Staff Sports Performance Sports Medicine Performance Testing Sport Specific Tests Power Profile Identifying Talents Training Tips: "What are you training for?" Article of the Month "Jump Training"		The Power Profile Power in the lower extremities is a key component in functional movements in almost every sport. While vertical jump tests have long been used to evaluate an athlete’s power, they give you very little information to use. You have nothing more than the height. Power Profile changes that. That’s why we developed it. With our comprehensive approach to evaluating athletic power, we bring the state of the art in testing and cutting edge concepts to the table. Two athletes can jump the same height, but use very different physical abilities and skills to get that result.  Power = Speed x Strength Jumping is a powerful lower extremity movement. It has similarities to sprinting, skating, cutting and many other movements. Power is the combination of speed and strength. Increasing either can increase power. The important point is that different athletes rely on a different combination of these qualities to get the same result. Two basic "types" of power profiles are generally found. The "Type II" or "Elastic" profile and the "Type I" or "Strength" profile. The Elastic jumper relies more on speed, while the strength jumper relies more on developing force. You may have observed this yourself. Picture a basketball player or volleyball player. There are some athletes who jump by taking a deep dip, flexing their knees and hips and driving into their jump. Others take a rapid short dip and explode just as much. This information about an athlete’s muscle fiber type, strength levels, and neuromuscular system gives us a starting point. With this information we can better understand how these athlete’s will respond to different types of training. Knowing this we can optimize training to get faster, safer and superior results. The SportsLab™; Power Profile uses specialized testing equipment and proprietary research to get these answers. This is the cutting edge of performance testing and training.