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Power exercises: Part II

Print | Comments () Posted by Elizabeth Comeau March 27, 2013 07:00 AM

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By Ryan Healy

Ryan Healy is a personal trainer for the Lynch/van Otterloo (LVO) YMCA in Marblehead. She is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, and earned her BS in Exercise Sports Science from Elon University. Find more posts by her in conjunction with the LVO YMCA at yhealthandwellness.wordpress.com. She can be reached at healyr@northshoreymca.org.

Remember; please consult your doctor before starting any exercise program.

Last week I covered the benefits of power training, and offered suggestions for low-impact power training. Today I’m kicking up the intensity and bringing you some higher impact power exercises to increase your strength, speed, conditioning, and metabolism. Here are 5 different options.

Box Jumps

- Avoid boxes that are overly high to decrease risk of falls and injuries
- Step down off the box instead of jumping back to reduce pounding on the body
- To advance this exercise, try a single leg box jump

One-arm Dumbbell Snatch

-Standing up tall, push your hips back and down behind you , your hips and knees will be bent, with feet a little wider than shoulder width apart, maintaining a flat back
- Grab the dumbbell with one hand just at the knees using an overhand grip, keeping the arm straight
- Explosively extend the hips and knees as you jump up, and at the same time shrug the shoulders, pretending like you’re throwing the dumbbell to the ceiling
- Land with soft knees (about a quarter squat) and a straight arm under the dumbbell

Split Jumps

- A great exercise you can do anywhere
- For a more basic bodyweight plyometric, try a squat jump

Sled Sprints

- A cheaper alternative would be hill sprints or stair running
- A lower impact version would be sled pushes, and another variation would be the lateral sled drag

Plyo Push Ups

- Above are 3 challenging different variations
- Develop upper body power
- For a less challenging alternative, try this incline plyo push up
- Check out this helpful video on how to perform push ups perfectly

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Staying fit is an important part of staying healthy. This blog will offer exercise tips from experts as well as share the personal journeys of Globe staff members committed to fitness. No matter your age or energy level, we invite you to join in and share your own story. How do you find time to work out? What are your daily challenges? Let us know and read along -- and together, we can all get moving.

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Elizabeth Comeau is the senior health & wellness producer at Boston.com. She will be blogging about her personal fitness journey and using a device called a FitBit to track her weekly goals and progress (see below). Follow her journey and share your own. Read more about Elizabeth and this blog.

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