You’re at the gym with a friend and you watch somebody push a barbell over their head (overhead press). “Wow, they are really powerful!” you tell your friend. Your friend looks over at you and says, “No! They are really strong!” Who is right?!
Be careful next time you use the term POWER vs. STRONG because they are NOT the same term! Neither you nor your friend are right or wrong here because we are missing a piece of information which is the time it took the person to lift the weight overhead.
POWER
Power is the concept that you are lifting a heavy object, resisting something, jumping, etc. in the shortest amount of time. So in this example, that person is pushing the bar overhead QUICKLY.
Power = work/time
STRENGTH
Strength is the ability to exert force to overcome resistance. If this person lifted 190 lbs overhead, but slowly, they are insanely strong. Maybe it’s more appropriate to use the term “strong.”
Force = mass x acceleration
Ok, so we have the terms power vs. strong down. You look back over to your friend and make another comment. “That person is really thin. I know that hypertrophy relates to muscle size. How can they lift that much without a lot of hypertrophy?” Your friend looks back at you and says “Hypertrophy is not the same as strength.”
HYPERTROPHY
Hypertrophy is the enlargement of muscles from the increase in cell size. Sometimes we refer to this as “bulk.” STRENGTH and HYPERTROPHY are NOT the same thing! Think of a body builder. They are hypertrophic. Their goal is to be lean (low body fat, big muscles). Next, google “strongest person alive.” Brian Shaw will pop up. Does he look like a body builder? No. Your friend is the wise one here!
Before leaving the gym, you make one last comment about this person performing the overhead press. “Ok. So they don’t have a lot of hypertrophy and maybe they are strong and powerful. I don’t know if they have endurance!”
ENDURANCE
Endurance is producing a sub-maximal force over a sustained period of time. You are correct in your comment! If you only watched this person perform one repetition, you don’t know if this person has endurance specifically with an overhead press.
The next time you are at the gym, make sure you get your definitions straight! Also, don’t watch other people working out (for too long). The really interesting thing about these concepts is that you can pick and choose what you specifically want to focus on for your own body. For example, a basketball player needs a lot of power to jump high, a daily walker needs endurance specific to walking, and a power lifter needs a lot of STRENGTH! Fun fact, “power lifting” doesn’t have a time component.
Don’t know what you want or need? Consult with a PT! We love talking about this stuff!