out nerve dendrites to adopt and convert the orphaned fast-twitch fibers. This accounts for the exponential decline in strength and power as we age: As endurance fiber density increases, strength and power fiber density decreases.
Cardio and Strength aren’t Enough
A study published just last month (Dandekar, et al., 2026) demonstrated that power training considerably improves mobility, functional capacity, and physical performance in elder adults, even surpassing results from traditional strength training. Elder adults who participated in power training improved significantly more than those who participated in strength training in the 30-second chair stand test and the timed up-and-go test. These findings corroborated results from 12 other studies published within the last 15 years. We’d better take heed.
The Power Prescription
Whenever I mention the word, “powerlifting” to my clients or group exercise students, they get a little apprehensive. It sounds dangerous because we associate it with high-impact jumping or heavy, jerky movements that involve throwing and catching a barbell full of weight plates overhead. Rather, it’s about moving moderate weight with a very intentional movement pattern. The “Rep Tempo” is the secret sauce.
Rep tempo refers to the speed of each portion of the lift. For typical strength training, the “lift” should take 2 seconds, the transition should take zero to one second, and the “lower” should take two seconds, with the rest being another zero to one second. This tempo ensures that we are using muscles and not momentum and the results produce an increase in muscle strength and size/density.
Power training takes a bit more muscle control than strength training and is performed at a different rep tempo. The lift portion is explosive, intentional, yet under control. There is no pause in between, but the lowering phase is at least three seconds and under very specific restraint of the eccentric muscles. In my group exercise class, we use a four-count music beat cadence. We lower for three counts of music, then “explode” on the lift for the fourth count. The explosive movement is an intentional, yet fast “flexing” of the muscles involved in whatever the lifting movement is. No throwing of weight overhead, no jumping, no “putting your back into it”.
Safe for Joints, Empowering for the Body
This type of power training is safe for joints because there is no jumping or yanking involved. Additionally, it strengthens the tendons and connective tissues which makes the joints more resilient over time. We’re not doing Cross-Fit style, “whatever it takes to move the weight”, and we’re not training for a powerlifting competition. Take the strength training movements you already do and employ the power rep-tempo instead. Focus on a three-second lowering phase, then a controlled and explosive lifting phase.
Start with a medium weight and then work your way up. If you can’t do 4 well-controlled reps, it’s too heavy and you could easily hurt yourself. If you can do 10 reps, it’s too light and it’s time to increase the weight. Try it out! If you’re a little hesitant, reach out to me for advice on my website.
As you continue improve, your muscles and joints will become stronger, you’ll increase your functional capability, and you will feel a renewed sense of empowerment and accomplishment. You’re always worth your effort.