Strength is the ability to exert maximum muscle tension (force) for a short period of time. Strength is important in football but power, of which strength is an ingredient, is even more essential.

Power is best witnessed in a game when a player leaps for a mark, crashes through a pack, breaks a tackle or takes off quickly from different starting positions. Power is simply a combination of speed and strength.

Strength Building
Basic strength building methods include:

• Body weight exercises - players use their body weight for resistance, e.g. press ups, squats
• Partner exercises - players use a partner for resistance by either adopting various wrestling holds and working in opposition to a partner or by having the partner as a dead weight
• Free weights - dumbbells and barbells are used to perform a variety of resistance exercises
• Fixed apparatus - e.g. Universal, Nautilus stations
• Circuit Training - a series of exercises performed in quick succession

Testing for Power

• Vertical Jump

• Standing Long Jump